10/18/24 Report - Beach Report and Photos from South Hutchinson Island To Indian River County. High King Tides.

Written by the TreasureGuide for the exclusive use of the Treasure Beaches Report.

Normandy Beach on South Hutchinson Island.
Photo by Al C.

Al C. sent these photos of Normandy and Walton Rocks beaches. As you can see there is erosion, as we expected.

Normandy Beach on South Hutchinson Island.

Below is a photo Al took that shows the view from the Condos in the south.

Walton Rocks Beach Thursday.
Photo by Al C.

The following photos are from Indian River County.  I visited those beaches early afternoon Thursday.

Turtle Trail Thursday Afternoon.

When I arrived, there were already several detectorists metal detecting along the beach.

Turtle Trail Thursday Afternoon.

The photo above is between the first and second flag poles.

Turtle Trail Beach Thursday Afternoon.

Notice the two-step cuts.  Only a very very small amount of cloth from the blue bags was showing.

Turtle Trail North Thursday Afternoon.

There wasn't much digging going on, but a little.

Down several inches there was a crunchy layer that was holding some stuff, mostly aluminum and modern coins.  I didn't get into any of the older orange sand.

Ambersands Beach Thursday Afternoon.

I also took a look at Ambersands, which had a two-foot cut running the length of the beach.

So from Normandy Beach on South Hutchinson Island to Indian River County and Ambersands beach, the beaches look very similar.  There was a cut near the dunes, but not into the old dunes and a long flat beach front.

It is nice to get some erosion, but there is till too much renourishment sand at a lot of places.  You'll have to hunt out the few scattered hot spots.  I'm sure there are some.  I'd check some of the areas that have obstructions to the flow of sand or where there isn't so much new sand.  

Source: nhc.noaa.gov.

So we still have those two areas to watch for a while.  It looks like the area heading towards the Carribean will be kept south by the front that came through.

Source: SurfGuru.com.

The surf will remain at decent levels for a while.  I don't think the winds will help a lot, being too easterly.  We will have some very high tides.

I was really surprised to see the amount of damage Milton caused near the North Causeway and the town of Vero Beach.  Those oak trees that have been there for a lot of years were really twisted and broken.  They evidently had a very destructive tornado pass through there.

Good hunting,

Treasureguide@comcast.net

10/17/24 Report - One Nice Treasure Coast Milton Find. Getting Into Better Beach Hunting Season. Higher Winds, Tides and Surf.

 

Written by the TreasureGuide for the exclusive use of the Treasure Beaches Report.

Recent Treasure Coast Arrow Head Find
by Scott B.

Scott B. found the nice arrow head shown here. He sent the following email.

Excellent writing! You said so much in that paragraph on the big hunt. Great points and amazing wit!

  I’ve finally retired from the Coast Guard and am now just waiting on some good erosion to get back to the treasure Coast beaches. I’m really hoping to find a 1715 coin one of these days. I have; however, finally found my first Florida arrowhead after more than 30 years.

Arrow Head Found by Scott B.

Thanks for sharing Scott.  Great find.  

Looks like we are getting into the treasure beach hunting time of year.  Wednesday we had a decent cool front with some 30 mph north winds.  I bet there was some erosion starting.  I'll try to get out before long to take a look.

We are also having big high tides now.  That along with the north winds and bigger surf willl move some sand..

It is nice to have some cooler weather after a long hot summer too.

SurfGuru.com.

Thursday SurfGuru is predicting around a four-to-five-foot surf, which isn't a lot, but it goes along with some high tides and north winds, so it looks more positive than a four-to-five-foot surf would look otherwise.

Source: nhc.noaa.gov.

So there are two areas to watch out there.  I keep hearing that the cold front will keep the Atlantic system to the south of us.  That seems to be the expectation.

Here is a link for more about that.

Florida impacts unlikely as NHC monitors Invest 94-L, another area of interest in Caribbean (youtube.com)

---

45 years ago, Typhoon Tip became the largest storm in history, but new hurricanes may be even bigger and stronger. As sea temperatures rise, could we soon witness a storm that breaks all records? Experts say we’re heading in the wrong direction—discover what the future of hurricanes holds!

Here is a link for more about that.

The World’s Largest Storm: Will a New Record Be Set Soon? | Watch (msn.com)

Men are in a vulnerable position.  

Don't forget those who experienced the worst of Helene and Milton.  

