5/25/20 Report - Coastal Range Monuments and Changing Treasure Coast Beach Profiles. Mystery Find. Snoop Drone.

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

Turtle Trail Coast Line With Survey Monument Markers Identified.

There are range monuments all along our coast.  Maybe you've seen some of them.  They have brass caps with location information on them.  The one at John Brooks beach is just to the right of the walkway near where the walkway opens to the beach.  I think you might be able to see it now.  It has been uncovered for a while but could have been covered again.

The above map shows the location of the range markers along the Turtle Trail area.  The Turtle Trail parking lot is between markers R-51 and R-52.  R-52 is south of the parking lot.

The following shows the beach profile at R-52 on Nov. 1972 (blue) and Sept. 2007 (green).

The waterline in 2007 at the mean high water was about fifteen feet farther out than in 1972, but at mean low water, due to the more gradual slope, the water line was thirty feet or more farther out than the 1972 water line.

Here is a closer view so maybe you can see it a bit better.

Of course the slope of the beach is not as steep as it appears in the illustration.  Each square represents fifty feet.

Notice how the 1972 profile has a steep front slope and drops off quickly in the water.  The 2007 profile, on the other hand has a lot more sand in the shallow water.  Because items in shallow water were covered by less sand in 1972, the likelihood of items being washed up onto the beach would be greater at that time, although they could also get pulled back into the water more quickly due to the steeper slope.

Here is what the beach in front of the R-52 monument looked like last Thursday - gradual slope with only some of the renourishment sand remaining at the dunes.

Just South of Turtle Trail Thursday Near Low Tide.

You can see the face of the dunes and the white renourishment sand from the last renourishment project at the back of the beach.

Here is an illustration showing various beach profiles at R-13 for seven different times between 1999 to 2008.  R-13 is a little less than about halfway between the Ambersands beach access and the McLarty Museum.

Frances and Jeanne hit us in September of 2004.  You'll notice a profile taken in August of 2004 (before those storms) and in October of 2004 (after Frances and Jeanne).

On the beach front it looks like the beach was cut back around ten feet after the storms.  But remember by that time some refilling had already happened.  The biggest difference between the August and October profiles is closer to the dunes.

You will see a bump in the October profile about 40 feet back from the waterline, that would probably where a lot of the sand that washed back in piled up forming a new berm.

In the five to ten foot elevation range, the June 2003 profile shows the beach being higher than it was during both before and after 2004 storm profiles.

The July 1999 profile shows the beach front at that location eroded farther back than at any other time.  I would expect the best metal detecting around July 1999 and January 2003.  The front beaches were eroded back and the shallow water had less sand close in.

There is a lot you can learn from these beach profiles, but it helps to know when the beaches were renourished and when major storms occurred.

I could go on for a long time about this type of data, but I'll leave that to you if you are interested.

You can use this link, which was sent to me by DJ.

https://www.ircgov.com/Departments/Public_Works/Coastal_Engineering_Section/Documents/Sector_3_Environmental_Assessment.pdf

Besides the beach profiles you'll find a lot of other information about the beaches and the renourishment projects.

Thanks DJ.
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Bill M. sent me the following.

On Friday I spent most of the day detecting Amber Sands beach.  Going north about a mile, I got into the area where there are lots of iron flakes.  Going further north, I found the item below.   

Mystery Object

Find and photo by Bill M.

It rang up as metal, is only slightly magnetic, is heavy at 9.3 grams, and has what looks like flakes of metal in it.   I've been detecting for years and never found anything quite like it.

As I was working my way back to the stairs, I noticed a large shadow in front of me.  I thought it was a bird, but it seemed to be following me.  I looked up and there was a large drone hovering about twenty-five feet above my head.  It was much larger than a DJI Phantom and had a glass dome over the camera.

I couldn't see anyone nearby operating it but did notice a salvage boat offshore.  I wonder if they were the ones who launched it.

Two mysteries in one day!

What do you think of Bill's mystery find?   An EO perhaps?

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A person wearing a facemask on a wide open beach might at least be reducing the risk of skin cancer.


If you believe Governor Cuomo, the exaggerated and  inaccurate predictions of the IMHE model and agencies were responsible for a good number of the coronavirus deaths in New York.  He said it was because of the dire predictions of an over-whelmed health care system that he demanded the nursing homes accept infected seniors, and that is precisely where a big percent of the deaths occurred.


