1/2/16 Report - Current Beach Conditions. Beach Zones.

Written by the TreasureGuide for the exclusive use of treasurebeachesreport.blogspot.com.

Frederick Douglas Beach Saturday Evening.

The wind shifted yesterday so I went out to see what was going on.  Above is a picture of Frederick Douglas beach.  You can see that there is a lot of sand on the front of the beach.  Much of it is relatively new.

The sand on the front beach is more coarse and light in color.  So far it hasn't eroded much.

Water Running Back Into The Ocean.

Above is one interesting feature that I saw.  Nothing significant really - just interesting.

I also visited another beach a few miles away.  It showed no sign of significant new erosion yet either.

Fort Pierce South Jetty Park.

Look how much renourishment sand has disappeared here already.  That renourishment sand was disappearing even when there was no erosion any place else.

In front of that twelve foot cliff is some new sand, very much like at Frederick Douglas.

There was a group of students from the University of Pittsburgh there for some reason.  That is one of my alma maters.

We are supposed to have a two or three foot surf for a couple of days and then up to six feet Tuesday and Wednesday.

We should have another day of north winds.

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I'll be discussing some things from the following illustration.  Today just a little of that.

Detecting Zones.

It can be useful to consider each zone.  It is easy to get stuck in a rut and only detect one zone or another.  As I've said, the new year is a good time to look back and also to think about the future.

I added some arrows to this illustration.  The blue arrow points to the area between the berm and dunes. That is the dry sand area.  Some people hunt that area exclusively.  There are times, such as during periods of especially high surf or tides, when that area does get wet.  In fact there are places where the water can go completely over the dunes and into the lagoon, although that is very rare.

The area indicated by the blue arrow is an area where people who hunt modern coins and jewelry are most likely to do a lot of hunting.  Old shipwreck items can be found anywhere from the brown arrow all the say back to the lagoon and beyond.

There are a few land sites where good numbers of Spanish coins have been found west of the lagoon. One of the better known is the Bulldozer Hoard found about three miles inland near Sebastian.  There aren't many detectorists that focus on those kinds of inland sites.  It requires a lot of research and effort and can be a real long shot.

I'm convinced that there has to be some things in the lagoon.  There was one lagoon site that I spent some time investigating years ago.  It appeared that whatever might have been there had already been removed.  I found a very rusted old six-foot digging bar at the site.  I think I might have shown a picture of it in the past.

Anything old found in the lagoon or any waterway in Florida belongs to the state of Florida.  O course much of the land bordering the lagoon is on private property.

The sand in the lagoon in many places is about six feet deep over bed rock.  I got that information from some guys that build docks.

Another problem with hunting in the lagoon is the huge amount of junk.

I have seen a couple fossils along the banks of the lagoon as well as a few shards.

The dunes are usually off-limits, either being covered by protected flora such as sea oats or being on private property or government property.  The treasure  in the dunes is often covered by a foot or more of sand.

The dunes do occasionally but rarely erode, and things can spill onto the beach after storms or very high water.

I'll continue on this topic in the future.  That is all for now.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net