Human concern can be very tightly wound around self.   Some people are very self-centered while the concern of others genuinely extends out to those well beyond their immediate circle.  Extended compassion shows an expansion of one's experience of the human condition.  Some feel the pain of others, while others focus solely on their own pain, which, as a result, becomes the dominant aspect of their subjective world. 

===

I'm expecting some interesting hunting and finds in the near future.

Good hunting,

Treasureguide@comcast.net

10/16/24 Report - Who Was the Most Successful Pirate in All History? Erosion and Beach Replenishment. Big Tides and Full Moon.

 

Written by the TreasureGuide for the exclusive use of the Treasure Beaches Report.

CLIMATEWIRE | How many times can a public beach vanish?

As many times as Congress pays to rebuild it — over a very long time.

A century after the federal government began bringing beaches back to life after they disappeared during storms, the U.S. finds itself at a crossroads with climate change.

Rising seas, storm surges and king tides are eroding popular tourist beaches and local economies on America’s coasts at a faster pace than ever. That’s costing taxpayers billions of dollars to pump sand onto beaches — only to see it disappear again...

“How long are they going to have to put new sand on that beach?” he said in an interview. “Forever.”

In Florida, a 53-year-old project encompassing Long Key and Treasure Island in Pinellas County could stay on a steady sand diet until 2080, according to the corps' Jacksonville District office.

It pales in comparison to another Pinellas project at Sand Key, where rebuilding costs have soared past $140 million since construction began in 1988.


Sand Key lost huge volumes of sand during Hurricane Irma in 2017. Its overall condition declined from “intermediate” to “poor” in terms of project “reliability,” according to the corps. Sand Key was rebuilt to “good” condition in May 2019, but by December it was again back in “poor” condition...

Here is the link.

Beach Sand Replenishment Projects Are Expensive, Ineffective and Never-Ending | Scientific American

The article is lengthy and discusses some of the factors of beach renurishment, including costs and why it will continue, to name a couple.

They seem to talk like the sand vanishes.  It doesn't vanish, it just moves.

When beaches erode, in most cases nature will replenish them again eventually unless there are obstructions to the natural flow of sand such as inlets and jetties.  You'll see the same sand come and go many times.

Anyhow, as the article points out, there is no chance they will stop pumping sand onto the beaches anytime soon.  

---

Who was the most famous and successful pirate ever?

The Chinese Female Pirate Who Commanded 80,000 Outlaws.
Ching Shih, who lived and pillaged during the Qing Dynasty, has been called the most successful pirate in history.

At the dawn of the 19th century, a former prostitute from a floating brothel in the city of Canton was wed to Cheng I, a fearsome pirate who operated in the South China Sea in the Qing dynasty.

One of the names under which we now know her, Ching Shih, simply means “Cheng’s widow,” but the legacy she left behind far exceeded that of her husband’s. (She is also known as Cheng I Sao or Zheng Yi Sao.) Following his death, she succeeded him and commanded over 1,800 pirate ships, and an estimated 80,000 men. In comparison, the famed Blackbeard commanded four ships and 300 pirates.

“She was absolutely, unquestionably the greatest pirate who ever lived,” says Laura Sook Duncombe, author of Pirate Women: The Princesses, Prostitutes, and Privateers Who Ruled the Seven Seas. “She pirated longer. She made more money. She surrendered of her own free will, got to keep... her money, and live out the rest of her days in freedom, as opposed to being [cornered] and murdered by a government like Blackbeard was.”...

Here is that link.

The Chinese Female Pirate Who Commanded 80,000 Outlaws - Atlas Obscura

---

Did you see the fool moon?  The tides will be unusually high tomorrow morning and evening.

Source: SurfGuru.com.

The surf is small but will be increasing.  As you can see, maybe six or seven feet this weekend.

Good hunting,

TreasureGuide@comcast.net

-10/15/24 Report - Foam Washing Up On Palm Beaches. Milton Reshapes Florida Shoreline. DNA Identifies Boot. Wascally Wabbit. Nadine.

 

Written by the TreasureGuide for the exclusive use of the Treasure Beaches Report.

Yellow Contruction Foam Washing Up All Over Palm Beaches.

Yellow construction foam has been washing up onto the Palm Beaches.

Our crews have been out cleaning debris continuously since the storms in our parks and on beaches but are grateful for all of the public support we have received with the debris that continues to wash onshore. We have some amazing partner organizations that have been helping us over the weekend as well as the public has shown up to help...

Here is the link for more about that.