Expect a two to four foot surf along the Treasure Coast for the next week or so.



TreasureGuide@comcast.net

1/7/20 Report - Beach Reports and Photos. Beach and Coin Layer Diagram. Falcon 9 Launch.

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

Frederick Douglass Beach Monday Morning

Photo by Steve M.

Steve M., who visited Turtle Trail and sent photos to the blog Sunday, visited Frederick Douglass beach yesterday and sent photos and the following report. 

My wife and I went to Douglas beach about 9:30. Hadn’t been here in weeks so not sure how it has changed. An old cut about 4 foot.High tide hits it. Mostly trash and modern coins. Surf is 3 foot and calmer winds today. Real nice cool day.

Frederick Douglass Monday Morning

Steve M.

You can tell a lot from the photos.  Notice the convex beach.  That is not a good sign.

Frederick Douglass Beach Monday Morning.

Photo by Steve M.

Also notice all the little shell pieces.

Frederick Douglass Beach Monday Morning.

Photo by Steve M.

Alberto visited Turtle Trail yesterday (Monday).  Here is what he said.

Read today's post and saw the photos by Steve M. I stopped by TT on Sunday afternoon and saw the cuts and figured maybe Monday early am they might be better, didn't happen like I thought see attached photos. There were 3 other detectorist already hunting at 8 am. I tried but nothing. 

Turtle Trail Monday

Alberto S.

Cuts on the front of the beach like that show very little sand being moved -  It is just a little stirring of sand on the front beach.

Seems like a good time to look at a simplified beach diagram.

Here is a diagram of a beach having high dunes at the back and a flat beach in front of that, which then slopes down into the water.

In relatively calm surf, you have small waves that vary little from the water's surface.  A small cut might be created as shown above.  In that case, the water simply moves a little of the sand down the slope a little way.

The red areas are where the layers of older coins are in this case.  There is a layer from contemporary salvage efforts in the dunes, typically buried about two feet.  A layer under the back beach, which could be deposited either by coins eroding out of the slope at high surf or being washed up during high surf and erosion.  That layer can be changed from time to time as erosion occurs and then the layer is covered again.  Then there is the deepest layer near bedrock, which was exposed during extreme conditions in the past.

For the layer in front of the dunes to be uncovered the erosion has to be farther back than the erosion shown in this diagram.  Coins can end up on the surface when the back dunes erode too.  High surf can undercut the dunes and coins slide down onto the beach, where they can stay until the get covered again.  They can also be swept out into eroded areas on the front beach.

The coins at the deepest layers have to be uncovered before they can be washed up onto the beach.  The amount of sand in the water is important, because it protects those layers and protects the beach.

I just wanted to show that the majority of the time, the various layers of older coins and things are covered.  It takes a good bit of movement to uncover the coins in the water so they can be washed up.  It also takes erosion moving back and deep for mid-beach layers to be uncovered.  And it takes the water eroding the dunes for those coins to reach the beach.

Most of the time the water is only moving the same old sand in and out in the most active area and not affecting the old coin bearing layers at all.  Notice that the green area where the most movement of sand occurs does not touch any of the coin layers (red).

I think the diagram shows something like what was seen at Turtle Trail the past couple of days.

Of course the diagram is a crude oversimplification, but I think it might still help a little.

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The 9:19 PM Falcon 9 launch from Cape Canaveral was very brightly seen over the Treasure Coast last night.   I saw it, as did my 93 year old mother, who reminisced about how as a child she used to marvel at any airplane flew over their rural area.

You can see many nice photos and articles about the launch online.

https://www.floridatoday.com/story/tech/science/space/2020/01/06/spacex-vaults-falcon-9-to-orbit-from-cape-canaveral-with-60-more-starlink-satellites/2826868001/

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Today the surf is still small on the Treasure Coast.  Thursday and Friday it might be more like 4 - 7 feet.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

8/3/19 Report - Order of Calatrava. Research Reveals Items Salvaged At Palmar de Ays. Beach Changes and Beach Slopes.

