9/8/19 Report - After Dorian. Locked Gates and Open Borders: Thoughts. Beach Conditions. Shark Tooth Find.

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

Locked Gate.

I received this email from a veteran and regular reader of this blog.

I have really been troubled with the beach access situation in Indian River County. I am tired of walking around in the evening like I am some kind of criminal. As a war vet I love being back in America and love going to the beach. Especially at night. My family, friends and I love to fish at night, walk the sunsets or clear star nights and turtle walk. Why then are we denied access to our beaches for over 20 miles in IR County.

I found the DEP site I linked below and reported every access point as an issue due to gates being closed. They should only be closed in a dire emergency. The beach is not the county's, it belongs to the State.

As such, it is held in the public trust under the Public Trust Doctrine. I believe you will find that IR County is in violation of State law and the trust, and I urge all your readers to mark every spot (ambersands, turtle etc.) and report it.

Sometimes the government does things because they can and no one objects. This does not mean it's right. It's time to tell our public servants this is our land and we demand the gates be left open.

I am pro law enforcement and welcome their patrols but they should not be used to guard locked gates to keep law abiding citizens away.

Thanks for your daily work

DZ

Thanks DZ.  I've received emails from others that are upset about the beach closures as well.

I find it very curious that our beach accesses are more heavily guarded than our national border.  Why should it be easier for a terrorist to walk across the US/Mexico border than for a US veteran to walk onto an Indian River County beach?

GB had something to say about that yesterday.  See that post.

If danger is the issue, they'll have to construct safety fences around the ocean like those used for home swimming pools.  Lets face it.  Life involves risk and danger.

Get ready for beach closures this summer too.  Just the mention of a storm will open up federal dollars for beach renourishment.

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From Russ P.

I made my way to the Treasure Coast early Wednesday morning.  As has been well reported, there were unmanned patrol cars in front of the closed Turtle Trail and Seagrape accesses.  

I arrived to TT at 7am.  There were no cars parked outside the access.  I moved on to Seagrape and there was a single private car parked outside the access, so I decided to quickly check it out.  As I was walking to the access, I met the sole detectorist walking back to his car, reporting "no luck".  I took a quick look and although the water had hit the dune wall, there was a fairly steep slope with some mushy sand, so overall not much improvement.  There was not a single person on the beach at that time.  I did not detect.

Later, I met a detectorist who told me that, the day before, he had been escorted from Turtle Trail by police until they saw him cross the bridge in his car.  He repeated the story that the officers' approach is to keep other detectorists off the beach so they have no competition while they detect.

I wonder if there is any truth to that rumor.  On one hand, I find it unlikely.  However, judging from what I saw at Seagrape that morning, there was absolutely no reason for the access to be closed.  It was in good condition with a safe beach and beautiful surf.  Frustrating.

Thanks Russ.  All reports that I received so far indicate beach conditions at the closed beaches were not much improved by Dorian.

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From Jeff C.

       I detected the beach just south of the Vero Disney resort on Thursday. Like most of your other readers, not much found except for lots of can slaw! Conditions were not very good. A flat beach and lots of mushy sand. But the reason I’m writing you is as I was searching a nice shell line , I remembered your posts about looking for fossils amongst the shells . Within 2 minutes of that thought a sharks tooth was right in front of my coil.. a few minutes later what looks like possibility a horse tooth.. thanks for broadening my searching mentality.. I was genuinely excited to find something that old.    

Shark Tooth and Barnacle(?)

Finds and photo by Jeff C.

The second item looks like a barnacle to me.

I forget if I mentioned seeing a fossil in the shell line after Dorian.

By all accounts it seems like the closed beaches were no better than the other easily accessible. beaches.

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From Curt B.

In your 11/7/2010 blog you posted pics of a small silver object. I used to do a lot of E-waste scrapping and that little object looks a lot like a contact from an industrial breaker. The contacts are soldered on to a copper arm. The contacts are 40% silver. In the industrial breakers they vary in size but that looks like a lot of ones I have scrapped out over the years. Hope that helps in identifying it.

Thanks Curt.  I would never come up with that.

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One of the interesting things about Dorian and how the surf quickly dropped off, is that the low surf after the storm would not fill the beaches in again right away - that is if there was much erosion to be filled in.

I wasn't worried about getting out quick.  If there were any good spots, especially those that aren't detected as much, you could get out and detect those beaches days later.

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I should point out that John Brooks and Frederick Douglass beaches were closed slso while other nearby beaches were open.  John Brooks and Frederick Douglass weren't closed as long as Seagrape and Turtle Trail though.

Very few finds have been reported so far.

There are still some things in the Atlantic to watch.

Source: nhc.noaa.gov

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

9/6/19 Report - Indian River County Says No To Tourism and Keeps Beaches Closed. Bad Hurricanes Not New. A Few Finds.

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

Vero Beach This Morning.

Indian River County Turns Away Tourists and Beach-Goers.  

If you came to Florida to visit the beaches, stay away from Indian River County.  The county beaches were closed.