'TRASH TAKEOVER:' Yellow foam washing up on beaches after Milton (wflx.com)

---

Hurricane Milton Storm Surge Reshapes Florida Coastline is the title to one news report taking a look at some of the changes caused by Milton. 

Of course, some of the changes shown are misinterpreted by the news reporter.  The title of the video suggests a more permanent or more unusual change. I'd expect the changes caused by Milton will be reversed by nature in short order like for every other storm.

Here is the link.

Hurricane Milton's storm surge reshapes Florida coastline | Watch (msn.com)

---

Source: nhc.noaa.gov.

Nothing much new with the hurricane center map.  Still that one system pointing in our general direction.  It might stall out before getting to Florida.

---

In what could possibly provide new clues to a 100-year-old mystery surrounding the disappearance of British mountaineer Andrew Comyn “Sandy” Irvine in 1924, a team of climbers have found a preserved sock embroidered with the letters ‘A.C. Irvine’ lodged in a boot revealed by melting ice...

The family has now provided a DNA sample to help determine if the boot indeed belonged to Irvine. “It is remarkable that this discovery was made in the centenary year of Sandy’s disappearance,” said Summers. “I have lived with this story since I was a 7-year-old when my father told us about the mystery of Uncle Sandy on Everest.

And here is the link for more about that.

Discovery of boot could provide new clues in 100-year-old mystery (msn.com)

---

Never saw anyone hunt like candidate Walz.  They showed how to do it.  

That was the strangest hunt I ever saw.  Everybody dressed in brand spankin new never worn fresh out of the package costumes like a bunch of twin sisters.  Standing in a field kicking weeds and gabbing while a flock of photographers take pictures as they try to figure out how to load the shot guns they've owned half their life but want to ban because conservatives cling to them so much.  The only thing that was safe in that field would be any game that stayed despite all the commotion.

 

Source: Pinterest.

That's all folks!

Treasureguide@comcast.net

10/14/24 Report - Columbus Day 2024. Ancestry, Spain and the New World. Nadine is the Next One.

 

Written by the TreasureGuide for the exclusive use of the Treasure Beaches Report.

Source: nhc.noaa.gov.

Some people are warning that the system in the Atlantic could be a danger to Florida, but some are saying that a cool front coming down will keep it from coming to Florida.

The National Hurricane Center (NHC) revealed Monday that the low-pressure storm has a 50 percent chance of developing into a hurricane as it produces 'some disorganized showers and thunderstorms.'

Meteorologists are closely monitoring Nadine's path, finding it could hit the Sunshine State within the next seven days or take another route toward Mexico and Central America...

Here is the link for more about that.

Tropical cyclone 'Nadine' has a 50% chance of becoming a hurricane (msn.com)

---

Monday is Columbus Day, so the controversy heats up as it does every year.  This time they are pointing to the Jewish ancestry, although I see that as nothing surprising or remarkable, except perhaps in a Biblical sense. .

MADRID (Reuters) - The 15th-century explorer Christopher Columbus was a Sephardic Jew from Western Europe, Spanish scientists said on Saturday, after using DNA analysis to tackle a centuries-old mystery.

"And both in the Y chromosome (male) and in the mitochondrial DNA (transmitted by the mother) of Hernando there are traits compatible with Jewish origin."

Around 300,000 Jews lived in Spain before the 'Reyes Catolicos', Catholic monarchs Isabella and Ferdinand, ordered Jews and Muslims to convert to the Catholic faith or leave the country. Many settled around the world. The word Sephardic comes from Sefarad, or Spain in Hebrew.

After analysing 25 possible places, Lorente said it was only possible to say Columbus was born in Western Europe.

On Thursday, Lorente said they had confirmed previous theories that the remains in Seville Cathedral belonged to Columbus...  

Columbus died in Valladolid, Spain, in 1506, but wished to be buried on the island of Hispaniola that is today shared by the Dominican Republic and Haiti. His remains were taken there in 1542, then moved to Cuba in 1795 and then, it had been long thought in Spain, to Seville in 1898...

(Source: Columbus was a Sephardic Jew from Western Europe, study finds (msn.com))

From a Biblical perspective, and assuming they have the right remains and everything else, such as the testing results being correct, it would make sense to me that God would once again use a branch of his chosen people to further spread the gospel.  There is some belief that the Apostle Paul, a Jew, visited Spain much earlier.

There is a tradition that Paul went to Spain, but there is no record of this in the Bible. He did mention to the Romans that he wanted to take the gospel to Spain (Romans 15:24, 28). Clement of Rome’s AD 95 writings say Paul went to “the farthest limits of the West,” which could mean Spain or possibly the United Kingdom, and the Muratorian Canon (AD 180) says Paul went from Rome to Spain. 