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

Source: See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Order_of_Calatrava

"Calatrava is the Arabic name of a castle recovered from the Moslems, in 1147, by the King of Castile, Alfonso VII, called el Emperador. Located in what was then the southernmost border of Castile, this conquest was more difficult to keep than to make, especially at a time with neither standing armies nor garrisons were known. In part to correct this deficiency, the military orders such as Knights Templars were founded, where men could fulfill a vow of perpetual war against the Muslim. The Templars, however, were unable to hold Calatrava, and the king found further volunteer warriors when Raymond, Abbot of the Cistercian monastery of Fitero offered himself. 

This step is said to have been suggested to the abbot by Father Diego Velázquez, a simple monk, but one who had been a knight, and thus was well acquainted with military matters. Diego was inspired with the idea of employing the lay brothers of the abbey to defend Calatrava. These Cistercian lay brothers--at that time a recent innovation in monastic life--not being in Holy orders, were variously employed in manual trades such as those of tending herds, construction, farm labor, or husbandry. Diego recommended that they become soldiers of the Cross. Thus a new order was created in 1157...

See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Order_of_Calatrava for more about that.

You'll see below why I brought that up today.

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Some beaches are relatively steep and some flatter, but the slope also can change from day to day.  I talked about that yesterday.

The size of the grains of sand has a lot to do with the slope of the beach.  Beaches with smaller grains tend to be flatter.

People tend to think about the waves and incoming water, but the water is continually washing out as well as in. The outgoing water is as important as the incoming water.  What you see is the net effect.

The amount of force of the incoming water determines what gets washed in, and the amount of force of the outgoing water determines what gets washed out.  It is always a tug of war.

The reason that small grained beaches are flatter is that there is more runoff.  Most of the water that flows onto the beach flows back off.  When it the water flows off, it takes some things with it, depending upon a number of factors.

When the grains are course and the beach is porous, some of the water does not flow back out.  There is always a balancing act between the incoming and outgoing forces.  Erosion occurs when more sand is getting washed out, and accretion occurs when more sand is getting washed in AND is dropped on the beach.  It gets dropped where the force of water decreases to the point that it is no longer carried along.  All that might seem perfectly obvious, but if you can visualize it, I think you'll find it very helpful.

As I've explained before, a certain amount of force is required to get an object moving, and a certain amount of force is required to keep it moving.  When the force decreases enough, items get deposited.  That is how sand is moved and deposited, and that is how coin lines and holes are formed.  Of course, it takes less force to move sand than coins, and they have different "drop points" too.

Bigger waves tend to move larger particles, which creates a steeper beach.  In summer you generally have smaller waves that push in and drop off smaller particles and that creates a flatter beach.

Most of the time when you get erosion, the sand doesn't go very far and waits just off shore to be washed in again.  The same sand keeps getting recycled in and out.  That sand movement, which I sometimes refer to as superficial, does not uncover any old items.  It is just the recycling of the same sand.  When that sand moves, there is not likely to be anything old in it.  Other objects require more force to move and tend to be deeper.  Enough sand has to be moved for them to be first uncovered and then moved up the slope.  They aren't going anywhere though until they are first uncovered.

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Laura Strolia, 1715 Fleet researcher and author of the book I've mentioned before, The Marigalara of the 1715 Fleet, was translating a document from the Spanish archives mentioning valuable items being salvaged from the water at Palmar de Ays.  Notice that a enameled gold item was specifically mentioned.

Here is some of what she said.

I just finished page 240 of my book on the 1715 fleet, and coincidentally, I recently translated a document from the archives which may contain an answer for your posted object. Officials had sent a shipment of valuable items to the Sevillian Consulado in Spain for sorting. These goods were salvaged from the waters at Palmar de Ays and verification was needed as to whom owned them. One of the objects was listed as “una venera de calatrava en una conchita de vidrio guarnecida y su rosa de filigrana de oro” (AGI, Contratacíon, leg. 640, Nov. 17, 1716, Cádiz). This was a scallop (badge) of the Order of Calatrava. The small shell was garnished with (enameled) glass and its rose was of gold filigree...  

Hope this helps—Laura Strolia.

ps I literally translated the list of goods on the same day you displayed the Calatrava badge, but I did not  see the post until today. There is no doubt that God works through us all to help each other. 

Thanks much for sharing your research Laura. 

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I have two threads going that I plan to continue - dating items and beach dynamics.  I also have some other topics in mind. 

We are having big tides now and around a two-foot surf.

