10/4/26 Report - Celebrating St. Francis By Looking Back on a Favorite Find. St. Francis Tunic Dated.

 

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

Religious Medallion
Found on Treasure Coast Shipwreck Beach.

Today is the day on the liturgical calendar when St. Francis is celebrated.  Although St. Francis died on Oct. 3, 1226, and saints are typically celebrated on the day of their death, which marks their first day in heavenly bliss. according to longstanding church tradition, St. Francis is celebrated on the Oct. 4.  Here is a link if you want to know why?

Why St. Francis of Assisi is celebrated on October 4

I've told the story of the above medallion before, but it is one of those things that taught me an important lesson.  In short, when it was found, it was totally encrusted and thought to be a coin.  It was tumbled with a lot of other coins before it was realized to be a medallion.  The tragedy of that is that it undoubtedly sustained some damage in the tumbler, even though it was discovered before too much was done.  That is one reason I recommend frequently checking on items being tumbled or cleaned.  That way, if there is such a mistake, the process can be terminated before too much damage is done.

This is also an example of an artifact that I learned a lot about from readers of this blog.  First, here is what I learned about it from author and researcher, Laura Strolia.

St. Anthony of Padua had a beloved Psalter that was lost and that he begged God to be returned to him as it contained notes he'd written to help him instruct his students. In response to his prayers for the return of the book, a novice who'd left the Franciscan Order returned, bringing the Psalter (now kept at the Franciscan Friary in Bologna, Italy) with him and confessing that he'd stolen it and asking to be allowed to return to the religious life (this was granted). Thereafter, St. Anthony became the Patron Saint called on to pray with you to find lost objects.

Concerning the image on the front of the medallion, she says, The man bowing down in front of St. Anthony with head down, must be asking for forgiveness for stealing his book of Psalms (and notes). St. Anthony is forgiving while holding the book.

All of the emails that I received were helpful. I do intend to continue working on the medal.

On the back of the medallion is a prayer.

Prayer on Back of Medallion.

 Another blog reader, Moe, sent me the translation to the prayer on the back of the medallion.  Here is what he said.

I believe that the words (Latin) on the back are a blessing that St. Francis wrote to Brother Leo.

"Benedicat tibi Dominus et custodiat te;
ostendat faciem suam tibi et misereatur tui.
Convertat vultum suum ad te et det tibi pacem"

I can see the words: Custodiat ostendat faciem miseratur convertat vultum

This prayer is known as "May the Lord give you peace".
The translation is:
"The Lord bless you and keep you;
may He show His face to you and have mercy.
May He turn His countenance to you and give you peace."

It is a very beautiful prayer for travelers.
Hope this helps.

Once again, I must express my thanks to Laura and Moe and all the readers who have helped me along the way.

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Using a radiocarbon dating method, physicists at the Italian Institute for Nuclear Physics (INFN) in Florence, Italy, analyzed material fragments from two tunics assumed to be relics of Saint Francis, one preserved in the Church of Saint Francis in Cortona in Italy and the other in the Basilica of Santa Croce in Florence, Italy.

They have not examined the two other tunics in Italy that have been ascribed to Saint Francis, one of which is preserved in the city of Assisi, where he was born, and the other in the Sanctuary of La Verna in Tuscany...

The tunic in Cortona, however, was made between 1155 and 1225, coinciding with the lifetime of the "Poor Man of Assisi," as the saint was called, due to his voluntary casting away of all worldly possessions and his preaching of a simple life...

Here is the link for more about that.

Tunic Worn by Saint Francis Identified | Live Science

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Source: nhc.noaa.gov.

It looks like we're not going to get the four foot surf predicted earlier for next week.

Surf Chart from Surfguru.com.

Lots of rain this week.  Check for rain erosion.

Good hunting,

Treasureguide@comcast.net

10/3/26 Report - How Money Can Really Burn a Hole in Your Pocket. 400-Year-Old Shipwreck Found. 600-Year-Old Gun.

 

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

You probably don't recall this picture.  I posted it years ago.  

When my wife and I were going through a box of old clothing we discovered this.  