(Source: What happened on Paul’s fourth missionary journey? | GotQuestions.org)

Since Biblical times, the Jewish people have referred to Spain as Sepharad.  We see this in the Book of Obadiah, where we are told that “the exile of Jerusalem which is in Sepharad shall inherit the cities of the southland.” Where is Sepharad? The Targum Jonathan identifies it as “Espamia,” Spain. Thus, the Jewish people living in Spain and the Iberian Peninsula (as well as their descendants) became known as Sephardim...  

(Source: Who Are Sephardic Jews? - 19 Facts You Should Know - Chabad.org)

So, it would make sense to me if one Jew took the gospel west, perhaps as far as Spain, and another Jew, although admittedly much more controversial, would play such a large part in the gospel being taken to the New World.

---

Good hunting,

TreasureGuide@comcast.net

 

10/13/24 Report - Library Research Pays Off With Big Shipwreck Treasure. Cool Life Preserver. Gold Mine Rescue.

 

Written by the Treasureguide for the exclusive use of the Treasure Beaches Report.

Source: nhc.noaa.gov.

The National Hurricane Center map looks pretty clean now.  Only one system shown, and certainly not much of a threat at this point.

We are still having those King tides though.  Sunday, both the morning and afternoon tides will be over three feet on the Treasure Coast.  The surf remains pretty rough, though the wind will be calm.

As I showed in recent posts, some of the Treasure Coast beaches had some erosion, while others showed little or even accumulated.  It is the type of situation when you will have to look around for those few better spots.

I was surprised that when I went metal detecting I didn't see one other detectorist.  

One person is offering a free used Minelab Excalibur that is no longer being used.  If you are interested, I'll send you an email contact.

Surf Chart from SurfGuru.com.

In recent years it seems people have not been reporting find quickly.  They've been waiting a while before sharing.

So Milton has come and gone, but for a lot of people there are lasting effects.  Lives were lost and others were drastically changed.

Some people haven't recovered from Helene yet.  It is still hard to believe the damage that Helene did in western North Carolina.  A lot of people till could use some help.  Samaritan's purse was flying in Chinook helicopters.  I think they are headquartered up there in the Asheville area.  One of those organizations known for what they give rather than what they get.  Samaritan’s Purse International Disaster Relief — International Relief (samaritanspurse.org)

Nice area for vacationing in normal times.  The Biltmore Mansion is a nice back-in-time kind of place to visit.  Like a lot of areas, their airport was small one-story structure like a strip small, but a lot of airports were like that a few decades ago.  They had rocking chairs, something like the Charlotte airport, but on a smaller more quant scale.  I remember seeing Joey Bishop in the Asheville airport once.  

The Florida West Coast, Big Bend and Panhandle have a lot to overcome before they are back to normal, if that ever happens.

---

When Coast Guard pilot Lt. Ian Logan went out to search the waters off Longboat Key in the wake of Hurricane Milton roaring ashore on the western Florida coast, he didn't expect to find anyone who needed help.

To all of their surprise, he and his crew found a man clinging to a cooler 30 miles out in the Gulf of Mexico...

Here is the link.

Coast Guard pilot describes 'insane' rescue of man floating on cooler in Gulf after Hurricane Milton - ABC News

---

Talking of rescues...

There were the tourists trapped in an underground gold ine in Colorado.  One person died. 

Here is that link.

Multiple people trapped underground in Colorado mine, officials say (msn.com)

---

Storms come and go.  People come and go.  Everything comes and goes.  In the long view, everything seems brief, though in the short view it can seem long.

---

Back a few weeks ago I received the following in an email from the Fisher organization recounting a bit of treasure history.

Mel met Eugene's wife, Dot, in a Ft. Pierce library while looking for shipwreck information. Mel & Eugene soon become friends while attending the same church in Vero Beach. Mel asked Eugene to keep an eye out for information on the Atocha during his trip to Seville, Spain to the Archives of the Indies.

Lyon found a small packet of information about the Santa Margarita shipwreck, and the documents mentioned its sister ship, the Nuestra Senora de Atocha, which sank near the Cayo de Marquesa Keys. These documents and the information included inside lead Mel & his family to Key West to search near the "Cayos del Marques", known today as the Marquesa Keys.

