Written by the TreasureGuide for the exclusive use of treasurebeachesreport.blogspot.com.
Maybe you fought the cold the past couple of days and feel like it wasn't worth the effort. Maybe you didn't find find what you wanted to find. If that is the case, I'm sure you are not alone, but that doesn't mean it is all over or it has all been found. A lot of people have been congregating at the same spots. They might have reason to do that, but there is always something to be found some place else if you don't just follow the crowd. They might not be the kind of spots you are looking for, but you never know what might show up if you are in a decent spot. |
| Detectorist Inspecting a New Hole Near the Fort Pierce Jetty Thursday. |
I went out and did a little detecting yesterday. I stopped and looked at a couple of places but didn't stay to detect. I did pick up some fossils at the first spot, but the third place I visited had a cut that looked ideal for producing targets, so I took my detector out. I found a concentration of coins right where I thought they should be, so I spent about an hour and picked up a number of clad coins and a few other things - nothing old though. I was only skimming the quick and easy targets anyhow. The cut just wasn't into the older stuff.
Here are a few points I want to quickly make today. I won't discuss them in a lot of detail today because I have other things I want to post.
1. By simply looking at a beach, you can usually tell where there will be a highly concentrated number of coins, when there is such a spot on the beach. Many times there are no such concentrations, and in that case you might have to detect large areas to find a few scattered targets.
2. You can tell when someone else has detected such a concentration of targets even if the tide has removed any visible tracks. You can tell by the distribution and type of remaining targets.
3. Detectorists will seldom clean out a good concentration of targets, so if you are not the first one there, don't worry too much about it. You can probably tell what the previous detectorist did or did not do, and that can actually help you.
Today I visited two beaches and looked at them and decided not to detect them, before visiting a third beach where I could quickly see an area where there should be a high concentration of coins (what I would call a coin line), and there was. I also knew the targets were not going to be hundreds of years old, but decided to take the quick and easy targets.
Don't think that such an area is cleaned out just because it has been detected. The place I detected had been detected for sure, but there was a good bit left. Whoever detected the area was using discrimination ( I did too since I was just skimming). I could tell that because the first three coins I dug were nickles, and some parts of the hot spot had been cleaned out fairly well. I also found spots that were missed. It had been detected before the most recent high tide, because there were no foot marks or hints of holes remaining.
I'll talk more about that some other time. I have a lot I could talk about today, so I'll have to keep some of it for some other time.
Here are a few points I want to quickly make today. I won't discuss them in a lot of detail today because I have other things I want to post.
1. By simply looking at a beach, you can usually tell where there will be a highly concentrated number of coins, when there is such a spot on the beach. Many times there are no such concentrations, and in that case you might have to detect large areas to find a few scattered targets.
2. You can tell when someone else has detected such a concentration of targets even if the tide has removed any visible tracks. You can tell by the distribution and type of remaining targets.
3. Detectorists will seldom clean out a good concentration of targets, so if you are not the first one there, don't worry too much about it. You can probably tell what the previous detectorist did or did not do, and that can actually help you.
Today I visited two beaches and looked at them and decided not to detect them, before visiting a third beach where I could quickly see an area where there should be a high concentration of coins (what I would call a coin line), and there was. I also knew the targets were not going to be hundreds of years old, but decided to take the quick and easy targets.
Don't think that such an area is cleaned out just because it has been detected. The place I detected had been detected for sure, but there was a good bit left. Whoever detected the area was using discrimination ( I did too since I was just skimming). I could tell that because the first three coins I dug were nickles, and some parts of the hot spot had been cleaned out fairly well. I also found spots that were missed. It had been detected before the most recent high tide, because there were no foot marks or hints of holes remaining.
I'll talk more about that some other time. I have a lot I could talk about today, so I'll have to keep some of it for some other time.
Below is a picture of John Brooks near low tide. Notice the features at the water's edge and the sand bar. There was a fellow detecting there.
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| Detetorist In The Distance At John Brooks Thursday. |
I'll get into that more some other time.
I received an excellent email from Steve in Sebastian who wrote about his January 3rd hunt, and I want to get that posted today, so here it is.
Wednesday Jan. 3rd.
Happy New Year "Boss!" I decided I would take in a little beach time with the CTX 3030 on Wednesday afternoon. Headed to the "San Roman" site off Kip's Cabin just south of the McLarty Treasure Museum.
It's a long walk for this old boy, but I have lots of good memories from this particular wreck. I recovered several 4 and 8 Reales from in the water years back, and then a small gold cross at the dune cut line. It was down about 3", you could have found it with my first $20 Relco!
I knew the temps were falling fast and the wind getting pretty brisk from the north, but the end of the rain coincided with the low tide at about 2:30. Besides... I'm an old Wisconsin boy. As always said... layers is the trick... first a thin T-shirt, then a thicker, larger T-shirt, then a zip up cotton "hoodie" jacket, and finally a -breathable- rain jacket. I like loose cotton pants for bending down and digging.
So I get to Ambersand Beach Public Access... and the weather is pretty sporty! I have to dress alongside the SUV, to stay out of the wind. I walk over the dune crossover and into open, empty air space! The biggest drop-off I have ever seen at a public beach site. I had to slide down, had to be a drop-off of 8'! I pity anyone just looking down at their equipment, or chatting with a friend, and not looking ahead and down.
I noted the beach was very, very wide. Wider than I have ever seen it in over 30 years. Looked like a totally different beach. Odd... But yet the dune line looked built up a couple feet already, as yes you do need to be there almost on the rear end of the storm. A couple tides between a storm and your visit, and most likely you will already be late to the game.
I got about halfway to Kip's Cabin, and here comes the driving wind and rain. But luckily more of a light fast drizzle. Because I was so far along, I stuck with it. I noticed the walking was definitely firmer than normal, and very nice walking. Not so tiring as in looser sand.
The water visibility was actually fairly good. I could see the first reef line off Kip's. I had the feeling I was getting much further out into the water than normal. No exciting stories of treasure finds today, just a penny.
But a strange and wonderful moment descended down upon me... __MY REAL TREASURE THAT DAY...THAT I WILL ALWAYS REMEMBER__???
The weather cleared and the sun came out. The wind backed down and it felt warmer. And I looked up and down the beach, north and south, as far as the eye could see the beaches. And the beaches looked so very wide, they looked so expansive, wider than ever before, and to my amazement... never before seen by me, not even 30 years ago when I first moved down here. There I stood... and I marveled as I realized that there was -NOT A SINGLE SOUL TO BE SEEN-...on the beach as far as the eye could see, even in both directions-. And I marveled how treasure comes to those who search it, sometimes in totally unexpected ways!
I knew I was standing pretty close to the exact site of the salvage and survivor's camp, (known as a "Real)." How did I know? I do my homework. I was standing approximately 800 meters to the south of the McLarty Treasure Museum, and on the north side of Kip Wagner's old cabin. Charles Higgs discovered the area and this "Real," in 1941. And for a second... surveying the long empty stretches of beach, took me back to 1715, and thoughts of shared feelings with Admiral Don Francisco Salmon'. The man in direct charge of all the salvage. Answering only to the King. Surveying the many broken hulls from up on his perch, Many beyond his line of sight down into Vero and Ft. Pierce. And all he could think of was... one day at a time..
Regards,
Steve in Sebastian
Thanks much Steve for sharing your thoughts and feelings on your recent hunt.
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Beach conditions won't be changing for a couple of days, but we are still having some good high and low tides. You'll be able to get to some areas that are not normally accessible without getting into the water.
Another increase in the surf is predicted for next week.
I'm still waiting for the first report of a treasure coin find in 2018.
Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net