There was a penny that apparently created a hole in the pocket of the 100% cotton shorts.  You can see that in the insert at the bottom right corner of the picture.

Here is what I posted after finding it back in 2019.

Could this be the actual origin of the old idiom?

My wife was going through some old clothes that had been in a storage box in the garage when she discovered this surprising sight.

It looks like money can actually burn a hole in your pocket!  I've heard that expression many times but never imagined it could be literally true.

I dig up a lot of corroded coins that have been exposed to salt water.  I think this penny was corroded to some extent before being placed into the pocket, and I suspect the mineral acids interacted with the fibers.  Florida's hot humid environment might have increased the reaction.

This is NOT a corroded coin that was simply falling out of a hole in the pocket..  When I first touched the coin, it was firmly attached to the fibers.  You can see in the photo that the cotton immediately around the hole is discolored as well.

I pulled the coin out just a touch, at first, so I could see what it was, but the photo looks very much like what I saw when my wife first held up the pants to show me what she found. 

The next photo shows what was holding the coin to the inside of the pocket..

Fibers From Pants Pocket Embedded In Corrosion on Penny.

You can see how the cotton fibers were embedded in the corrosion from the chemical reaction, so even if the coin was corroded before being placed in the pocket, it evidently continued to corrode while in the pocket.

And below is a closer view of the two holes - the larger hole in the outer layer of the pocket, and a smaller hole in the inside layer of the pocket.

Hole in Pocket As Observed After the Penny Was Removed.

You can also see some corrosion still attached to the inside layer of the pocket.  That is where the fibers were attached to the coin.

It looks like the chemical reaction affected the blue dye as well as dissolving the cotton fibers.

When I first saw what was happening, I thought the pants were probably made of synthetic fibers, but the label says it is 100% cotton.

Perhaps a chemist could better explain the chemical reaction.

It does seem to be true that money can burn a hole in your pocket.

I noticed that people were recently looking at that old post, which is what reminded me of it.  But now, with AI, it was really easy to get the answer I was looking for.

I queried copilot, and below is part of what I got.

A corroding penny produces acidic copper salts (especially cupric chloride and cupric acetate) when exposed to moisture, oxygen, and chloride sources. These copper salts are highly reactive and will attack cellulose, the main structural polymer in cotton. Over time, they break cellulose chains apart, weakening the fibers until a hole forms.

I know the process of how money can burn a hole in your pocket.  Whether that is the origin of the idom, I don't know.

I supposed I could have learned the chemistry of the process years ago, but AI made it really quick and easy.  

I guess this is example of how an item that has become a focal point of interest, you continue to learn from it for years.  It works the same way with finds.  When you keep them, they occasionally reveal more of their story.

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A 400-year-old shipwreck was found during a pipeline survey in Germany's Bay of Greifswald.

More than 60 artefacts, related to the ship’s inventory and personal belongings have been recovered from the site. These include items initially collected by clearance divers during the investigation of target anomalies and redeposited to the wet store, as well as the finds encountered during the subsequent archaeological campaign.

Among the largest items of ship’s inventory recovered from site were two stock anchors...

Here are links for more about that.

400-year-old shipwreck found during pipeline survey in Germany's Bay of Greifswald

Full article: A 17th-Century AD Clinker-Built Vessel from the Bay of Greifswald, Germany: Preliminary Report on the Peenemündung, Fpl. 142 Shipwreck Investigation

---

Soldiers searching for old landmines found Korea’s oldest known gunpowder weapon.

In November 2023, troops sweeping a suspected minefield on Mount Geumseong in southwestern South Korea uncovered a small bronze object barely four inches beneath the soil. Fortunately, it was not a landmine, but a gun—one that may have been buried there for 600 years or more.

After nearly three years of analysis, researchers with the Naju National Research Institute of Cultural Heritage have identified the object as a Hwangja Hwatong, an early handheld gunpowder weapon. At 23.75 centimeters long and just over one kilogram, it could have been carried by a single soldier and used to fire gunpowder-propelled arrows or pellets.

