11/11/18 Report - Thanks Vets! Little Cutting on The Treasure Coast Beaches as Front Passed Through. Hurricane Map Active Again.

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

John Brooks Beach Sunday Afternoon.

We had a little front come through yesterday.  It seems like we've had five or six fronts over recent months that have done about the same thing.  When the front comes through and the wind come from the north/northeast and we get a little cutting, but then as the front passes, the wind changes and that is the end to that.  The sand starts filling again.  One or two tidal cycles of north winds and cutting is about all we've been getting.  You check the wind patterns on Ventusky.com.  It is really helpful.

There was a fellow metal detecting at John Brooks.  You can see him in the wet sand in the above photo.

Here is how it looked yesterday and into this morning when we were getting a northeast wind and when a little new cutting occurred.

Wind Map

Source: Ventusky.com.

If you want to see the progression, check Ventusky.  You can pretty much tell when there is a possibility of cutting.

The sand in front of the cuts is mushy until you get close to the water.

Frederick Douglass Beach Sunday Afternoon.

\The cutting was a bit smaller at Frederick Douglass Beach.  You can see that above.

It was still too warm on the beach for my liking.  The snow birds are arriving.

Up north the leaves change color in the Fall.  In Florida the license plates change color.

Surf At Frederick Douglass Sunday Afternoon.

What I wanted to show with this photo is the brown water where the surf was breaking and picking up the sand.  That doesn't show though.  You could see where it was washing up onto the beach after the cutting occurred.

Although hurricane season is almost over, there is some activity on the National Hurricane Center map.

Source: mhc.noaa.gov

As you can see, the system is east of the West Indies.  It has a less than 40% chance of becoming a cyclone in the next forty-eight hours.  If it continues to develop, there is a good chance that it comes toward us.  Right now it is too early to tell what will happen.

The surf is not going to get much higher tomorrow - just a touch.

Source: MagicSeaWeed.com

Don't expect the beach detecting conditions to improve much any time real soon.

Once again,
Thanks vets!

9/13/17 Report - Irma Finds. Bridge Openings and Beach Accesses Closed. Some Beaches Cut.

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

Haul From One Low Tide.

Photo submitted by Captain Jonah Martinez

Holes Where Recoveries Made

Photo by Captain Martinez

I'm still struggling with a strange computer that won't pick up the photos from my cell phone, so this post isn't going to be as good as I hoped.

I took some beautiful beach photos this morning but you aren't going to see them until later.

The bridge to South Hutchinson Island was open this morning.  I assume that the bridge to North Hutchinson Island was also open.  However the John Brooks beach access was closed this morning.

Jonah told me that 510 was open.  He said they were hunting Sunday AM and then the beach starting filling again.

At John Brooks there was a substantial cut this morning from the condos and north of that, which ran down at least to Frederick Douglas.  It was about four feet high and pretty far back towards the dunes.  I would say at the John Brooks walkover the cut was back to about forty yards in front of the walkover.

In front of the cut. there was a lot of mushy built up sand.  There were a lot of nice shells.  It was a good day for shell collectors.

For beach metal detecting overall, I'd rate conditions as no better than a three on my five point scale.  I would not be surprised if it deteriorates until Jose sends us some good north winds.

The only beach I saw was John Brooks so I'm going on the basis of what I saw and the reports I received.  So far I'm very iffy on my rating.

If this computer was cooperating better, I would explain my rating scale again.

Too bad I couldn't post the pictures I took, but I'll get another look at the beaches sometime soon and hopefully be able to post more photos.

I don't really know why the John Brooks access was not open today.  I suspect more beach accesses will be open tomorrow, but can't say which ones will or won't.  Sometimes it is difficult to see any reason for some closures.

I got some reports from North Florida, and it seems they got some improved beach detecting conditions.  I know of one shipwreck under the beach up that way that yielded a variety of large spikes.

Someone asked me about the West Coast of Florida.  I'll try to address that, better in the future, but I'd bet treasure coins will be found in the Naples area where they have been found in the past.

I hope I get my computer going soon.  This one is driving me crazy.

I hope everybody is well.  I'll try again later today or tomorrow.

Be safe,

TreasureGuide@comcast.net

11/15/15 Report - Current Treasure Coast Beach Detecting Conditions and Predictions.

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

Treasure Coast Beach This Morning.

As you know, we've been having a lot of wind and some waves.  I went out to the beach this morning to check it out.  I didn't expect much, and that is what I saw - not much.