There is one system on the map that is worth watching.

Source: nhc,noaa.gov

That system is headed in our general direction and looks like it will show more development some time next week.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

1/26/19 Report - Bigger Surf Coming Monday. Search Pattern Selection For Dry and Wet Sand Areas.

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

Source: MagicSeaWeed.com.

The surf is supposed to be only about one to two feet today despite the north wind, but the surf will increase tomorrow and get up to five to seven feet on Monday.  That is a decent level of surf.  Maybe it will help some.

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Some of what I'm going to talk about today will seem obvious to many of you.  It is something like the discovery of gravity.  It didn't take Isaac Newton to notice that apples fall, but he took it to another level.

On a beach, there will often be a flat dry beach and a wet-sand slope.  Some guys hunt the flat dry beach more, and others the wet-sand slope.

There are significant difference between those two parts of the beach, and they present different types of targets and call for different strategies.

To begin with, the flat dry beach has a lot of items that were recently lost, while the slope very often presents targets that have been lost for a while but have been either washed in from the surf or washed out of the beach. 

In general the dry beach presents more new targets while the slope presents somewhat older targets.  The dry beach, though, can turn into a part of the slope when the water had been unusually high or rough.

Two ways for old items to end up on the flat dry beach is either by being washed up from the surf or down out of the dunes.  Much less frequently old items are dropped on the dry sand.   Detectorists have done that without knowing it.  All it takes is a hole in a pocket or something like that.

Different search strategies will often be used on those two different areas.  What I call recent-drops will dominate the flat dry sand, while there will often be more seasoned targets on the slope.  The distribution of recent drops is determined by human activity, while the seasoned older items of the slope will be redistributed by the forces of nature.

One search pattern, if you can call it a pattern at all, is random.  Some people will use a random pattern on both the dry and wet sand areas.  I doubt that it is really a random pattern.  I believe there is usually something that draws a person one way and then another, even if they aren't aware of what it is. 

Some people might think that they are being guided by intuition or by some unseen force.  In that case they might not feel like it is a random search even though it would look random to an outside observer.

To repeat, targets in the dry sand area are mostly distributed by human activity, while those in the wet sand are influenced more by forces of nature.  Targets will therefore often be distributed differently in the two areas.  In the wet sand you'll often find coin lines or coin holes.  (I've described those in this blog before.)

Besides random or intuitive searches, running a grid can be effective in both types of area.  When you use a grid search, a lot of time is spent covering a relatively small area thoroughly.  My opinion is that a tight grid should only be used when you have reason to believe there is a concentration of  targets in that area or there is a high value target in that area.

In the dry sand, a grid might be used in areas such as in front of concession stands, or in front of a beach access, or any place where there are a lot of people doing things that would result in good targets.  Volleyball courts or where beach chairs are put out can be good places to grid.

In dry sand, you might also choose to go from hot spot to hot spot, going wherever it is apparent that people were active.  People leave a lot of signs.  You can see the churned sand where there was a football game, or the smoothed sand left by a beach blanket, or the trash left by beach goers.  It isn't difficult to tell where people have been and what they were doing.

In the wet sand, a grid would be very advisable when you run into a area where items have accumulated and are being uncovered or deposited.  You might have already found a few targets in the area, and think there might be more.

Instead of tracking people like you might do in the dry sand, you might want to run a looser pattern in the wet sand to see if there are any coin lines or coin holes where nature has dumped good targets.  For the wet sand I often like zig-zag pattern running roughly along the beach between the waterline and high tide mark.  

Just like in the dry sand, you will see signs that some areas in the wet sand might be better than others.  Cuts are one good sign.  You might just sample the area below a cut before committing to a tighter search pattern, zig-zagging first and then if it seems like it might be worthwhile, gridding.

One search pattern I introduced a number of years ago is a linked-spirals search pattern.  I originally developed it for working rough shallow water with little or no visibility, but it has also proved very effective for working the wet sand.  It will help you quickly  determine if there is a coin line, and if so where it is located and the direction it runs.  I won't describe the pattern in detail again.  You can find that by using this link.

https://treasurebeachesreport.blogspot.com/2016/03/3316-report-linked-spiral-search.html

The linked spirals search pattern can begin as a zig-zag or straight line search and then change into a linked spirals pattern when the first target is encountered.