More remarkable still, the weapon carries 28 engraved characters. Twenty-seven appear in six columns on the handle socket, recording its name, weight, manufacturing supervisor, craftsman, and an incomplete date. A separate character on the muzzle, 八, meaning “eight,” may have served as an inventory or production number.

Here is the link for more about that.

Soldiers Searching for Old Landmines Found Korea’s Oldest Known Gunpowder Weapon

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South of Fort Pierce Inlet Saturday Morning.
From Surfguru.com.

Note the remains of a little cut produced by a combination of high tides and wind off of rainstorms.

Surf Chart from Surfguru.com.

Looks like another little bump up in the surf is exected for later next week.

Good hunting,

Treasureguide@comcast.netrrn as it always was.  It is all still there.  It is the same place 

10/2/26 Report - Crooked Sixpence and Other Bent Coins as Ritual Charms. Witching Coins. Figa Found on the Treasure Coast

 

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

In 1984, archaeologists discovered a 1596 English sixpence at a naval station in Maryland that had been the site of a Jesuit plantation from 1637 to 1942. A close look revealed lines that suggested the coin had been bent into thirds, carried in that bent state for some time, and then flattened out again. But why? To explore the possibilities, archaeologist Sara Rivers Cofield took a tour of coin magic...

In many cases, the coins used for these purposes were deliberately bent or broken, making them “crooked.” This practice went back to pre-Christian European idea of “killing” an object to dedicate it to a deity. By the early fourteenth century, English people customarily bent coins when making a vow to a saint. In a moment of crisis, like the sickness of a loved one, a person might bend a coin while promising a pilgrimage to a saint’s shrine. This reflects a common aspect of magical or religious ritual across many cultures—the need for a personal sacrifice.

“Coins are bent not only to signify the promise of the pilgrimage, which is itself a sacrifice of time and effort on the part of the giver, but also to remove the coins from general circulation as currency,” Cofield writes...

Here is the link for the rest of the cool article.

The Magic of a Crooked Sixpence - JSTOR Daily

In my post previous to this one, I suggested the idea of items being buried for a variety of reasons.  
Beside the common ideas we have about hoards, I suggested there may be other less common reasons hoards or single items are buried but not intended to be recovered.  

"Killing" a coin is a picturesque and particularly apt description for removing a coin from its useful and intended life in circulation.  Other buried items that are destroyed and intentionally buried once and for all could be described the same way.

In that previous post I mentioned some other examples of items I being buried and "put to rest." One of those was related to the magical or religious use of coins and items that were buried with no expectation of ever being recovered.

Over the years I've found a lot of coins that were discarded for what seemed to me to be a magical or religious intent.  One example would be the small cluster of coins I found that seemed to be arranged with seashells around a dead bird.  I suspected some magical or mystical, use but didn't know exactly which one.  I thought of Voodoo, but later learned that some of those coins and other objects were used in Sateria rituals.  See for example The Treasure Beaches Report Direct From Florida's Treasure Coast. Copyright 2001 - 2026.: 2/14/15 Report - Mystery Item Positively Identified. Santeria Yemana Tools. Smaller Surf Sunday..  

But today I wanted to move on to some other cases in which coins were possibly used for magical or ritual purposes.  Over the years, I found a lot of bent coins.  There was one location where there were a lot of rocks in the shallow surf.  For a while, I thought maybe the many bent coins I found there might have been bent by natural forces.  Maybe they got caught in the rocks, but I didn't know if that was really possible, and I realized they could have been bent in some other way - possibly intentionally by man.

Historically there was once the superstition that a bent coin could change one's luck. Another tradition suggested that carrying a bent coin in a purse would keep the purse full.

Here is an old nursery rhyme originated in the 1800s that maybe you've heard.

There was a crooked man, and he walked a crooked mile.

He found a crooked sixpence upon a crooked stile.

He bought a crooked cat, which caught a crooked mouse,

And they all lived together in a little crooked house.

Besides the literary device of repetition, there were more specific historical references and probably a specific meaning behind the "crooked sixpence" and other crooked items in the rhyme. 

