3/6/12 Report - Metal Detecting Robot, Safe Holes, & Increasing Seas

Written by the Treasureguide for the exclusive use of Treaurebeachesreport.blogspot.com.

Metal Detecting Robot.

That image is from the following YouTube video.

This is hilarious. You won't want to miss it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3PMx5taMWeE

I can't help but laugh when I watch that.

If you put a blade on it instead of a coil, it could cut the weeds.

Here is another, but not as funny.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&NR=1&v=0puqCa_IQMI

I would redesign both of those.

Michael K. said there is now an ordinance (1545) that bans digging of "unsafe" holes on Cocoa beach. It isn't aimed at detectorists but could be if you did dig what is considered to be an unsafe hole.

As I pointed out yesterday, the big holes on the beach are usually dug by children or youth that spend their day playing games. Fill your holes anyhow.

One thing I always thought was more dangerous than holes is those fishing lines with hooks attached that get partially buried in the sand or tied up in sea weed. I once got a hook from a fishing lure stuck in my foot. Instead of banning fishing though, or fining people for leaving fishing hooks on the beach, I'd say just wear footwear and be careful.

Detectorists pick up thousands of fishing hooks and lead sinkers. I know I've picked up hundreds of each.

If I didn't know better (let's say I'm an archaeologists that discovers all of these sinkers on the beach and in the water sometime in the distant future) there are so many I might think they were thrown at the fish to knock them out or give them lead poisoning.

Talking about trash, it looks like they dredged up a lot of trash at Fort Pierce. I have some photos and video of that, but didn't upload it. Just take a look at the garbage piled up near the water line near the jetty. Disgusting.

Bathtub Beach has reopened once again.

I've mentioned the Florida Public Archaeology Network (FPAN) a few times lately. The FPAN site for the Treasure Coast is in the East Central FPAN region. And the contacts for that region are located in Cocoa where they maintain a nice Florida History library.

Here is a link to a web site that will tell you more about that.

http://myfloridahistory.org/

You might want to volunteer to work with FPAN or support the Florida Historical Society. It might help them learn the difference between a grave robber or looter and a detectorist who shares their interests in history and archaeology.

Treasure Coast Beach Detecting Conditions.

Conditions are poor right now, but the seas will be increasing through the day, reaching up to seven feet or more Wednesday and Thursday. That could do quite a bit to improve conditions.

I'll have more on how that actually turns out tomorrow.


Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

2/16/12 Report - A Few Detecting Tips

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

This Mornings Finds.

Nothing exciting. I decided to do a little scouting around and went to a park that I hadn't detected for a number of years. It isn't on the ocean. The ocean beaches that I've seen have been building the past couple of days. They weren't very good looking at all, so I felt like doing something a little different this morning.

The photo shows a few dollars in clad, a ring and what looks like an old bullet (since I've been talking about those).

I got some more good information on the bullets that I showed yesterday. I'll have to get back to that topic in another post.

I could tell that the area I detected today had been detected recently. There were a variety of clues. I could tell by the distribution of targets that part of this area had been detected relatively well. Most targets in the detected area were several inches deep in densely packed sand with a good layer of black sand. There was a disproportionate number of nickles (a common tell-tale sign). And there were the typical areas that most detectorists will skip.

A Good Spot.

I always like to see spots like this. There is a little erosion and some roots and things to add protection. Many detectorists will miss targets in an area like this.

There were three targets (within a half inch of the surface) in the small area shown in this photo.

I'll never pass an area like that without checking.

I also like to stick my coil back under limbs and bushes. Again, many detectorists will miss targets in areas like that.

That is where I got the old bullet today - back under some bushes.

And here is another type of thing that I will never pass up.

It doesn't look like much and it isn't easy to detect, but people will be drawn to these blocks. Sometimes they'll sit on them and sometimes lay things on them or by them. And sometimes people will stumble over them.

Things will slip down beside the blocks and quickly sink beside them when the water rushes around.

Old Concrete Blocks.

