12/5/14 Report - Treasure Coast Beach Conditions Report. Orion Launch, Typhoon. Plaques Washing Up.

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

Treasure Coast Beach This Morning Just After High Tide

I went out to check the beach this morning just after high tide.  I saw exactly what I was expecting to see.

The beach was back close to what it was a few days ago.  The cut has been fluctuating one way and then another every couple of days.

The problem is that the waves are hitting directly from the East.  The sand and objects falling out of the sand are laying right in front of the cut.  The slope is fairly steep and very mushy.

I did find a number of coins and very little else in front of the cut.  They were spread out several yards apart, but the cut ran for hundreds of yards.

The objects coming out of the sand were most often just two or three yards from the bottom of the cliff.

If the waves were hitting the cliff from a good northerly angle, it would be washing the sand away.  As it is, neither the sand nor the coins are going very far.

You can see some seaweed at spots, such as by the bend in the photo above.

Another View of The Cut This Morning.

The cut was generally about three to four feet.

The coins were being washed out of the sand rather than being washed up. 

The best I can say about the beaches now is that they are transitional.  Based upon the surf and wind predictions, I'm not expecting good conditions for at least a couple of days yet.

The surf is supposed to decrease a small amount until Monday when it is supposed to begin increasing.

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The Orion launch that was scheduled for Thursday and cancelled, took place at 4 AM this morning.   It will splashdown in the Pacific.

http://www.cnn.com/2014/12/04/tech/innovation/nasa-orion-launch/index.html?hpt=hp_t1http://www.SpiritDaily.com

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Unusual plaques have been washing up on beaches around the world.

http://xfinity.comcast.net/video/teen-hopes-to-travel-to-mars/367097411569/Comcast/StrangeVideos?cid=hero_sf_weird_beach

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Super typhoon expected to hit the Phillipine Islands.

http://www.wunderground.com/blog/JeffMasters/comment.html?entrynum=2872

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Don't forget the Robert Marx Queen's Jewels seminar today at FIT.  Go back a couple of posts to learn more about that.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@Comcast.net

11/15/14 Report - $587,000 Charles-Joanna Mexican 8-Reales, Beach Dynamics, Coins Washing Up On Beach

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

Source of photo:  http://www.sedwickcoins.com/articles/Rincon.pdf

This is the 8 reales that brought in over $587,000 in the recently completed Sedwick Coins Treasure Auction 16.

Maybe you'll be the one to find the fourth.

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Back close to twenty years ago (I can't believe it has been so long.) Jensen beach was eroded back into the Seagrape trees by the walk-overs at the back of the beach.  Since then sand has been dumped on that beach many times.

Back when we had the hurricanes in 2004 (I think that was the year.) John Brooks was eroded back all of the way to the walk-over.  That kind of erosion doesn't happen very often.

There are periods of years when a beach will continue to erode and wear away.  And then there are periods of accretion.

When a beach gets eroded way back, you will often see a different kind of sand.  When Jensen was eroded way back, there was a course brown sand.  That, of course, has since been covered by fine white sand.

You should pay attention to the different types of sand because it can tell you if old layers are being uncovered.

The same thing goes for Turtle Trail.  Recent renourishment projects covered the beach with a fine white sand.  It is being lost, but by the time the old sand starts to emerge they will probably dump more sand to cover it up.

Here is a simple sketch of a beach cross section.  The blue line represents the water line.

Simple Beach Cross Section Illustration.

This is a wide low beach such as the one at John Brooks.  A different type of beach would be the beach at Turtle Trail that is more narrow and has a high cliff at the back.

In this diagram, let's say A (black line) is the old beach.   Then B (reddish line) represents the beach after very big erosion occurred.

Then the beach refills, up to the thin green line (C). 

Back in 2004, for example, John Brooks eroded a lot, taking the sand down to a low level, something like B above.  Then it refilled.  Since that time it eroded and refilled time and time again more near the front portion of the beach.  Cobs were found in layers of sand well above where the level of sand had been eroded in the past and way too far to the front of the beach to have come from the dunes.

Old coins will be washed out of the dunes and down onto the beach and even into the water at times.  That occurs more often on narrow beaches with high dunes behind.

I have no doubt that most of the shipwreck coins found on John Brooks in recent years were washed up onto the beach from the water since they were found in areas that were previously eroded much lower and too far from the dunes and too high to have come from the dunes.

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On the Treasure Coast the surf will be a little higher on Sunday, something like 3 or 4 feet.  Out about a week an 8 foot surf is predicted.  The long range predictions often don't work out though.  We'll have to wait and see.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@Comcast.net