A silver sixpence was a real coin widely used from the 16th to the 20th century. Some historical sources note that thin silver sixpence could easily become bent or in circulation. A bent coin was common enough and was not worthless. It was simply damaged in usage. 

In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries people sometimes clipped tiny amounts of silver from the edges of coins. Because of this, oddly shaped or damaged coins could suggest fraud, tampering, or diminished value. In that case, they weren't bent, but they were crooked coins in another way.

The reader of the nursery rhyme might recognize a "crooked sixpence" as something imperfect or out of the ordinary, but there were also an association of good luck that became attached to the sixpence.

For example, in British folklore there was "Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue" which some of would recognize, but it continues. "and a sixpence in her shoe."
Sixpences were placed in Christmas puddings for luck, and silver coins were often carried as charms for prosperity.

But there is another historical use for coins that were bent.

Witching coins are ordinary coins that were deliberately bent, pierced, or otherwise altered to serve as protective charms against witchcraft, especially in 17th–18th century Britain and colonial America. That has been described in archaeology, folklore and numismatics.

I once found a mystery item that someone told me had to do with witchcraft and a reader told me I should get rid of it.  I don't remember specifically what it was now, but being a Christian and having something more powerful, I wasn't at all afraid of it. 

Here are some excerpts from an article on collecting witching coins.

These apotropaic coins (from the Greek apotrope, meaning “to ward off”) began as currency but became something more: ordinary silver altered by extraordinary hope. Today, these curious pieces sit at the crossroads of folklore and numismatics — part superstition, part social history, and wholly fascinating to collect.

Between the late 1500s and the early 1800s, England and its colonies lived in an uneasy truce with fear. Witches were said to cause illness, spoil crops, and haunt hearths. To protect their homes, families hid witch bottles beneath thresholds, fireplaces, and chimneys — the supposed gateways of evil.

Alongside these bottles, historians and archaeologists have uncovered bent coins, often silver sixpences or shillings. People believed that twisting or striking a coin could “break” a curse or bind an enchantment. 

And here is that link.

Witch Bottles Bent Silver: Apotropaic Coins and Magic Protection

I don't know that I ever found any witching coins, but there are some I'd bet are some kind of charm.  And I have found items having a similar function on the shipwreck beaches of the Treasure Coast.  For example, there is the figas that I've posted before.  See The Treasure Beaches Report Direct From Florida's Treasure Coast. Copyright 2001 - 2026.: 4/25/11 Report - Figa & Wet Sand Areas

Here is one that I found that is exactly like one that was in the old Mel Fisher artifact database.

Silver and Ivory Figa Found on Treasure Coast Beach.

This would have been a good Halloween post, but I'll have more for then.

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Surf Chart from SurfGuru.com.

We are having a small surf again, but there have been some good high tides.

The high water washed out one section of the west bank of the Indian River Lagoon including a bit of Indian River Drive.

Rain erosion will undoubtedly expose some opportunities on land sites.

There is a little erosion to the renourishment sand this morning.  

South Fort Pierce View from Surfguru.com.

Little blows from rainstorms can cause small cuts too.

Good hunting,

Treasureguide@comcast.net

9/30/26 Report - Thinking About Hoards. A Couple Studies and Some Thoughts. Back to Flat Surf.

 

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

Viking treasures still hide in plain sight

Norwegian silver find: Four ornate silver bracelets from the 9th century were found under a farmhouse in Norway, likely untouched since their burial.

Hoards across Europe: Famous finds like the Spillings Hoard and Vale of York Hoard reveal the Vikings’ vast trade networks and cultural exchanges.

Burial motives debated: Experts speculate treasures were hidden due to conflict, trade travel, or sudden danger, with many never retrieved by their owners...

Here is that link.

Viking treasures still hiding in plain sight

Historians believe Viking hoards were often buried for safekeeping during times of instability, such as enemy attacks or political upheaval. They believe some may have been hidden by merchants along trade routes, while others were stashed in haste during conflict. Many were never reclaimed, leaving modern archaeologists to piece together the circumstances from the objects and their locations.