Usually it takes up to six or eight foot seas to really improve conditions, but there are other factors involved.  The direction of the waves is very important, and the tides have an effect.

This time we had a brief period of north wind yesterday and then it turned.  The waves this morning were hitting directly from the east.

The first beach I visited this morning is shown above.  Nothing but some shallow scallops.  The water had been up fairly high, but no erosion on this beach.

Another Treasure Coast Beach This Morning.

There was no erosion at the next beach I visited except for one small stretch.  The cut there was less than a foot high and not very long.

Note the sea weed.  That is an indication of accretion, not erosion.

Small Cut.

This small cut evidently occurred during a previous high tide before the wind changed.  The sea weed in front of the cut shows that after the cut was created and the wind changed, it started to fill again.

Small Boat Washed Up Onto Beach

At least we've been getting some rough water lately. October and November have traditionally been pretty good months for detecting.  We often get some of our first storms then.

We need to get back down to the sand levels we had back a few weeks ago and then some.

The next few days we're supposed to have 3 - 5 foot surf.  On Wednesday it is supposed to be a bit higher, maybe up to seven feet.

If the wind direction stays as predicted, it won't be good.  Nothing but east and then southeast winds.  I'm not expecting much improvement in beach conditions from that.

I'm sticking with a 1 rating on my Treasure Coast Treasure Beach Detecting Conditions Rating Scale. I'll hope for something better but am not expecting it.

If you scout around some you probably be able to find some small cuts and slightly better spots.

I have some pictures of my favorite finds from my trip up north ready to show.  I'll probably do that tomorrow.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

10/26/15 Report - Treasure Coast Beach Conditions. Meg Teeth Being Found On N. C. Beaches. Advantages of Team Detecting.

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

Photo Taken Monday Afternoon.

Here is one beach that I showed a couple of times last week.  The cuts have almost disappeared at this beach.  In some spots there are no cuts, and where the cuts remain, they are only about one third as big as they were early last week.  The front beach is now mushy.

All the beaches that I've seen in the past week have had a pile of sand in front of the beach.  It is at least ten or twenty yards wide and has been protecting the beaches.

The surf is decreasing and will continue to decrease this week.

Another Beach As Seen Monday Afternoon.

The two beaches shown are Douglas and Brooks.  They aren't far apart, but you can see that one still has nice three-foot-plus cuts, and the other looks like it has mostly filled in.

I wanted to show how different these two beaches are, yet they are the same in some ways.  Although the cuts have not filled in on this beach, it has filled a little, and it also has that pile of sand in front of the beach.

The water hasn't hit the cliffs here much since early last week when they were formed.  Although this beach looks better, there are very few good targets.  Many of the good targets were removed days ago, and there is nothing going on to replenish old targets or bring in new ones.

I'm not saying there will be no more cobs found on the Treasure Coast beaches, but they will be much harder to find now than they were a few days ago.  What I saw today made me very confident that my reduced rating of "1" on my beach conditions rating scale is correct.

The surf is down to around 3 - 5 feet today and will slowly be decreasing through the week.

In a day or so the wind will be coming from the south again.  I hope that doesn't last long.  I don't want all of the beaches to get filled completely back in.

It seemed that the low tide was pretty far out today, but that didn't do much good because it only exposed the pile of sand in front of the beach.

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Team detecting can be very effective.  By detecting with others you can scan more ground.  As I've shown with some of my polls, the probability of finding a cob once one has already been found.

If you can scan more ground, you have a better chance of finding those good productive spots.  When detecting with others you will also have fun sharing information and talking about your experiences and finds.

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Lots of Meg teeth are being found on North Carolina beaches lately.

http://fox8.com/2015/10/24/massive-prehistoric-shark-teeth-wash-up-on-north-carolina-beaches-after-storms/

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Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

10/16/15 Report - Beach Conditions Starting To Improve This Morning. Different Times and Stages For Detecting. Items That Sell Well.

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

South Hutchinson Island Beaches This Morning Before High Tide

It looks like we're finally transitioning from summer beach conditions.

From what I saw this morning, beach conditions are improving.  In my opinion not enough to increase my beach conditions rating quite yet, however it might be the start of something.

The wind changed yesterday and blew some last night so I thought I'd go see what, if anything, was happening.

These beaches were eroding well before high tide.  I'd expect more later.

The water isn't getting up as high on the beach as it did when we had the high tides, but at least there is some erosion.

