3/31/19 Report - A Few Finds. Scouting Around. Treasure Coast Past and Present.

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

Recent Small Gold Band, Silver Cross and Silver Coin Finds

Sorry about the quality of the picture, but my better camera is refusing to upload images.

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The past two days I found a nicely eroded beaches to detect.  They weren't the primary shipwreck treasure beaches that we always think of, but they did provide some enjoyable detecting.  I'd rather detect a beach that is cut and producing than a treasure beach that is not.  If a beach is producing, you always have a chance of something good popping up even if it isn't a shipwreck treasure.  

I had to walk a ways to find the beach I detected a couple days ago, and the next day I figured the other beach might be eroded because of its situation.  I hadn't been there for a few years, and I was glad to find that it was indeed nicely eroded when I arrived.

There are a lot of factors you can use to evaluate a beach and whether it is where you want to spend your time, but that is not what I want to talk about now.  The point I want to make is that the time you spend scouting around can be time well spent. Although evaluating a site can include many factors, one of the more important factors is the current condition of the beach.

The beach reports that that I share can save you valuable time, but even when the treasure beaches aren't producing, you might still want to do some detecting, and as I often say, there is always some place to hunt and something to find.

Not all of the beaches will be the same.  One beach might be terrible, but if you go around the bend it you might find something entirely different.  If you start a little early, you might look at a few beaches before you decide where you are going to spend your time.

There are some places that will erode more frequently than others  They might have rocks or other obstructions to the flow of sand.  Some beaches will even be angled to erode during easterly swells.  The more you are out there and the more you look around, the better chance you will have.

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The expertise of my readership is amazing.  Southern Digger has decades of experience and has done a lot of archaeology around South Florida even though he has not always received the credit deserved.  You can find his contributions to this blog by using the blog search box.

I always enjoy hearing about  bygone days of the Treasure Coast and thought you would also enjoy reading  Digger's email.

Always following the TG reports. I noticed the photo of found Chinese porcelain from aside the museum. It bothers me to this day that I used to cut through those exact woods north of the beach cabins to hunt the beach. If I only had knowledge from the Wagners of this site, I would have been better off searching above the bluffs with my old BFO detector which frankly was quite inadequate for the beachside in the wet sand. However, that is all that I had to use in the early 70's. But then again, I was very cautious about not searching above the bluff on properties that I had no business being thereon without permission. If that was not an issue for me then I would have much to show for it today. During those early years I would search Douglas Beach (then, known as Old C.Beach) from the park access and north for two or three miles--beyond where Brooks Park is now located. I recall the entire area was covered with Australian pines and a dirt trail heading northward from the park just behind the dunes. I know because I drove on it in about 1973  and became stuck, despite wide tires on a lightweight Datsun S/W. This was old A1A. I have a photo of that in my album stored away. Also, I recall that Mel's small barge was beached way north of Douglas Beach Park--at about where Brooks is now located. Back then, I would search from Douglas Beach and well north of the beached barge because that is where I believe gold was recovered in close to shore. Therefore, on Thursday, I drove up to Douglas Beach from South Florida, arriving just at daybreak. I donned a poncho and a canteen belt. I searched from just south of the Douglas Beach Access and northward for about 8 hours and 2 1/4 miles carrying a steel water scoop and my Excalibur 1. The saddest thing I noticed today is the lack of a natural beach, all now covered with a heavy dull-colored muddy sand. Nothing was more beautiful about the Treasure Coast years back than the blends of natural colored white and black sand, including debris from an occasional beach side midden. I thought those who allow such dredging destruction should be put in prison for life. Anyhow, I searched wet sand when surf allowed, chasing the waves back down the beach; and, I searched below and above the many small cuts although, they were dredging fill cuts. As you reported, clad coins and occasional fishing tackle was all that I recovered--and mostly from wet sand. I think the flat buttons are interesting, but have never found such on the beaches up there. It was good to see the beautiful surf during the North-Northeaster, but sad to see the shipwreck of an un-natural beach. 

Southern Digger

I've heard from many of you who dislike the renourishment projects and fake sand as much as Southern Digger and I.

I was recently noticing how some of the beaches have changed over the years and decades.  Beaches naturally change, but there are also the changes caused by various projects.  I don't know what year it was, but it wasn't too many years ago that the removed the Australian Pines from John Brooks.  There aren't many of the old painted signs left that the salvors used to use to get a fix on their position.  Many of them were in the trees.  Maybe someone can send me an old photo of some of those.

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It looks like the next several days there will be a three or four foot surf.  The tides are pretty flat.