Any detectorist would love to find a hoard, and hoards receive a lot of attention.  The contents of hoards are studied, but not a lot of attention is paid to how or why the hoards are accumulated.  

Before a hoard becomes a hoard it was first a collection. Some were put together carefully and systematically while others were assembled with little or no thought given to what should be included.

We often think of hoards as being buried for later retrieval but for some reason was never recovered.  It could have simply been forgotten, or disability or death prevented its recovery, or maybe the precise location wasn't easy to find after time passed. 

You might think you can go back and easily find something you buried, but that isn't always the case.  Memories fade and even when they don't, things inevitably change.  

The beaches of the Treasure Coast have changed a lot over the years.  Many landmarks that I used in the past to identify locations have completely disappeared.   Many landmarks were washed away by hurricanes.  Invasive species of trees were removed.  There can be new construction.  And the renourishment projects cover old landmarks and change the look of the beach. 

The same thing goes for the Indian River lagoon.  The changes are remarkable.  Things look entirely different today.  Over the past ten, twenty or thirty years, many landmarks disappeared shoreline was reshaped by storms and men.  Old docks were washed away and others were built in different locations.

Back to the beach, I've found items that were lost by beach goers after they buried them for safety while the took a dip.  Several times it was keys.  One time a wallet was buried with keys. The beach goers thought they would be able to return and easily uncover the buried objects that they buried just minutes earlier, but it wasn't that easy.  They knew the general area, and I was easily able to find their items with my metal detector.  But they thought they would just return and uncover the items.

But there are other reasons that hoards are sometimes not recovered. There are some items that were actually not meant to be recovered.  Here is a weird one for you.  I've actually considered someday reburying finds for other people to find.  Instead of giving the items to someone outright, they could be left for whoever might find them.  That way I'd pass along more than the object.  I'd also pass on the fun of the discovery.  That seems like an especially good choice for items that might not yet be worth a fortune but have a good chance of becoming more valuable with the passing of time.

Of course, there are hoards that were buried for commercial purposes such as those associated with a book that provides clues.  There have been several of those.  I don't know that all of them have been recovered, and I don't know how many there were.  There could be some out there that have not be recovered yet.

You have to wonder about the supposed treasure of Oak Island.  If it exists at all, was it meant to be recovered?  

I found an academic study that suggested studying how hoards were put together as collections before being buried.  Below is an excerpt from the study to give you the idea of that article.

If hoards were buried for safekeeping and later retrieval as some have argued, they were unintentional, but then why were so many hoards never recovered (Fontijn 2002, 14) and why are patterns in their contents and location of deposition observed? If, on the other hand, hoards were deliberate deposits, as most would now argue, what was the explanation? Were they all votive deposits or was there also an economic motivation in some instances? Another concern has been to explore how hoards differ from other types of deposit that are intentional, such as objects from watery contexts (Bradley 1998; Fitzpatrick 1984). Interpretations continue to be developed and refined. Research over the past thirty years, for example on Bronze Age hoards from continental Europe, has concentrated on identifying recurring patterns, such as looking at the arrangement of objects in hoards or details of fragmentation and use-wear, to identify local and regional artefact traditions and patterns of deposition (Dietrich 2014, 468–70; Hansen 2013, 179–80). Long-standing assumptions have also been interrogated. For example, Yates and Bradley (2010) have called into question the differences between watery and dry-land deposits and Bradley (2013) has cast doubt on the distinction between hoards and single finds. Particularly revealing are studies uncovering how our own cultural biases have dictated how we have interpreted hoards. For instance, the term ritual is often used to describe a practice like hoarding, which to our eyes defies functional or common-sense explanation (Bradley 2005, xiii)...

There have been religious, superstitious or ritual depositions.  Those deposits might be meant to solicit an effect or as an act of thanksgiving and not to be recovered.

A votive offering or votive deposit are objects that were deposited without the intention of recovery.  They were buried in a sacred place. 

There are times when items are buried to simply get rid of them.  Other than what is junk, some item could be thought to be bad luck or associated with some past guilt-producing act.  They are associated with bad karma.  

