Written by the TreasureGuide for the exclusive use of treasurebeachesreport.blogspot.com.
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| Wide But Thin Gold Ring Detector Find. |
Do you remember the TV show Lost? I never liked it, but my wife did.
Well, I ran across this web site where some people went out and scouted around and found the locations where it was filmed. They found the specific locations where particular scenes from the TVshow happened.
That reminded me of all the times I've seen film crews and photo shoots on various beaches. Some of those locations were not at high traffic swimming beaches. Some were very much out of the way.
Crandon Park on Key Biscayne is one location where there have been a lot of photo shoots and where a lot of TV ads are made. That has been the case for a lot of years, and I often see ads that are shot there. There was one location right in front of a sand bar in the middle of the beach where they did a lot of the shoots, but there were times when they'd shoot at locations on the island where you'd never expect it. One day I saw a photo shoot taking place back in the mucky mangroves where most people never ventured. Models were running back and forth jumping in the shallow water. That activity plus the fact that they were changing clothes and working with a bunch of equipment, made that a good site to detect after they left. Those people had some nice stuff.
You might know where other TV shows have been shot. Virginia Key, just across Bear Cut (I think that is what it is called), was the site of a long running TV show. That was before Virginia Key was rehabilitated and it was primarily at a spot away from the swimming beaches and so could be easily overlooked by many detectorists. Many scenes of Flipper were also filmed very close to there.
The Alexander Hotel on Miami beach was where some of the Miami Vice staff stayed during production. Most detectorist back in the day hunted south of there at some of the bigger hotels and busier beaches.
Those are just a few that come to mind. My point is not that you should go to those specific places to detect today, but if you know where filming or photo shoots have been conducted, those spots can be good places to detect - particularly those which are more out of the way and therefore where few others would have detected since.
It can also be a bit of a treasure hunt to just go out and identify the locations where the scenes of movies or TV programs were shot.
Here is one web site that talks about the fun of going out and locating where film scenes were shot.
http://www.govisithawaii.com/2007/07/10/finding-lost-sites-on-oahu/
One thing I want in a detector is compactness. Even if it isn't the kind of detector I'm looking for, the SDC 2300 folds up nicely. I like that. Sometimes you want to take a detector on a plane or pack it a long distance on foot. And sometimes you might want to ship it. I'd like a detector that disassembles, folds up, takes little room, doesn't have unnecessary bulk, which also means it does not have unnecessary features. I can give up a lot of features. I don't need a lot of bells and whistles. In fact I'd prefer to not have them.
If you look in your detector, the circuit board takes up very little space. The knobs and adjustments take up quite a bit. I can do without most adjustments. I can't remember the last time I took my primary detector off of the automatic sensitivity setting. I could easily do without that adjustment, as one example. I don't need most of the knobs and adjustments.
A few diode lights could provide all the signal that I need, or maybe better yet, a bud ear piece. I don't need or want big neon headphones. (You could wear some controls or battery pack under your hat.)
I once made a pocket inside my hat for things. An small control box could easily be worn there.
I don't want a bunch of wires. They aren't necessary any more. Basically I want an unobtrusive coil and a simple indicator of signal strength. Make everything else that can be done away with disappear. Maybe a button to turn it on and one of two small switches or buttons.
The XP Deus is one step in that direction. They've eliminated some of the wires and use a smart phone as a control box.
I once made my own rod out of a short sections wood that I packed in my carry-on luggage. The standard metal rod wasn't wanted or needed.
There are times when you don't need an entire length of rod, such as when snorkeling, or here is one you might not have thought of, when detecting on a steep hillside.
I can't believe how slowly metal detector technology has changed. Just the other day I saw a brand new 2014 detector model using the exact same rod assembly the manufacturer was using over twenty years ago. I know there is no reason to change for the sake of change, but there should be significant advances over that amount of time.
I know, some of you will rave about this or that detector or change or improvement, but I haven't seen anything new that impresses me as being significantly better than what I had 25 years ago.
The detectors I used over twenty years ago are just as good as what I can get today - at least when it comes to my wants and needs. Those detectors were good basic machines. They weren't produced by major manufacturers but were put together by individuals and they did the job. There were things that I would have liked to change about them, for example they were unnecessarily awkward and bulky just like detectors today.
I've mentioned this before, but here is a video about it. I'm talking about the Tiffany ring lost on Jacksonville Beach, found by a detectorist and returned a year later.
http://www.cnn.com/video/data/2.0/video/us/2014/05/19/dnt-tiffanys-engagement-ring-lost-found-beach.wjxt.html
Did you notice that it was found buried under a fishing sinker? Always check to make sure there isn't more than one target.
Here is a good article about six people who accidentally found a fortune. Two of those six stories are about really fascinating metal detector finds. One was found while a farmer was trying to find his lost hammer. That resulted in the find of the Hoxne Hoard. Another is about a lady who detected every Sunday afternoon for seven years before she stumbled on a very important find.
Here is the link.
http://mentalfloss.com/article/22449/get-rich-quick-6-people-who-accidentally-found-fortune
The surf on the Treasure Coast is two or three feet today and for a couple more days, then it will go flat again later in the week. Nothing that will change beach detecting conditions.
Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net