I could have used a west wind yesterday, but just the opposite, there was a rain shore pushing water in where I was trying to work.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

5/21/17 Report - Analyzing How You Detect. One Person's Adventures With Treasure Hunting. Turtle Trail Beach Conditions.

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

Turtle Trail Beach Sunday
Photo by Darrel S.

The summer heat is here.  Darrel S. sent in these photos.  He also sent the brief report that I posted below.

Notice the shells near the water line.  The picture below also shows a little dip in front of the beach.

You can find a few shark teeth and other fossils around there at times.

Another View of Turtle Trail Beach Sunday.
Photo by Darrel S.

Here is Darrel had to say about his hunt.

Better then last few days. More shells, but sand is still thick in low tide line. Very mushy. Nothing but pull tabs and iron debris. Others had similar finds. Mostly clean. Too many detectors in this area for summer!

Thanks for the pictures and report Darrel!

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Some of you might know Ken H. (Southern Digger).  He detailed some of his activities in a recent email to me.  Here are some of them.

...I have been enjoying the Gold Shows including Coopers Treasure. It was in 1973 while attending college and visiting Fisher's treasure museum ship in Ft. Lauderdale when being offered a job to dive for Mo in Ft. Pierce to Sebastian area. I did not get certified until 1975 when my dive coach offered me a second opportunity to dive for Mo at Sebastian on the Fisher contracts. However, after I graduated, instead, I personally pursued a wreck at Jupiter Inlet in 1977 but was shut down by the local politics, Soon after,,I was brought into land explorations and archaeology and the work became overwhelming. Therefore, I formed a non-profit society to assist with land archaeology sites in South Florida and one of my members--an X-Marine--after being directed by me, became a diver for Mo in the latter 1980's.Sometime before or thereafter, I am certain that I met Mickos's father at a shipwreck artifact exhibit.,,

...my family took a camping trip to Central Florida East Coast and camped at Sebastian Inlet on the north side and fished at the inlet., Back then, anyone could camp west of the bridge on the north side of the inlet for free. However, no electric or facilities. More important, north of the inlet and east of the bridge was a small cafe and that is where I saw some of Kip Wagner's shipwreck artifacts mounted on the back wall.On inquiring, I was referred to the "Pieces of Eight" book and all things changed after reading it. I called Kip in 1971 or 72-ish asking for wreck locations so that I could detect the beach. I ended up talking to his son and learned that he had recently passed, However, his son spent a good 15-30 minutes and provided me with mileage south of the inlet to each wreck site. After that, I spent trip after trip to the area, searching the beaches between Ft. Pierce and the Sebastian Inlet. Later, I gave these locations to a non-profit historical club member and late-friend after taking him to search the beaches.Later, he converged with a few treasure divers, updated the locations which are now beach parks, and published a book that provides wreck locations which is still popular today. Cooper dived with Kip on occasion and I wished I was born a few years earlier so that I could meet both of them. Never give up the pursuit....

Thanks for sharing Kenneth.

It is interesting how people get into treasure hunting, and there are still a few around who were involved with the early years of detecting.

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I watched a few metal detecting videos lately and was amazed by the amount of time a lot of people spend on target recovery.  Between the first signal and getting the target in the pocket, a lot of time elapses.

One of the advantages of using discrimination that people talk about is saving time by not recovering junk targets.  I think sometimes that it is actually not so much a concern about time being wasted as it is about the effort spent in digging and sifting and the frustration that results from seeing a junk target emerge after going through all of that.

I've seen people spend tons of time going over a target multiple times and trying to decipher what the detector is telling them.  That spent time does not seem to bother then nearly as much as a little digging.  They don't seem to realize how much time they are spending in pinpointing and target ID.  I think that is partly, if not entirely because their hopes aren't dashed by seeing a junk target emerge after spending the effort.

I've counted the seconds on some videos and definitely found that many times it would have been quicker to just dig the target and put the junk in one pocket and the goodies in another pocket.  Like I said, I'm thinking that the emotion of seeing a junk target emerge magnifies the perception of wasted time.

On the other hand, people aren't disappointed when they mistakenly pass up a good target, even if it is a Rolex watch.  They think they did a good thing and go on their way satisfied, never knowing what they missed.

The psychological aspect is an important part of detecting.  We talk a lot about the operating characteristics of metal detectors, but the operating characteristics of the detectorist are just as important.  How a person detects is very much the result of their personality.  To some extent, so is metal detector selection.

If you analyze your style and productivity, you can overcome some your weaknesses.  That requires objective analysis, which is more difficult for some people than others.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net