9/30/17 Report - Its Not Over Yet. More Surf To Come. Mayan Monument. Ballast Rock? Worked Bone. Blog Poll.

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

Source: nhc.noaa.gov

If you are not yet tired of hurricanes and stormy weather, there is still a lot out there to watch.  Hurricanes Maria and Lee are still on the map, but more importantly there are two areas closer to Florida to watch.  One is right over Central Florida and the other, down towards Puerto Rico.

Source: MagicSeaWeed.com

As you can see, MagicSeaWeed is predicting a 6 - 9 foot surf for Wednesday and Thursday.  That is a pretty good surf.  I don't care for the predicted wind and swell directions, but at this point all of that  is just a prediction and could change.  That surf is enough to keep my attention.

The tides are very moderate right now too.

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First M LB* Sports Cards

Discovered in 2015, the two ballplayer panels are the first of their kind to be found in Belize, the researchers said. Both have carvings depicting ballplayers and hieroglyphic captions, and they are thought to date to between about A.D. 600 and A.D. 800, Andres said...

The ballplayer was depicted as standing and holding one hand over his heart.

Researchers said the panels had a sweet smell and there was a pink residue on the panels.

They evidently weren't old enough to know that in the fifties and sixties, baseball cards came in a pack with a big wad of bubblegum.

The first part of this is true - down through the blue text.   The part after that was just me entertaining myself and perhaps a few other oldsters.  If you are old enough to have collected the old bubblegum cards, you would know what I was talking about - otherwise probably not.

Anyhow, if you want to read about the archaeological find, here is the link.

https://www.livescience.com/60552-maya-ballplayer-stone-panels-discovered.html


* MLB indicates Mayan League Ball

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Possible Ballast Rock.

I posted this stone the other day and labeled it as a ballast rock.  I put a question mark after it because I'm not absolutely sure that is what it is.

First, it is that it is not a type of rock that is natural to Florida.  Here is a link that will take you to a web site that shows the types of rock that are found in Florida.

http://www.dep.state.fl.us/geology/geologictopics/rocks/florida_rocks.htm

Second, it would make excellent ballast, being dense and rounded.  Although they would use all kinds of things for ballast, including metal or whatever rocks could be found including more angular rocks, Robert Marx wrote that rounded rocks were preferred.  Rounded rocks were also readily available in rivers near many European ports.

I've seen ballast rocks just like this, and this one did come from a beach very close to a known wreck ballast pile.

It is always possible that it a landscaping or other rock imported to Florida for some other purpose, but in my opinion, weighing all the pros and cons, there is a better chance that it is a ballast rock than an imported ornamental or construction rock that somehow found its way to a beach very near to a ballast pile.

Here is an interesting and relevant article on The Provenance of the Stone Ballast on the Molasses Reef Wreck by William Lamb, 1988.

http://nautarch.tamu.edu/pdf-files/Lamb-MA1988.pdf

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Piece of Fossilized Bone.

I took a closer look at this piece after it sat around for a few days.  I almost always do that with finds.  I noticed what appears to me to be a rounded cut at the top.  I don't know much about either fossils or Native American artifacts and would like any informed opinions.  I do know that they often made an attempt to get the marrow out of bones, and this bone is hollow, but I don't know if it is natural or worked.

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I woke up last night after what I thought was the funniest dream.  I was in school.  I just found a desk and sat down.  The teacher, who looked much like my little old lady first grade teacher, came over to my desk and told me to go get a cantaloupe.  I looked at her quizzically, and she said, "Go buy a cantaloupe and bring it back here."   That struck me so funny that I woke up and had a big suppressed belly laugh trying not to wake my wife.  It just seemed so odd and funny to me.  I don't know if you'll find it humorous at all.  I had another very funny dream after that, but I doubt you really want to hear about it.  I guess I'm just in a funny mood.  I hope you can forgive me.  Very entertaining night though.

It must have been those MLB (Mayan League Ball) cards that got me started.

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All responses to the blog poll are much appreciated.  Thanks.

If you've been watching that, you've seen that some good things were found since this turbulent month began.

