6/27/15 Report - 8.5 Karat Diamond Found. Things You Need To Know. Beach Dynamics. How To Find Old Sites.

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

Above is a great illustration.  It gives more information than it might first appear.  I saved it long ago and can't find the source again right now.

Anyhow, the bottom wave in the illustration shows something similar to what has been happening on the Treasure Coast lately with the calm surf.

I showed quiet a few photos showing the waves breaking in shallow water and rushing over the sand in the shallow water in front of the beach.  The main difference with what is happening on the Treasure Coast and what is shown in the illustration is that many places on the Treasure Coast have a very flat front sand bench instead of the rolling sand bottom shown in the bottom part of the illustration.  The waves are breaking out fifty or so yards and then washing in over the fairly flat sand in the shallow water.  In many places there is almost no sand bar.

Many of the front beaches on the Treasure Coast are nearly flat too, being just a little higher than the sand in the water.  That happens when the surf is calm and fine sand is being moved.  You'll note that those flat front-beaches seem firm since the grains are fine and settle compactly.

Looking at the top part of the illustration, to the left of the sand bar, the water is deep enough that the waves aren't breaking.  The wave breaks as it crosses the sand bar.  The crashing wave picks up particles and moves them in to be deposited on the beach front.  There is, however, and under tow as the water rushes back down the slope.

A certain amount of velocity is required to pick up particles and other items.  If the undertow is strong enough it will carry a lot of sand back down the slope and into the water.

In this illustration we have so far ignored various factors such as the angle of the wave, and also the different densities and shapes of objects, sand and otherwise.

The key thing to know about that is that different size particles, and different objects require a different amount of force to dislodge them and the different particles and different objects will also drop out of the current at different velocities.

In the past I've referred to the point at which an particular particle or object will start to move as the trigger point and the point at which it settles, as the drop point.

I'll pick up there in another post.  I don't want to try to do too much at once because the number of factors multiply and it becomes confusing and difficult to explain.  I'll try to stick to a small number of principles at a time, so if you get them down one by one as we go, you'll be able to put it all together as we proceed.

Another important thing to know is how sand bars move.  You'll get some idea of that from this illustration as well.   That is not so important if you are looking for very old items, but it is important if you are hunting items recently dropped by swimmers.   There are times when the sand bar will move in and times when it will move out.  Check the eroding side of any bar where people have been congregating.

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A woman found an 8.5 karat diamond in Crater of Diamonds State Park.  

Park officials said Friday that the gem found by Bobbie Oskarson of Longmont, Colorado, is the fifth largest diamond found since the park was established in 1972...

Here is the link.

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2015/06/27/colorado-finds-852-carat-diamond-in-arkansas-state-park/?intcmp=ob_article_sidebar_video&intcmp=obinsite

You can visit Crater of Diamonds State Park and for a small fee hunt for diamonds.  Maybe a good little vacation trip.

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There is no better resource for finding good detecting sites than talking to an old timer who grew up in the area.  I was looking at a satellite view on Google Earth of the area where I grew up.  When I looked at that, I could see clear as day where two old barns were, where old trees were, and a nice spring house where the local farmer kept the milk cool in fresh spring water, a corn crib and other buildings that were no longer there.

There used to be a an old shed that was full of old embossed bottles back when I was a youngster.  I was attracted to those old bottles even then.  I could see the exact spot of three old bottle dumps even though there was no longer any sign of them.  Who knows how old they were when I was young?  They were old even back then.

One of the bottle dumps was on a hill over a creek.  We used to get bottles there, run up creek and throw them in, then run back down to where there was a rock outcropping on a cliff and sit there and shoot the bottles as they came by.  I wonder how many good old bottles got shot that way.

And I knew of even older stuff there.  The older generation told me about things that were before my time, like where the really old school house used to be and where they found arrow heads when planting potatoes when they were young.