While I described the dry sand flat beach and wet sand slope as being different types of areas, they can overlap.  The dry sand can be hit by high water and turned into a wet sand slope.  And it is not extremely uncommon to find old objects washed up over the berm and onto the flat sand.  In my experience, they are most often on the first few feet behind the berm, and often in or in front of a something of a shell line.  Those are usually smaller targets such as half reales.

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I have my batteries charged and and am eager to see what happens Monday.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

1/6/18 Report - Metal Detecting A Nicely Shaped Cut: A Case Study. Identifying Patterns and Choosing A Strategy.

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

Cut I Was Talking About Yesterday.

I wanted to talk more about the cut I hunted the other day because even though it didn't produce anything really remarkable, it is a good illustration.  You will never see a  back-beach cut that is more perfectly formed for producing a high concentration of coins.  I won't say it has it all because there is one thing that is missing.

The best back-beach cuts, like this one, have a sizable steep cliff, then below that, a hard packed slant, very often with some black sand, and below that there will be a softer surface that slopes at a less steep angle. You see the first two in the above photo.  I didn't get back far enough to show the third in the photo.  You can expect coins and similar objects to be found very shallow on the hard-packed slope.  You will often see some coins there without detecting or digging.

This particular cut ran maybe fifty yards or a little more.  I thought I took a photo that showed more of it, but can't find it now.

Coins and other things will typically be found running the length of a cut like this.

When I arrived at this beach yesterday, I first looked north, but it didn't look very good.  But then I looked south and saw a more concave beach that had been cut back.  I walked in that direction a short way down and saw the cut at the back of the beach, so I immediately went up to detect in front of the cut.

I was surprised at first.   I didn't find the good concentration of coins that I expected.  In fact there were no coins for maybe the first five or ten yards.  Knowing that there should be a heavy concentration of coins there, I figured that somebody had already detected the cut, which was created probably two or three days before I got there.  There were no foot prints or holes though, so I figured that whoever detected that cut was there before the most recent high tide, which removed their tracks.

One good thing about cuts at the back of the beach is that they will occur when the water is highest and then not fill again right away if the high water slacks off.  They can remain in place for days or more.

After going the first five or ten yards I finally found a nickel, and then another nickel right away, and then shortly after that another nickel.  So now I am sure it had been detected and that the previous person was using discrimination.  When you know what the target distribution should be like, and I did in this case, you can tell if another detectorist had been there and also something about what they did or did not do.

I already made some choices that day.  I passed up one good wreck beach because it didn't look good because I would have had to detect a large area with a small chance of finding anything old.  Conditions there were not great, and I wanted to spend no more than an hour for various reasons that I won't explain now.  I chose the beach where I could dig a number of targets quickly even though they were' probably not going to be real old. 

I said this cut was ideally formed for a high concentration of targets.  I also said that there was something about it that was less than ideal.  The thing that was wrong with it, is that the cut was into recent sand instead of into older layers.  That means that the targets would not be very old, though perhaps with few exceptions.  And that is what I got - modern coins ( and a few other things).

Some of the Coins Dug In Front of The Cut

Notice the nickels.  Those are some of the first targets recovered from this coin line ( Coin line is a term that I "coined" to describe a long narrow distribution of coins as opposed to a coin hole,which refers to a high concentration of coins in more of an oval pattern.)

You can see that after the first three nickels, I started digging other coins.  The area near the beach access was more cleaned out than farther on.  The other detectorist evidently lost interest or got sloppy after a while.

I knew that there should be a high concentration of coin targets as soon as I saw the cut.  I also knew that they would mostly be modern.  I didn't know that someone had detected the area before me but was able to determine that quickly.  I didn't stop when I found that out because when you have so many targets of this kind, people will usually leave some good hunting.  They will usually either cover a small area very carefully or a larger area less carefully.  In one case you can find the areas they missed, and in the other case, you can cover the same area they did but look for the small and deep or otherwise missed targets.

Since I had a very limited amount of time, I decided to go for quantity rather than quality and take a chance on something more interesting being found in with all of the clad coins. If you pick up enough modern targets, you have a good chance of picking up something better.  I found more coins than shown above and a few other things.  Below is one of the targets that was found between the coins.

Thin Gold Chain.

I was lucky to have found such a thin chain because I was skimming pretty fast.