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I wanted to talk more about the changing shoreline, but didn't get it together yet.  Might take some more days.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

9/28/17 Report - Lost Gold Wedding Band. USGS Coastal Change Hazards Portal. More Rough Surf.

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

Wabasso Beach Historical Shoreline Changes.
Source: https://marine.usgs.gov/coastalchangehazardsportal/

The USGS has an interesting web site that shows historical shoreline changes, including Florida. The snipping I posted above shows the Wabasso area.  If you look at the key and then the map, you'll see that back in the later 1900s the shoreline was farther out than it is today, but also farther out than it was in the mid-1800s.  It hasn't progressed continually in one direction or another, but has come and gone to some extent at various times because of both natural causes and beach renourishment.

Historical Shoreline Changes Around Fort Pierce Inlet
Same source.

There are a lot of interesting things you can find on the coastal hazards portal.  I didn't zoom in so much for the above image, but you can see that north of the inlet the shoreline is now farther out in the 2000s than it was in the mid-1800s, and south of the inlet, the shoreline is farther back in recent years than it was in the mid-1800s.  That is natural. You typically get accretion north of east coast the inlets and erosion south of the inlets because the supply of sand is cut off and that starves the beaches to the south.

If you look at the coast towards the top of the map, you'll see where the old St. Lucie inlet was.

I am showing these examples to highlight what I believe to be a very useful tool.  Here is another example.   The area is just south of Bathtub Beach.

You can see where back in the 1800s the shoreline jutted out.  Now the shoreline is much farther back than it was at that time, but it is more seaward than it was the the 1900s.  That is probably due to beach renourishment.  You can also see the rocks at the present shoreline.

Too bad they don't show us where the beach was in 1715.  That would be very useful.


Here is another example from the coastal change hazards portal.   This one (below) shows the probability of inundation and overwash from Irma.

Areas of Irma Inundation and Overwash.
Souce: USGS coastal change hazards portal.

You'll have to visit the site and take a closer look at this one with the key etc.

Another part of the same site shows that maria affected the South Carolina and North Carolina shoreline the most.

Here is the link if you want to really explore that web site.

https://marine.usgs.gov/coastalchangehazardsportal/

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People are acting like the surf has gone smooth.  It hasn't.  Look at this.

Source: MagicSeaWeed.com

And Sunday the swells are supposed to be more northerly.  Something good could happen yet.

A lot of people got excited when they heard there was going to be a hurricane.  Everybody got ready.  Then a lot of them went out and were disappointed. 

How many times have I said, it doesn't take a hurricane.  I recently posted about the 1984 Thanksgiving storm.  That was no hurricane, but there was a lot of treasure found.  I'm getting the feeling that a lot of people are starting to snooze after all the hurricanes passed by.  That might be a mistake.  There is still a lot of good surf predicted for the next week or two.  If it wasn't for the very high surf we've had lately, the surf that is predicted now would be getting people excited.  I'm just thinking that people might be giving up too soon.
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I got a report from Kevin K.  Here is what he had to say.

I went to Frederick Douglass and John Brooks beaches yesterday to hunt, using my ground-penetrating radar machine and my Bounty Hunter Landstar detector. The surf was, indeed, running 5-8 feet with many breaking on the first reef - wish I’d had a surfboard! As you said in yesterday’s blog, it looked like new sand had been added all the way up to the permanent dune, and I did not get one hit on the metal detector, although a lot of false readings on all-metal mode. Those readings must have been mineralized sand, as the discriminator mode never showed anything. The radar machine did not show any deep targets down to 10 feet, although up near the dunes some areas showed disturbed sand as deep as 5 feet...

Thanks for the report Kevin.

Kevin also lost a gold wedding ring in the process and is hoping it can be found.  Here is how he described that.

Somehow I did manage to lose my gold Claddagh wedding ring probably near the Douglas pavilion or in the parking lot of the street north of the Brooks Beach entrance-so if anyone finds the treasure I left, I’d like it back!

Let me know if you find Kevin's ring,, and I'll hook you up for the return. 