The erosion I saw ran for probably a mile.  It wasn't big though - less than two feet at the highest and usually less.

The surfing web site says we're going to have a small surf today and tomorrow, increasing slightly Sunday and then Monday up to something like eight feet.

Funny how we got this erosion with such a small surf.  I always say that the size of the waves isn't the only thing that matters.  Angles are very important.

Hopefully we'll get some decent angles when the surf gets big.

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Life is short and passes quickly.  You only have so much time, and can only do so many things. With your time you can either dabble in a lot of different things or dive into one thing and do it very well.

My detecting and professional life have both been varied.  I've done a lot of things, but managed to do some of them fairly well.

There have been definite stages in my detecting.  When I started detecting, I hunted coins, kept track of my coin finds and gradually got better and was able to find more and more coins.

That stage passed as I became more interested in finding jewelry. That progressed in steps and stages too.  I became primarily a shallow water hunter.  I changed how I hunted and got a detector that was excellent for finding gold in salt water environments.  I got into detecting very radically for a while.

Where I lived was a very important factor.  It offered a lot of good jewelry and also good water hunting conditions.

While I was doing consulting work and traveling around the country doing  work for organizations such as the Navy, Federal Express and Martin Marietta, I got to detect a lot of different places.  I liked detecting the lakes around Minneapolis and the beaches and historic areas around Pensacola, for example.  My jewelry hunting strategies and techniques worked well in those different places.

Then there was the period between jobs before I went back to university teaching.  I had a few months between jobs, and it was during that period that I was able to prove to myself that I could make a decent living at detecting if that was what I wanted to do.

I spent a lot of time detecting during that period and did some really intense detecting.  I spent a lot of time hunting and worked very difficult conditions, including very rough water.  I even did some dangerous things that I wouldn't be stupid enough to try now.

One thing I kind of regret is not going to Columbia when I was invited to be a keynote speaker at a computer education conference at Antonio Nurino Unversity.   There were travel advisories at the time because of the drug wars.  I'd love to detect there, but probably never will now.

Eventually I moved to the Treasure Coast.  Then I got more into finding old things.  The old jewelry hunting techniques still worked well when I wanted to do that.  I had to learn the new local beaches though.  I still don't know the Treasure Coast beaches as I knew the South Florida beaches.

Hunting old stuff is different from hunting modern stuff.  You have to use different strategies and techniques for optimal results.

I'm no longer as intense about detecting as I once was.  My family situation has changed and my priorities have changed.  Maybe I've matured some.   When the hurricanes hit, I didn't even get out to the beaches because I had other priorities.  I missed out on a lot of good finds when I missed out on some of the best hunting conditions, but like I said, my priorities have changed.

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According to Kovels Komments

Click here to see the other popular items on their list.

Don't ignore jewelry finds just because they are costume jewelry.  They can still be worth something.

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The main thing today is the improving conditions.  Keep watching to see what happens the next couple of days.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

5/2/15 Report - Finally The Surf Is Increasing. Dime Hole On One Beach. Fort Pierce Renourishment Project.

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

One Treasure Coast Beach Showing Poor Conditions Yesterday Near Low Tide.

Notice the lazy surf.  Yesterday there was only enough force to continue moving sand onto the beach.

Also notice the whitish water next to the beach.

I didn't bother to take my detector out at this beach.

A Similar But Different Beach Yesterday Near Low Tide.

This beach was different from the one shown above.  This one has a flat low tide area and a steeper front beach behind that.

Sand was lost here a few weeks ago when the high tide got higher up near the dunes.  The slope of the beach is therefore slightly concave as compared to the one above.

Above the bend shown near the top of the picture I found what I would call a very lose coin hole.  Coins were scattered from the old high tide line down to near the flat front beach.

The strange thing to me was that a very high percentage of the coins were dimes.  The first eight coins I hit were dimes.  That is a bit unusual.

All of those dimes had a thick dark green patina.  Obviously not just a spill.  They were spread out, not clustered.

Almost all targets were deep again.  I'm thinking someone probably detected this area not long ago and got all but the deeper smaller items such as the dimes.  Only one or two of them were not that deep.

Dredge Out By Capron Shoals.

Here is the dredge ship collecting sand for the Fort Pierce Jetty Park project.  That thing has been dragging on for months.


Here is what the county says.