When kids play around an area for years, it seems like the area gets permanently stamped in memory.  Not only do I know where things were, but I could walk to those precise spots like they were there today even though not a trace remains.  Most people today would have no idea that those things ever existed and if they did research them somehow, they wouldn't know them in such great detail.  I'll have to make a detecting trip there again someday and dig up some of the past that is most meaningful to me.

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A couple Fort Pierce boys found a box of military medals in the trash.  They were dumped after a home burglary.  Leave to young boys to be out exploring.

http://www.wptv.com/news/region-st-lucie-county/fort-pierce/two-fort-pierce-boys-discover-military-medals-tossed-into-trash

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The predictions are for another week of small surf on the Treasure Coast.  More of the same.  It will change some day.  Be ready.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

10/25/13 Report - Treasure Coast Finds and Old Post On Tricks of the Old Timers

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

Ring Found by Michael E.

 First here are a couple of Treasure Coast beach finds by Michael E.

Here is what he said.

Went to Jensen as tide was coming in last night (Monday night). Only stayed for about an hour and change and pulled in 4 rings 2 925 one I'm pretty sure is stainless...

There are hundreds of posts in this blog now.  Although hundreds of people read this blog daily now, it took a while for the blog to become that popular.


Token Found by Michael E.
Photos by Micheal



A lot has changed since this blog began.  The internet has grown and it now seems that everyone and their brother now has a blog or web site.



Someone said that there are so many posts in the blog now that I should post some of the older ones again, especially those that were exceptionally popular but probably not read by the more recent followers.

Here is one post that originally appeared in 2010.  It is one of my personal favorites.


Have you ever arrived at a beach and saw another detectorist already detecting your favorite spot? Or maybe you just saw the tracks of that detectorist who evidently left the beach right before you got there.

If someone beat you to your spot, you might look to see if it looks like the other detectorist knows what he is doing, or if he is likely to leave a lot. If he is gone, you might see if you can tell what he did and how he did it.

When there are other detectorists on the beach, you might notice what type of detector they are using, if they are digging may holes, how thoroughly they are covering ground, etc.

If someone was there before you, but is now gone, you might notice where the foot prints are, evidence of any holes, and how close together the foot prints are. That can tell you something useful.

Sometimes though, if the other detectorist is one of the wise old-timers that are still around, your observations might be misleading. Appearances can be deceiving, especially if you don't know who you are watching.

I reveal the following with some hesitation, and wouldn't do it if I thought it would make the tricks any less effective. I have faith that the old-timers will be able to stay one step ahead of the pack even if some of the old tricks are revealed to the audience of this blog.

First off, some old timers would actually disguise their detector. Some have been known to paint their detector, beat it up so it looks like an old piece of junk, wrap parts of it in duct tape or electrical tape, or even change the control box housing. I can tell you for certain that all of that has been done.

You should realize too, if you ever asked some of the old timers if they found anything, they would most likely tell you that they never found anything,and they might even tell you something like they never found as much as a tin can, and they don't think that their old beat up detector even works.

Here are some other things that old-timers have been known to do.

They would carry a few pull-tabs or iron nails in a pocket, and when a good target was dug, they would leave a junk item by the hole so that anyone following would think junk is what came out of the hole.

When being observed, after digging a good target, they would make a motion that looks like the target is being tossed while palming the good target, eventually slipping the good target into a pocket unobserved.

When far enough away from other observers, after digging a piece of junk, they would stand there a few seconds inspecting the object as if it were the Queen's jewels and ceremoniously clean it off before sticking it in what would appear to be a goody pocket or bag.

They would make a show of digging some nice deep holes as if there were targets where there were no signals at all.

When nobody is observing them at the time, old timers not wanting anyone to know where they had hunted, would often hunt next to the water line or in a few inches of water when the tide is coming in so that any holes or tracks would quicky disappear.

They would sometimes spread junk over good spots to discourage others.

Those are just a few of the tricks that I know have been used. But some of the best detectorists are seldom seen and never suspected. You probably won't see them, won't hear about them, and if you do wouldn't suspect them anyhow. They are solitary hunters who tend to remain in the shadows.

There are many more old-timer tricks, but that will give you some idea.


Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net