The documents also included the identification numbers on each bar of gold and silver bullion and each cannon the ship carried. Lyon eventually made a career out of shipwreck research, and he has a staggering collection of ships, logs, manifests, sinking details – and documentation of lost cargo.

Dr. Lyon resided in Vero Beach Florida with his beautiful wife, Dorothy and continued to research history until his passing on May 3rd, 2020.

---

Good hunting,

Treasureguide@comcast.net

10/12/24 Report = Treasure Coast Beaches: Turtle Trail, Seagrape Trail and Wabasso. Wind Angles from Milton and Cutting Beaches.

 

Written by the TreasureGuide for the exclusive use of the Treasure Beaches Report.

Turtle Trail Friday Afternoon.
Photo by DJ.

Yesterday I posted photos of some beaches along the northern end of Sout Hutchinson Island.  Later in the day, Dj sent photos of some of the Indian River County beaches.  As you will see, that area had more erosion than the area I shoed from South Hutchinson Island.

Seagrape Trail Friday Afternoon.
Photo by DJ.

Seagrape Trail Friday Afternoon.
Photo by DJ.

Notice that despite the erosion, the erosion in these photos did not remove all the replanted renourishment sand from in front of the dunes.  I would therefore pay more attention to the low tide area rather than the foot of the dunes if I was targeting the old stuff.   I would definitely check down low on the beach especially for dips.  There might also be some better areas farther from the accesses.

All the renourishment sand has not helped.

Wabasso Friday Afternoon.

Thanks to DJ.  Getting photos of the different areas is a big help.

If you think about why you see cuts on the Indian River County beaches but not the South Hutchinson Island beaches that I showed yesterday, there are a couple explanations.  First is the distance from the center of Milton as it went out to sea, and the second is the recency or amount of renourishment sand.

To help explain the first, here is an image I posted a few days ago.

Image from Windyty.com Posted a Few Days Ago.

As the winds are tightly wound around the center of Milton, the angles at the time of Milton passing out into the ocean, the wind is hitting the area to the north, Jacksonville for example, are hitting the coast from a more east or northeasterly direction, and hitting Daytona more parallel to the coast, and down around Palm Beach, moving offshore.  So the point is with these winds circulating around the storm, the angles of the wind relative to the coast is different for different areas of the coast.  It seems that the angles were better for erosion for some significant period of time for the Indian River County beaches.  I'd like to see Ampersands and Sebastian and Malborne.    As you go north from the area of erosion, there would be a point at which the wind angles changes enough that coastal erosion would be less due to the winds becoming more easterly before the storm moves too far out to sea.  Of course, you also have to consider the changing angle of the coastline since it is not a straight line.  That accounts for some of the changes over smaller distances.  

If the winds ran more parallel to the beach, rather than in a circular motion around the storm, the erosion would be more similar for the different areas of the Treasure Coast.

There are always the large-scale effects that affect a large section of the coastline, the smaller scale effects and the very local effects.  There will be rocks, jetties, reefs and nooks and crannies where things will happen are not characteristic of the larger area.

Thank you once again Dj.  Your photos helped by showing more than a few beaches.  They helped me explain a larger phenomenon that will help any beach detectorist.  One of the biggest factors for the beach metal detecting is hitting the right beaches at any particular time.  You can't cover it all, but the more you are out there, the better chance you have.

---

There were some gas stations that ran out of gas both before and after the storm.  Here is a link to a site that will help you find out which stations have gas and which are out. 

GasBuddy.com.

===

The most powerful hurricanes to hit Florida, in terms of barometric pressure (a chief indicator), include:

Hurricane Wilma (2005) – Reached a minimum pressure of 882 millibars, making it the strongest Atlantic hurricane recorded in terms of pressure at the time of its impact​.

1935 Labor Day Hurricane – This hurricane hit with a central pressure of 892 millibars, making it one of the most intense to strike the U.S.​).

Hurricane Michael (2018) – Made landfall with a pressure of 919 millibars, ranking it too among the most intense storms at landfall in the U.S.

Here is the link for more about that.

‘Irma’ Had Double Effects Of ‘Milton’ (spiritdaily.org)

The tornados from Milton were uncharacteristically large and damaging for Florida.

---

Source: SurfGuru.com.

We are still having those King Tides and the surf is still a little rough.  

Too early to give up so soon.  Check some of those dips when the tide gets out and keep scouting for the right spot.

Treasureguide@comcast.net

---

1 dead and 12 others trapped underground in Colorado gold mine, officials say.

Here is that link.

Multiple people trapped underground in Colorado mine, officials say (msn.com)

===