The iron in the blocks makes it difficult to detect around them. This is one time that I used discrimination. I could hear the iron but I could also pick out the other targets in and around the blocks. That might take a little practice, but you can learn to do it.

There was a lot of black sand around here too.

I seldom use anything but all metals or pin-point mode, but I was constantly switching back and forth today.

The dimes were coming up rusty looking and many of the pennies were heavily caked.

There were a lot of obstacles at this site, but I like obstacles. Obstacles protect targets.

I like to try different spots like this once in a while for a change.

There are a lot of snowbirds in in the area detecting now.

The wind is out of the south and the seas calm. Expect increasing sand on the ocean beaches.

Monday the seas will increase. I'd say no change in conditions until then.

I received some good information on bullets. I'll get back to that topic soon. maybe tomorrow.

Happy hunting,
Treasureguide@comcast.net

9/22/11 Report - Mystery Object From Jupiter & Odyssey Marine

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

Object Found in the Jupiter Beach Area.


Bill T. submitted the photos of this find.


The object is almost the size of a quarter - just a slightest touch smaller. Bill says it looks like yellow brass and thinks it could be a livery button.

Any information, thoughts or opinions about the object would be appreciated. Send your ideas to TreasureGuide@comcast.net.

Here is a nice web site where you can view a lot of livery buttons. Many do have the lion design.

http://www.colchestertreasurehunting.co.uk/B/buttons.htm


Back of Same Object.


I don't know if you noticed, but Odyssey Marine stock surged Monday and Tuesday, going from around $2.70 to $3.50 per share in just two days. There was no particular news given to account for the gains. Some articles mentioned some old news as a supposed reason for the sharp increase but there was really nothing that would account for the gains in those articles. Some articles mentioned the SS Gairsoppa, and some mentioned the 17th century wreck found at the mouth of the Thames, and some mentioned the Black Swan and the possibility of a favorable court ruling, but all of that is old news and in my opinion couldn't really account for the sharp price increase.

Well Wednesday the stock price for OMEX dropped like a lead balloon - decreasing about 33% all of a sudden. That confirmed my suspicion that some big investors were manipulating the market. I've seen OMEX stock do something very similar a few times before, and I expect to see it again in a few months. My suspicions were confirmed for my own satisfaction when I learned of some very unusual options trading activity that was taking place - really huge and unusual amounts of puts being sold and bought.

I'm not an expert on all of this, but it looks like you can get caught in some big waves when a few big investors play games with the stock of a small company. If you can figure out what they are doing, you might be able to take advantage of it in the future, but if you don't know what is going on, you can really get hurt.

I wonder if you know what happened right after last time that Odyssey Marine stock took a big nose dive? I won't tell you now, but I'm going to watch and see if it happens again.


Even though I don't think it has much to do with the recent changes in the stock's price, you still might find the following article interesting.

http://www.dailyfinance.com/2011/09/20/whoa-what-just-happened-to-my-stock/?source=TheMotleyFool

And you might want to read about the 17th Century shipwreck found at the mouth of the Thames. Here is the link to that story.

http://www.sail-world.com/USA/Discovery-of-English-shipwreck-at-the-mouth-of-the-Thames/88646

I also thought it was interesting how some people are tracking the movements of Odyssey Marine's research vessels using online marine tracking tools. For one thing, they noticed that the Russian research vessel that Odyssey is using and another Odyssey vessel, which was working at another site, met at the site of the Gairsoppa and then returned to dock. The conclusion was that something either really bad or something really good happened with the Gairsoppa.

Interesting!

Here is the link to a story that tells about that.

http://seekingalpha.com/article/294720-odyssey-marine-whether-the-280m-gairsoppa-shipwreck-recovery-is-imminent


The St. Lucie Metal Detecting Club will hold their first meeting on Saturday, October 8th at Duffy's on US1 in Jensen Beach. The club now has 41 members, 34 local and 7 from out of town.

If any of the other clubs in the area want me to mention meetings or activities, I'll usually be able to do that.