To summarize, this particular cut looked nearly perfect, so I decided to use it as an illustration.  You can often visually identify the best spots on a beach to find concentrations of certain types of targets.  Knowing the likely distribution of targets and comparing that with the actual distribution, you can also often tell if someone has been there before you and make strategy decisions accordingly.  

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I've received so much good input from readers and had so much to talk about lately that I've been having a hard time deciding what to post and have had to put some things off for days.  That is a good problem.  Thanks to all who have contributed.

We are still having good high and low tides.  That should keep it interesting.  Also expect another increase in the surf next week.

Happy hunting,

TreasureGuide@comcast.net

8/17/15 Report - Detecting With Beach Movements. Mystery Token. Marks On Silver Cross.

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

Markings On A Found Silver Cross.

Can anyone help me identify the markings on this silver cross.  If you can idnetify them please zip me an email.

The cross is about one and a half inches high.  I think it had a loop for a pendant.  The loop is missing.

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Found Token

This token appears to be copper or brass and appears to be just a touch bigger than a quarter.  It is the same on both sides.

I'd also like help in identifying it.  Thanks.

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The above illustration shows the shallow water area and a front beach.  I wanted to discuss detecting in the shallow water a bit today.

I put the orange lines in to divide off some areas.  From left to right, you have the deeper water outside the bar, then the bar, then the dip inside the bar, and then the slope.

You'll often read or hear people say different things like, Check the dips in front of any cuts.  Nothing wrong with that. It is good advice.  I'd check that area if it looks promising, just like I would check any area. The dips will be good sometimes, but sometimes not - depending upon what is going on. Its a very dynamic system and the best thing is to be able to read the flow.

It is never a bad idea to check any area.  But checking doesn't mean spending a lot of time.  Check and make a decision base upon what you see.

Checking can help you not only determine if there are any targets there, it can also help you determine how things are moving.

A couple of thing you might want to learn is what kind of material is in the dip and how much of it there is.

Some types of areas definitely produce much more than others.  No doubt about that.  No area produces all the time though.  And spots will change between hot, neutral and cold, and sometimes very quickly.

Any one of the four areas I mentioned above can be the best place to hunt. Those areas are always changing.  They change as the tides go in and out, and they can change whenever the wind and waves change.

A local thunder storm might not last an hour, yet it can change the situation substantially.  A thunder storm can pass by, whip up the waves and create small cuts in a matter of less than an hour.

There are changes that occur over decades, years, months, weeks, days, hours and even minutes.  The past couple of years, for example, we've been in a sustained period of small surf, and the beaches have changed, but mostly in one direction.   What we've been seeing is a bit unusual.  I've never seen such a long period of time with nothing but small surf.

Even within that time, though, there have been times when things changed significantly on a very short term basis.  One day the front slope was loaded with coins.  The next day that was entirely changed.

My main point today is that things change constantly.  Maybe not large changes, but changes that affect where you will want to spend your time.

The area outside the bar might be the place to be at times.  That would be when swimmers have been hanging out and playing on the bar before the bar moved in.

The bar will move in and out.  I like to check the side of the bar that is losing sand.  For example, if the bar is moving in, check the outside of the bar.

When the bar is moving in, if it goes on long enough, the dip will eventually get filled and objects in the dip will get covered up.

There are times when the dip is a good place to find things like watches.  That often occurs when there coarse shell sand and lose material filling the dip and the coins and similar things are covered up.

The dip can get really good when the front of the slope is cut away and things are dragged down into the dip, especially when the sand gets moved out to deeper water.

Recently on the Treasure Coast, and I'm sure neighboring areas to some extent, there has been very little movement and change.  Things have remained relatively stable for quite a while.  Despite how stable things have been there have been times when certain areas got hot for a short time.  There have been days when it was best to detect the wet beach and other days when the zone just in front of the breakers was good.

It is a dynamic thing.  Don't get stuck in a rut. It's more of a dance.  Get in tune with it and move with it.

---

I'll probably continue with this some other time - maybe tomorrow.

---

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

11/24/14 Report - Watching Surf And Sand Movement. LIDAR Discovers Roman Gold Mining Nework. Beach Detecting Conditions Rating Downgrade.