Kevin might also be able to do some ground-penetrating radar for you.  His business is Underground Discovery, LLC.

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That is all for today.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

9/22/17 Report - Predicting Versus Rating Beach Conditions. Will Maria Send Us Good Hunting? Coaked Sheave. Beached Sailboat.

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

Washed Up.
Photo by Warren D.

Warren D. said, This is located in Brevard County at South Spessard Holland Park. Similar to the one in Vero a couple of years ago.

I talked with the Channel 13 reporters and they said no one was on board but there was a mannequin.

The coast guard had boarded it at sea and saw no one was on board and they painted "OK" on the hull.---

Two hurricanes and little to show for it.  Disappointing!  That is how you might be feeling.

Irma and Jose raised expectations but didn't deliver much.  The surf got bigger, but on the Treasure Coast we didn't get anymore than brief erosion at a few spots.  There were definitely places that got more.

As I said the other day, it isn't over yet.  We still have a chance.  Maria is still out there, and they are predicting a surf of six to nine feet for three days.  And Monday we're supposed to have North winds. That could be what we've been waiting for.

I recently highlighted some factors that have to come together to produce what I would call ideal beach hunting conditions when I referred to the legendary Thanksgiving Storm: high surf, north/northeast wind, continuing for days coordinated with high tides.

The MagicSeaWeed surf predictions are frequently off when they predict a very high surf several days in advance.  As I've often pointed out, those high predicted surfs tend to get smaller as the time gets closer.  I don't know why that is, but it is a definite error in their model.

It is often said that one of the most important qualities for a treasure hunter is patience.  Treasure hunting is a very opportunistic activity.  You have to be at the right place at the right time.  You have to be alert and prepared to take advantage when the window of opportunity opens.

I often say there is always some place good to detect.  You might have to adapt.  It depends upon what you are willing and able to do.

I have no doubt that some of the most serious detectorists will travel to other parts of the state to find better hunting conditions.  Over the years I ran into fellows that lived in their van and traveled around always looking for  the best location they could find to detect.  Maybe they'd pull into Fort Lauderdale during the height of spring break, park their van and detect for days until some better opportunity called, and then they'd move on.  They'd follow the opportunities.

Most of us aren't willing to live out of a van and follow the biggest and best detecting opportunities. That is a choice we make.  For me and you that might be a good choice, but it is a choice.  We have our priorities and detecting doesn't come first.

You might have been disappointed by Irma and Jose.  It is better to be prepared than not be prepared when the window of opportunity does open.

I don't think I've issued any higher than a three rating on my Treasure Coast Treasure Beach Detecting Conditions Scale in a few years.  We just haven't had very good beach detecting conditions overall for quite a while.  All of the beach renourishment has not helped.  But there will be a time when the window of opportunity opens wide again, and I'd rather be prepared, even if it means that I was prepared several times and nothing much happened.  I guess it is something like putting up your hurricane shutters.  All of the preparation might be for nothing, but then again, at least you will be prepared when you really need it.

If you wait for me to issue a high rating on my beach conditions scale, I don't do that until I am highly confident that I should.  I don't issue those ratings without making very sure that I am correct.That means that I don't do that early.  I have to see it for myself.  But I also keep you informed about the predictions and developments as they occur, so if you keep up with what I am posting, you should have a very good idea in advance when something good might happen before it happens.

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Coaked Sheave.
Source: promare.co.uk/ships/finds

Recently I posted photos of sheaves.  One was found on the Treasure Coast as the result of Irma.  Of course sheaves vary.  The one shown above is in very good condition.  The found ones that I showed in this blog don't have the metal bearings anymore.  You can see how the bearing sits into a depression in the wood.

In case you didn't know, a sheave is a wheel used in a pulley block.  Back years ago Ian A. found one on the Treasure Coast with the bearing still in it and marked with a broad arrow, if I correctly recall, indicating it was from a ship of the Royal Navy

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Source: MagicSeaWeed.com

Notice that the surf predictions slipped just a little but not much.  I hope it doesn't slip any more.

If I had more accurate surf and wind predictions, I'd be able to better predict beach conditions myself.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net