The Corps awarded a $6.24 million contract to Manson Construction Co. of Seattle in September 2014 to construct this project, which is scheduled to be completed no later than the end of May...   Crews will dredge beach quality sand from an offshore borrow area and transport it via hopper dredge to the inlet where it will be pumped onto the beach via pipeline.  A team will use heavy equipment on the beach to move the sand.  Dredging operations will run 24 hours daily, weather permitting.

And here is the link for the entire article.

http://www.stlucieco.gov/media/13848.htm


They say they are bringing quality sand.  I don't think it could be much worse than the sand they pumped in a few months ago.  That sand was fine, eroded in a hurry, and was FULL of junk.  It looked like they got it from trash mountain.

A couple of artifacts did get dumped on the beach with the tons of trash.

This sand is coming from about four miles southeast of the jetty.

You might find the Army Corps web site interesting too.  It tells what they are doing around the state.

 http://www.saj.usace.army.mil/

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The big news for me today is that the wind has changed and the surf on the Treasure Coast is picking up.   The wind is coming from the north this Saturday morning.  It is supposed to be north/northeast for a couple of days.

The surf will increase today and continue to increase up to five or six feet tomorrow.

That is a welcome change.  The current prediction is for the surf to stay up around the five foot area or several days.  I'm glad about that.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

11/5/13 Report - More Rough Surf and Another Upgrade in Beach Detecting Conditions.

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


Yesterday I upgraded the rating on my 5-point Treasure Coast Treasure Beach Detecting Conditions Scale from a 1 to a 2 and said there will be some cobs found.  I was early making the prediction, and I was correct.  There were some cobs found.  Here is one example of a light-weight Philip half reale.

Half Reale Cob Found on the Treasure Coast Yesterday.

It is a small reale and could have easily been missed.  In weighs only .5 grams.

The surf along the Treasure Coast got higher today than it was yesterday.  There was some additional erosion today, but not a great deal.  For one thing, the waves are hitting pretty much from the east instead of the north.

Nonetheless, there was additional erosion today and some improvement in beach detecting conditions.

The beaches that produce cobs do not necessarily produce much other additional signals or targets.  I've seen both kinds of beaches the past two days.  One with not much but a cob or two, and another beach not far away with modern coins.  The beach with a lot of modern coins had coins from the foot of the cut down to the water.

Surf After High Tide Today.

As you can see from this photo, the surf was rough - certainly rough enough to stir some things up even though the sand bar is absorbing a lot of the force.

Like yesterday, the water wasn't getting too far back and the cuts were generally towards the front of the beach.

Today (Tues.) we had a 5 - 8 foot surf.  That will decrease a touch, but not much tomorrow if the predictions are correct.

Different beaches are definitely looking different and differ in how good they are right now.

Long Three to Four Foot Cut on South Hutchinson Island Today.

It looked like South Hutchinson Island eroded a little more than the Indian River County beaches, but both areas had their cuts.

Today through Saturday the surf is supposed to remain pretty high.  That will give you a chance to pick and choose your times and spots.  In the past couple of years when we did get a higher surf it was often for just a day or two.  If we can get a continued north to south long shore current that should really help move us into winter beach conditions.

John Brooks Beach Erosion.

One thing I highly recommend is to test your detector settings at the beach using a target similar to what you want to find.  The closer the test target is to what you want to find, the better it will be.

If for example, you want to find a silver reale, take one (preferably a small one) to the beach and put it on the sand where you want to hunt, and test your settings.  Sweep repeatedly over the test target and change the settings until you have the best signal.

This isn't a bad idea any time to you detect on the beach.  Start by adjusting your settings and sweep speed with a test target before detecting.  Small reales like the one shown above can be easily missed if your settings and sweep speed are not good.

If you don't have a reale and that is what you want to find, what I've recommended before is to get a silver dime and cut it in fourths, and then adjust your detector settings using the quarter dime as the test target.  It will be close.  Be sure to vary your sweep speed and observe how that affects the signal.

We still have several days of good rough surf predicted, so that will give you a chance to give it a go.

I think it is Saturday that the surf is supposed to be up to 7 feet again.

I'll upgrade my Treasure Coast Treasure Beach Detecting Conditions Rating to a 3 for now.  In case you are new to the blog, the scale is a five-point scale, with 1 indicating poor conditions and 5 excellent.

The beach will change day by day.  Some spots will get better and others worse.

That is about it for today, but here is an article you might enjoy.  An old settlement site was discovered during a construction project in Iowa.

Here is the link.

http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20131101/NEWS/131101029/UI-School-Music-excavation-unearths-historic-treasures?nclick_check=1


Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net