Two were being guarded by the Sheriff's Office.  Marked cars were parked in front of the closed gates at both Turtle and Seagrape Trails the past few days.  I don't know why the extra expense to guard those two particular beaches was necessary.

The gates were closed this morning at Turtle Trail, Seagrape Trail, Wabasso, Treasure Shores, Golden Sands, Amber Sands, and probably others that I did not see.

At least a dozen cars were parked along the road by Treasure Shores this morning.  I noticed one older couple walking into the park.

Several detectorists were also parked along the road about half way between Wabasso and Seagrape Trail.  There is a path there that has been used by detectorists for decades.

You can get onto the beach at Vero (See photo above.).  One detectorist was busy there this morning. There was apparently no danger there.

The gates at Rio Mar were also open, but there were no parking spots open. 

Round Island park was also closed.

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Pablo M. Sent This Photo of a 9/4 Find From Turtle Trail.

Pablo M. sent this photo of a find from Turtle Trail.  I can't quite make it out.

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Dave sent this message and a photo of his recent finds from Walton Rocks.

Hello. Yesterday I started at south end Walton Rocks, up high in front of condos and found some hard pack cutting into dunes. Tide hitting as I left.  A lot of clad, lures,sinkers,1 piece silver ,old wood iron banding still attached. As always you are spot on when it comes to your posts., I appreciate all the hard work it takes. Look fwd to your blogs end of every day.   Dave.

Walton Rocks Finds.

Finds and photo by Dave.

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Dorian may not be as unique as some suggest.

One of the most fatal hurricanes in history hit West Palm Beach in 1928 as a category four, killing at least 3500 people when Lake Okeechobee overflowed.

While the 1928 storm was the most deadly, the most powerful storm hit on Labor Day of 1935

The other irony: while the Okeechobee storm was one of if not the deadliest in state history, the most powerful meteorologically was a storm that came as the strongest one in recorded U.S.  history on September 2, 1935 — Labor Day. Originally, it was projected to hit on the same date (until it slowed, coming in now, they say, early Wednesday, if at all; we’ll see soon…). No other storm had lower barometric pressure (892) nor greater wind speed (at one point sustained winds of 185, at least for a full minute). But now Doria is about that same strength. The Labor Day Hurricane’s storm surge was eighteen to twenty feet, badly damaging the Florida Keys and actually obliterating one of them, Islamorada. We once interviewed a survivor who lost virtually everyone in his large family and had to swim all night in the dark as a child.

“It’s devastating,” said Joy Jibrilu, director general of the Bahamas’ Ministry of Tourism and Aviation. “There has been huge damage to property and infrastructure. Luckily, no loss of life reported.”

With its maximum sustained winds of 185 mph (295 kph) and gusts up to 220 mph, Dorian tied the record for the most powerful Atlantic hurricane ever to come ashore, equaling the Labor Day hurricane of 1935, before the storms were named.

Source of quote: https://spiritdailyblog.com/commentary/remembering-two-storms

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Three deaths in Florida were attributed to injuries sustained during hurricane preparation.  I can only imagine how many other injuries there were.

I have some good emails on that subject that I'll probably post in the future.

I expect to have some more find photos to share before long.

That is all for now.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

9/1/19 Report - Beach Closings and Beach Conditions, Including Some Early Erosion.

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

Fort Pierce South Inlet Park Afternoon 8/31.

I took a look at some of the South Hutchinson Island beaches Saturday afternoon.

The gates at John Brooks and Frederick Douglass beaches were closed when I was there, which was around 3 or 4 PM.  I could not see any reason why they were closed, especially considering that you could visit the other neighboring beaches.

I also saw barricades on the west side of the causeway, but they were on the side of the road instead of blocking the causeway.  It seemed they either planned to block the causeway and decided not to, or were getting ready to.

Fort Pierce South Inlet Beach 8/31 Around 3 or 4 PM.

There was already some erosion at some locations, as you can see from the following photos.

South Hutchinson Island 8/31 Afternoon.

South Hutchinson Island Erosion 8/31 Afternoon.

North of John Brooks 8/31 Afternoon.

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DJ drove from Sebastian to Vero on a little earlier in the day and found all of the Indian River County beach accesses closed, including Wabasso.  He did walk over the dunes north of McClarty and took the photos below.  He said he saw two other detectorists.

North of McLarty Afternoon 8/31

Photo by DJ

Beach North of McLarty on 8/31

Photo by DJ

North of McLarty on 8/31.

Photo by DJ.

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The surf is supposed to begin building on Sunday.

It seems that all of the Vero and Indian River County beaches were closed except for the beaches between McLarty and the Sebastian Inlet.

On South Hutchinson Island the gates were closed at John Brooks and Frederick Douglass beaches, and possibly other beaches. You could however visit some of the other beaches.

There was some erosion at a few spots. I could see that the high tide had been high on the beach.

I'm posting this early, but I had a lot of material ready.Please let me know of any other beach closings or openings.  Thanks in advance.

Source: MagicSeaWeed.com.

Happy hunting,

TreasureGuide@comcast.net