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

Breaking Wave As Seen Saturday Morning Near High Tide

Notice where the wave in the above picture is breaking, and where the water is flat in front of that.  That is where the water is moving over sand in front of the beach, and the rough water near the bottom of the picture is where the water meets the bottom of the slope and the water coming back down the slope.

There are three things I want you to watch in the following video.   First, where the waves are breaking.  Second, where the water surges over the sand in front of the beach after breaking.  And then something you didn't see in the above illustration, how it surges up the slope until it hits the cut and then back down again.

Here it is with lines and arrows added to show the area where the waves are breaking, surging across the bar and where the incoming water hits the water returning down the slope near the bottom of the slope.



You can clearly see where the wave is breaking (top horizontal red line).  That is where the water gets shallow enough  for the wave to break.

Then the surge across the sand in front of the beach (from the top red line to the blue line).

Then the rough water where the incoming water hits the water returning down the slope.

When you see waves breaking way out, you know the water is relatively shallow that far out. 

The waves at this beach were breaking fairly close to shore.  You can get an idea of where the water is deep and where there is a lot of sand from where the waves are breaking.  

The illustration immediately above is from six seconds in on the video.

Here is an illustration from sixteen seconds in where you can see the slope better.

The top line shows general area where the sand builds up and the waves are breaking.  The second line shows the approximate beginning of the slope.  And the arrows shows the slope where the water goes up and returns.

The angle of the video and perspective makes this difficult to diagram and illustrate, and I know that I didn't explain it very clearly.

One of main points is that you can tell a lot about where the sand is and how deep it is by where the waves are breaking and how the water is moving.  That is useful information.  Always figure out as much as you can about how the sand is moving. 

There is a lot more that you can see in this video, such as the angle of the waves as they hit the beach.

Here the waves are breaking closer to shore than some of the other beaches.  The sand in front of the beach will have to be moved or at least stirred up to uncover the older materials before they can be washed up. 

The next day (Sunday) a good number of coins were found on this slope in front of the cut.

I hope you got something out of that even though I didn't couldn't make it real clear. 

I advise watching the video a few times after reading this.

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The most "google plused" post of October was the 10/4/2014 Report -  Tuning A Pulse Induction Metal Detector For Gold.  Permit To Take Photos In Florida.  Higher Surf Coming.

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Hidden under the vegetation and crops of the Eria Valley, in León (Spain), there is a gold mining network created by the Romans two thousand years ago, as well as complex hydraulic works, such as river diversions, to divert water to the mines of the precious metal. Researchers from the University of Salamanca made the discovery from the air with an airborne laser teledetection system (LIDAR).

Here is more about that.

http://www.agenciasinc.es/en/News/Laser-from-a-plane-discovers-Roman-goldmines-in-Spain


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I got out to take a look at the beach this morning, and I am downgrading my beach detecting conditions rating back to a 1 (poor).  Beaches that eroded are filling again.

On the Treasure Coast the wind will be from the South for a couple of days and the surf will be slightly reduced.

Wednesday we'll have another front coming through and the wind will shift again and be coming from the North again but at the time the surf will be only around two or three feet.

I'll probably be going back to a "1" rating on my Treasure Coast beach detecting conditions rating scale before long.  I'm actually surprised that the beaches haven't refilled more already.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@Comcast.net

3/20/14 Report - Treasure Coast Gold Ring, Working A Steep Slope In Rushing Water and Satellite Images

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

Treasure Coast Gold For Today

I had some things I had to do today and didn't know if I'd have time to get to the beach.  As it turned out I got to stop and take a look at three spots this morning.  The timing was not good.  It was just before high tide.

Under the circumstances I forgot to take my camera.  Too bad.  There were a few things that I could have used as illustrations.

If a picture is worth a thousand words, I'm only going to be able to convey a small fraction of one picture in this post.

The first beach I looked at was a 1715 Fleet beach.  It was where we had a cut a week or so ago and where the gold nugget was found.  Tons of new sand had piled up on that beach.  You would never guess that it had been cut a few days ago.  I didn't bother to take my detector out of the car.

The high tide had been pretty high and the swells were pretty big, hitting the beach directly from the East.  That all adds up to sand piling high and deep on the beach.

The second beach I took a quick look at was similar.  I didn't bother to take my detector out of the car again.

The third beach that I  looked at was tourist swimming beach.  There were a good number of people out.

