Winners of the TBR Model Detectorist of the Day Award.These guys were the only detectorists that I saw this morning. They were leaving Green Turtle Beach just after low tide this morning with a caddy filled with equipment, including a Beach Hunter detector and a carton filled with trash. If more detectorists would cart away a bucket full of trash when they leave, there would be a lot less trash on the beach, and a lot less junk to dig.
Kudoos guys.
Speaking of trash, I got an email from one reader who said that some detectorists up north were trashing areas with BBs to discourage other guys using pulse detectors. The reader was using a pulse detector, but uses a magnet that is installed in his scoop to quickly pick up the BBs and other small iron items. That is a good idea. I might have more tips on that for you some other time.
There are all kinds of tricks, and there are ways to counter each and every one of them. I know what my next move would be if I wanted to counter something like that, but I won't tell you. I don't want to start detector wars.
I'm a little handicapped right now. Seven stitches in one shoulder and a foot that got injured. As a result I didn't do anything heavy duty today. Just took a look at some beaches and did a little eye-balling. I'll probably show you the results of that tomorrow.
I also have been experimenting with some video techniques that might add to this blog.
I mentioned the recent archaeological discoveries at Fort Lauderdale Beach a couple of days ago.
If you are interested in the fort, the second Seminole War or Fort Lauderdale history in general, here is a really good report on all of that.
http://ci.ftlaud.fl.us/about/FortLauderdale_earlyhistory.pdf
It isn't a long drive from the Treasure Coast. I spent a lot of time detecting down there a number of years ago.
The blog survey made it pretty clear what this blog's readers would like to find. The main results aren't surprising, but some of the results were a little surprising to me.
First off, most readers would like to find a nice gold shipwreck artifact. Who wouldn't? But the results show that about three times as many people would like to find a gold artifact than would like to find a treasure coin. Somehow I thought treasure coins would do better.
Treasure coins were the second most desired object in my survey. Considering all the possibilities, even gold royals and everything, and the natural appeal of coins, with all of the information they present and the popularity of coin collecting, I would not have been surprised if coins came in first.
The third most desired find of all those listed in my survey was an expensive piece of jewelry. Indeed some jewelry can be worth tens of thousands of dollars, and I guess in some rare cases, even more. But is that all there is to it? Maybe the fact that it is wearable, or better yet, a great gift for a wife or husband might be part of the appeal. Or maybe it is due to the more constant availability of jewelry items or the fact that many readers don't live where there are shipwrecks so hunt modern gold more often.
All of the other categories trailed those top three by significant amounts. That surprises me. I would have thought that each category would have had a number of people interested in them. Every category was chosen by at least one respondent.
I wonder how people feel about space debris and meteors. I didn't think to include those in the survey. I also left out Indian artifacts. I just didn't think of it at the time.
People sometimes talk about the thrill of finding something that hasn't been seen by man before or holding something that hasn't been touched for many years. People do like finding old things, and fossils are way older than any shipwreck item, and a raw gold nuggets or gem fresh from a creek has never been held by man for a very long time. It's a complex matter how people become interested in things and how they value things. As I've said, I like all of those things, find them interesting, and value them in one way or another even when they aren't valuable in an economic sense.
Treasure coast Beach Forecast and Conditions.\
We'll be finally seeing a change. The wind has been from the south and the seas calm for a week or more now. Later this weekend the seas will begin to build - if the surf web sites are correct. It looks like we'll have about four foot seas early next week. While that won't change my conditions rating, it will freshen up the beach fronts some. That is always welcome. It might also create a few new little dips out there in the water.
I recently mentioned the tropical activity out there in the Atlantic and the NOAA web site. Here is another web site that provides a lot of good weather information. You might want to check it out. It was recommended by Bill P.
http://www.wunderground.com/tropical/
That's it for today.
Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net