I'm sure that the quick growth of this new club is due largely to the publicity provided by this blog.


Bob H. wrote in and asked if I had any information on what appeared to be an old steamer being towed by a tug off the treasure coast the afternoon/evening?

Unfortunately I didn't see it and don't know anything about it. I wish I had seen it.

If you know have any information on this, let me know and I'll share it.



A satellite about the size of a school bus is about to reenter the earth's atmosphere. Not much chance that any of it will land on a Treasure Coast beach - but some, I guess.

Here is the link.

http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2011/09/21/woman-gets-hit-by-space-junk-lives-to-tell-tale/

I really like the animated map that shows all of the space junk floating around. There might be salvage vessels out there picking up that stuff some day.


Treasure Coast Beach Forecast and Conditions.

It appears that Ophelia is not going to develop into a hurricane anytime soon. She is also going to stay to the East of us and probably won't affect us much.

There were nice heavy rains along much of the Treasure Coast this morning.

The wind is still from the southeast and beach conditions will remain unchanged or the next few days, with the seas running around 2 feet.



Happy hunting
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

9/15/11 Report - Old Metal Detectors and Some Florida History

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



A Couple Young Fellows Using an Early Detector on the West Coast of Florida. (At Left.)

It appears to be one of those old military detectors. I don't know who the guys are. I would guess the photo to be from back around the fifties or sixties.

Notice the flash lights.

Think of using that. Its not exactly light weight.

And could you believe they had underwater detectors decades ago. Below is a photo showing an old detector being used underwater.

Doesn't look like the most ergonomic design.

I thought these photos were neat. They show a little metal detector and treasure hunting history.

Art McKee Using Underwater Detector. (To right.)

These photos are in the Florida Memory photo archives, Division of Library and Information Services.

One reader sent me an email with some old photos and I decided to look for more. These are a few that I found.

Before I continue, I want to comment on Art McKee for those of you who don't know who he is. Art was one of the well known treasure hunters that operated in the Keys back a few decades ago. He had a museum on Plantation Key. I think the building is still there even though I haven't been down there for a number of years and so am not entirely sure.

Art was a friendly guy that would talk to anyone, personally lead you through his museum, or even take you out to dive with him. He wasn't like the guys that try to keep everything secret and guarded. He freely shared his experiences, and would even take you out and show you where he was finding things.

The last time I talked to him, I was down in the Keys and stopped by his museum, which wasn't' open at the time, but he happened to be there and came out and talked for a while.

I liked his style. He tried out a lot of new and different approaches and was really a pioneer.

Since I'm talking about Art, I guess I'll add one more photo that shows the old helmet.



Art Being Suited.


Switching topics, the St. Luci Metal Detecting club is having a club hunt on Saturday. For more information contact Bernie C. via email at twiprod001@att.net.


Do you know about the dollar coins that the US is minting. Well, not only is the US printing money, it is also producing tons of one-dollar coins, each of which costs 30 cents to make, and has a face value of $1.

A 2005 law requires the reserve bank to keep ordering the coins even though the vaults are over flowing. No one seems to want to use these new coins and the reserve banks are just storing them. My local bank didn't even seem to know about them.

It is another way to devalue the dollar, reduce the deficit and redistribute the wealth. Simply minting money in addition to printing it.

Here is the link if you want to read more about those one-dollar coins.

http://articles.baltimoresun.com/2011-09-07/news/bs-md-fed-coins-20110906_1_coins-fed-board-reserve-banks


Treasure Coast Beach Forecast and Conditions.

Maria is headed into the North Atlantic. There is one new tropical wave coming off of Africa. It is too soon to say much about that.

There is a full moon and the water is still getting pretty high up on the beach.

The swells are running around 2 to 2.5 feet for the next few days. There are still some nice surfing waves. With the west winds and the sand piled up in front of the beaches, the waves are breaking real nice in some spots.