This beach was completely different.  Due to man-made structures. it has been eroding for several weeks on and off.  Too bad the erosion, as you might suspect, was in renourishment sand and there is still tons of that.

The slope on the front of this beach was steep.  The beach curves sharply as it goes north to south.   After surveying the lay of the land I quickly went to the sharpest part of the curve where the force of the water onto the beach was greatest.  The water there was funneled higher up onto the slope.

I quickly went to the sharp point of the curve and immediately began to find coins.  It was a classic coin hole, but very high up on the beach.

The hole was created by the force of water being focused towards this part of the curve.

There were big swells with a primary period of about 11 seconds and a secondary of about 7 seconds.  That is important for what I am going to tell you about.

Sorry if this is confusing.  I should have taken my camera.  It would have been much easier.

After hitting the first coin in the coin hole I slowed down, stayed and worked the coin hole.  When the hole seemed worked out I checked north and south to see if there were any more coin holes to be worked, but I found no others.

If I could have chosen, I would have picked a time closer to low tide.  It wasn't easy working down the slope where the swells were being focused.

I mentioned the swells and the periods.  I tried to work low on the beach between swells as much as possible.  I was hurrying down the slope mostly in between swells or sets.  There was a lot of water coming and going over the coin hole that I was working.

I had several seconds between waves to work my way down the slope, detect the target, dig it and get it out before the next wave hit.  Of course I could work through swells sometimes, but  had to be careful when trying to recover a target in rushing water.

When the water went out, I hurried down behind it while swinging the coil.  But here is when it gets tricky.   If you get a signal on a steep slope either between waves or while the water is coming or going, you have to get it very securely in the scoop.  If you take a scoop of sand but the target is either very small, still on the slope and not covered by enough sand to hold it in place, or on the edge of sand in the scoop, or if the target falls out of the scoop, it is very possible that the water will quickly sweep the target away.

If you do not get the target in the first scoop and a lot of water is coming, one thing you can do is put your foot on the target to hold it so it won't get washed away.  Then dig again in between waves.

When you get the target in the scoop, move quickly up the slope and either sift or dump it on safe ground.

Sifting over swiftly moving water is dangerous if the item is small enough to fall through the holes in the scoop, or if the target is dropped or washes out of the scoop.

If I can tell from the signal that the object will not likely fall through the holes and if it is not in sand that will fall off the front of the scoop, then I'll use the water rushing down the slope to wash the sand through the holes in the scoop.  Keep the opening of the scoop facing up the slope.

My scoop is big and if I get a scoop full of wet sand, it can be very heavy for easy shaking and sifting.  Let the water returning down the slope go through the scoop and do the sifting for you.  Be careful though that the item is not on the edge where it can be washed out or can go through the holes.

It wasn't the easiest coin hole to work but it paid off in a short time.  In not even a half hour several coins were dug as well as the above ring.



Remains of the missing Malaysian airliner has possibly been found by using satellite images provided by Digital Globe, a commercial satellite company based in Colorado.  They provide high resolution satellite images via three satellites.  The images were made available so that individuals could search for debris from the airliner.

Here is what the following web site said.

DigitalGlobe used its satellites to capture some 3,200 square km of the area where the flight could have gone down--since then the area has updated to 24,000 square km--and it asked the community to help look through all of it to identify and flag anything of note. 

It took just a couple of days for 2 million or so volunteers to tag 645,000 items. The way the systems works is that it shows the same images to many different people, and if enough people tag the same little square on the grid, an expert will review that area to see if the item of interest is worth investigating.

Read more: http://hothardware.com/News/DigitalGlobe-Powers-Crowdsourced-Hunt-For-Missing-Malaysian-Flight-370/#ixzz2wXD4xnAr

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-missing-malaysia-plane-20140320,0,1370580.story

Of course these same images could be used for identifying archaeological sites or treasure.

You can log in to the digital globe images by using the following link.

https://www.mydigitalglobe.com/myDigitalGlobe/#LOGIN

Use the user name "public" and password "view."

I think everybody in the world is doing that today so you might have trouble getting access.

In these days with massive data, it takes a lot of eyes and brains to analyze the data.  That is where the public came in.   I've expressed my opinions about that concerning the NSA data collection before.

I hurried this post, but that is it for today.


Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net