4/4/18 Report - Small Out-Of-The-Way Beaches. Pirate Sam Bellamy's Bones Discovered? Ballast Turned To Stone Tools.

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

Photo source: FloridaStateParks.org

Besides the ocean beaches, there are other swimming areas that you can find.  They can be small and hidden and much less busy than the ocean beaches.  Those types of beaches were always good to me.

I was reminded of that by some of my old records.  I noticed one entry for Oleta River that recorded three finds for one visit, including one small 14K women's band, 1 small 14K St. Christopher metal, and 18 K post earring.  That was quite a few years ago and I don't think it was then a state park, and if it was, it wasn't developed.  There were no pavilions or anything that I recall, just one small sandy beach and one weedy beach area, and a small fishing pier.  There was a rumored pirate ship sunk not far from there though I never saw any evidence of it.

There was no one there when I detected that beach.  Not a single person.

I was using the modified Nautilus 527 (I think those are the right numbers), which was a super detector.  I think the best I ever had for detecting gold jewelry.

One of the things that you will often find at small beaches like that is a nice sandy beach area, and then not too far away, usually just around the bend, a weedy overgrown beach that looks like it was never used much, if at all.  Those weedy areas have never failed me.  They will usually have some junk, but that always produced at least one piece of gold.

I can think of several small out-of-the-way beaches like that which I detected, and all with good results.

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Human bones were found in the Cape Code peninsula in Massachusetts where the Whyday Gally ship went down in stormy seas in 1717  Researchers are working to determine if they belong to infamous pirate Samuel "Black Sam" Bellamy...

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5407933/Has-body-Captain-Black-Sam-Bellamy-found.html

Thanks to Dean R. for the link.

I seriously doubt that it is Bellamy's body, but interesting story anyhow.

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... But recent research has also given more insight into how Aboriginal groups used some colonial technology to their advantage, heritage experts say.

Archaeologists believe that indigenous tribes crafted traditional tools from flint cobbles that had been used as ballast on British ships, following the arrival of the convict vessels during the late 18th and early 19th Centuries...

Here is the link or more about that.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-43551015

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I recommend that you read the special post with links to articles about Florida allowing beaches to be controlled by beachfront property owners.  That could mean that the property owners could prevent access to the public.  I posted that yesterday.

That is something that would hurt Florida and the public in general.  Become informed and make your voice heard.  You probably paid for beach renourishment and other erosion control efforts to protect that same property.

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Today and tomorrow the surf will be only about two feet.  On Friday it will increase to 3 -5 feet, then decrease again.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

3/5/18 Report - Big Surf But Not Much Erosion Around the Treasure Coast. Mystery Find.

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

Mystery Object
Find and photo by Scott B.

Here is what Scott said about this find.

I attached a picture of a brass ( maybe bronze?) item I found in some woods near my house in Fernandina Beach. It’s hard to tell from the picture, but it bows out (convex) toward the camera. This convex bend seems to be how it was made, but I might be wrong. The size of the nail holes also varies.

What do you think it is?  Send me an email with your ideas.

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John Brooks Monday Afternoon.

I went out to take a look at a few beaches this afternoon.  The water had been high on the beach.  In fact at Walton Rocks it had been up over the beach and into the parking lot.  Despite the high water, I found almost no erosion, and the erosion that I did find was only in renourishment sand.  Shells were very scarce too.  To sum it up, the South Hutchinson Island beaches that I saw were very sandy.

Above you can see a photo of John Brooks beach.  Too bad some idiot kept sticking his finger over the lens.

Another View of John Brooks Monday Afternoon.

Notice the pile of weeds that shows where the water stopped.

John Brooks Beach Monday Afternoon.

The above photo doesn't show it well, but what I wanted to show with this shot is how far out the waves were breaking.  They were breaking 60 or more feet out because of all the sand in front of the beach.

Even though the water was high, there were at least three things that kept the beaches from cutting.  One is the angle of the waves. In the above photo you can see that the white water is parallel to the beach.  The water was coming right up over the beach instead of slicing away at it.

Second was the amount of sand pile in front of the beach, preventing the beach from much of the water force.  The sand in front of the beach also protected any coins that might have been buried there.

The third factor is all of the renourishment sand that has been dumped on the beaches the past few years.  Some of it gets washed out, where it protects the front of the beach.  That sand will move south, so some of the sand in front of John Brooks probably came from the north where they keep dumping sand and it keeps getting washed away.  At other beaches the renourishment covers the front of the dunes so that the older material is not exposed.

DB sent in his observations too.  Here is what he said.

Thought I'd check in but looks like you know, it's terrible out there still. 

He also said Turtle Trail had been closed for some time and mentioned the millions of wasted dollars going into that project.  He continued as follows.

It was pretty funny but sad watching six dump trucks full of sand lined up there two days before a major storm would hit.

Anyhow, it's pretty poor all around, some dunes are cut but like you mentioned it's fill dirt and what I like to call kitty litter.

Hopefully something happens soon,

Thanks DB.

Source: MagicSeaWeed.com

As you can see, the surf will start to decrease over the next few days.  The wind will switch too.  The wind will be coming form the south for a day or so, and then switch again.  Then another front will come through and we'll have some north winds again.

People used to talk only about big waves as the thing to watch for.  A lot of people now realize that it takes more than just big waves.  Angles and other things are important.  I've been talking about that in this blog for quite a few years now.

Sometimes the window of opportunity opens for an hour or so and then closes just as quickly.  You just have to be there.

It looks like Fort Pierce is turning into a tourist destination.  I never saw so many out of state cars down by the jetty.  The beach is busy (by Fort Pierce standards ).

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

12/8/2014 Report - Increasing Surf Expected For A Couple Of Days. Treasure Coast Beach Conditions Mostly Unchanged So Far.

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



One Fellow Caught By the Roving TG Beach Cam
While Detecting Sunday.

Yesterday I went out to see how the beaches were progressing. 


Beach conditions had deteriorated slightly since Saturday.  Where there were cuts, they had filled some.


The length of the cut at one renourished beach has been getting longer, now running a few hundred yards.  Too bad it is in  renourishment sand.





The second picture shows one nice two-foot cut.  You can tell something about how long that sand has been in place from the root development that has been exposed.


One good thing about places like that is that the weeds will trap coins and items below he cut.




Two-Foot Cut As Seen Sunday.

Overall, I'd rate beach conditions poor at this point.


The waves seemed higher at some places than at others.  There were a good number of surfers where the waves were well formed.


Below is a quick video that shows the waves and a little surfing.


If you look closely you can see a surfer coming from the top left of the screen.  He's out there a ways so looks small.

 

 

 

Below is a beach that has cut and partially refilled a couple of times in the last week or so.  Yesterday it was pretty mushy out front.   This is the same beach shown in the coin pattern distribution illustrations that I showed yesterday.

 

Note the sea weed.

Some of the guys that have been land detecting lately have been coming up with interesting finds.  I'll have some of that for you tomorrow.

Today the surf is supposed to be a touch higher - 4 - 6 feet or thereabouts.

Then tomorrow the surf forecast is even higher - more like 5 - 8 feet.
That prediction has remained unchanged for a few days. 

The wind direction today and tomorrow on the Treasure Coast is supposed to be from the North.

If we can get the swells hitting more from the North, we might see improved conditions.  That is what I'll be watching for and hoping for. 

After that the surf predictions are saying we'll have reduced surf. 

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@Comcast.net