The waves looked higher than what I expected to see this morning. They aren't causing any erosion though. I do think there is enough force hitting the front beaches to freshen them up some. The same for the shallow water areas.


Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

8/9/11 Report - Whites Spectra & IDing Titanium

Whites Spectra v3i.

Here is a nice review of the Spectra. I'm not doing this to give Whites free advertising, even though they are getting it. And I'm not one that puts a lot of emphasis on having the very deepest or best detector. In my opinion, there is no best detector. Some detectors are better than others for specific purposes.

The Spectra is undoubtedly a very good detector, as are most detectors made by the major manufacturers. Just like the others, it has its strengths and weaknesses.

If you are narrowly focused on finding old Spanish shipwreck treasures on a beach, this detector might not be the best choice. All of the fancy target ID stuff would be a waste a lot of the time.

No detector is going to tell you that the big piece of iron you are detecting is a cannon ball or shipwreck spike. If you are hunting old shipwreck items, you usually will want to dig everything.

As the reviewer said, the target ID is not perfect. Target ID is never fool proof. And you simply can't expect a detector to recognized the wide variety of targets you might dig on a shipwreck treasure beach.

If it wasn't hard enough for a detector to correctly identify the wide variety of items, some items will be bent, broken or stuck to other items. That makes target ID very difficult.

For shipwreck treasure hunting, a waterproof detector can be helpful. You can get hit by an unexpected wave or caught in a rain storm. I've even known one person that lost their detector to the sea on a rough day.

Here is the link to the review I am talking about if you are interested.

http://doodlebugs.hubpages.com/hub/Review-Of-The-Whites-Spectra-V3i-Metal-Detector

I suspect this would be a great detector for picking through trashy areas such as urban grass parking lots or parks where you don't want to dig any more holes than necessary.

Don't waste your money unless you need the capabilities you are paying for. Select your detector according to what, where and how you want to hunt. Remember, all detectors have their own specific strengths and weaknesses and will be better suited to one type of detecting rather than another.


If you've ever dug up a piece of metal that looks something like melted aluminum on a Treasure Coast beach, it could be titanium from a rocket or maybe the space shuttle Challenger disaster.

Here is a link to a web site that tells how to identify titanium.

http://mrtitanium.info/2008/03/17/how-to-tell-if-a-piece-of-metal-is-really-titanium/

As you might know, titanium is also used to make inexpensive jewelry these days and is much less expensive than platinum, gold or silver.


By midnight 8/8/11 gold finished at over $1751 per ounce. It is up again today.


A 2000 plus year old sword, still in its hilt, was found with some other artifacts in a drainage channel in Jerusalem.

Here is the link if you want to read that story.

http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/History/Early+History+-+Archaeology/Artifacts_destruction_Temple_8-Aug-2011.htm

Even small creeks and channels can conceal treasures.


Treasure Coast Beach Forecast and Conditions.

Emily has developed again. This time though, she is out in the middle of the Atlantic and no apparent threat to return to the mainland US.

The wind is out of the west and the ocean is very calm. No change to detecting conditions on the Treasure Coast.

I took a quick look this morning and saw that there are till basically two types of beaches right now. Some have a low flat wide low tide zone, and some have a front beach with a mushy front that slopes steeply down to the waterline.

I would focus on those beaches with a wide flat low tide zone. Some still have a number of metal targets, especially if you walk a distance from the parking lots. Some beaches also have some nice shell piles where you might be able to find lighter targets, such as fossils, sea glass or pot shards, if you are interested in that sort of thing.

On some of the beaches you'll some find metal targets between the shell piles and the water line.

It seems that the wide low tide zones are composed of layers of shells covered by fine hard-packed sand. It doesn't make for easy digging.

I only did a quick sample where I stopped today and dug some pieces of copper sheeting. I left some targets simply because I didn't have time to dig them all.

Anyhow, there are still some shipwreck items to be found on the beaches even if they are scattered and are not high value targets. You never know what might pop up.

Use rocks and other stationary items to indicate where the sand is moving.


Happy Hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net