Think of the wedding rings that were thrown away in anger.  I'm don't doubt that happens.

Here is another excerpt from the study.

 Assuming collections of artefacts existed in prehistory prior to some being deposited as hoards, they may have been liminal phenomena, in effect keeping objects in stasis until a sufficient number had been gathered for their final deposition in a hoard. Alternatively, they could have been quite dynamic, with collections being added to and other objects removed through processes of swapping and exchange (Wingfield 2011). We also do not know how private these collections were, who had access to them and when. They may have been openly displayed, stored in containers, hidden away in dwellings or even in holes in the ground. Collections became static or fixed as ‘hoards’ only because no one retrieved the objects after deposition (Needham 2001, 2007). For the purposes of this article, whatever the social mechanisms behind this were, whether intentional or otherwise, hoards are viewed as ‘snapshots’ or ‘time traps’ of the networks of people, places and things that formed these collections (Garrow and Gosden 2012, 156; see also Wingfield 2013, 80). They are also seen as a window on collections that may have existed in prehistoric societies but are made visible only through hoarding. Approaching hoards as collection

I'll leave you with that for today.  It will lead me to another topic that I have planned for another day.

just another time.  

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We're back to the hot weather and one to two foot surf today.

Good hunting,

TreasureGuide@comcast.net

9/28/26 Report - Beach Developments and Recent Finds from Readers.

 

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

Fort Pierce South Beach Monday Morning.
From Surfguru.com.

As you know the surf is decreasing now.  You can see that above.  You can also see the fluffy slope.

Wabasso Beach Cam - Far South View Monday Morning.

Wabasso and Fort Pierce beaches look pretty similar this morning.  Good number of people were out on the beach by the Disney Resort this morning.  Looks like any new drops on that slope could easily get dragged down into the swash by a receding wave.

With the recent high tides and surf, there was some beach movement.  Al C. found one of the spots the benefited.  He said "nothing for the collection" but he was glad to see some greenies after all the summer fill.

Greenies Recently Found by Al C.

Mark G. also did some metal detecting.  He was out Saturday.   Here is a picture of his finds, followed by some observations.  

Gold Ring and Other Finds by Mark G.

Mark said...

 I had to check out the beaches to look for cuts this morning (Saturday). Big surf crashing and rolling all the way up the beach almost like last Friday. Trash and seaweed pushed all the way up along with a lot of turtle eggs. While the berm over can bring in sand with high tides, last night's rough surf took a lot of it away. I broke out the detector, note: I have not found one piece of jewelry on JB the entire month of September, it was just after high tide and I worked down to the slope which I could tell that the slope was pushed back. Why am I telling you all this because it was exactly like you stated at the very end of today's Saturday 9/26 post you had to find the firmer parts of the slope or the sand was mush sometimes sinking to my ankles like quicksand. I found some nice shells, a plastic "ring?" (surface find), a quarter and a gold ring. A lot of sand has moved around on all the beaches. Hunting should get interesting.

Thanks to Al C. and Mark G. for sharing their finds and comments. I really appreciate it and know that other readers will too.

The greenies are a good sign, and it is always good to find a piece of gold no matter what age it is.

---

Copper prices have been going up and ended last week at about $6.70 per pound.

Ten Year Copper Price Chart.
Ending About $6.70 per Pound.

The past couple of posts I did is the type of thing I started this blog to do.  It was so good to finally see some beach action after such a long boring summer.  

When I started this blog the primary purpose was to give readers some idea of Treasure Coast beach developments and hunting conditions.  It grew into a lot more and included a lot of different kinds of information besides beach developments.  

As I've said before, October has been a pretty good for beach metal detecting in recent years.  This years October will have a more good high tides and hopefully some more good nor'easters and fronts coming through to continue moving some of the sand.

I'll have some good new information about hoards in the near future along with whatever else comes up in the meantime.  I didn't get it done for today.  

Hopefully, I'll receive more beach and find reports. 

Good hunting,

TreasureGuide@comcast.net

9/26/26 Report - Following Developments Along the Treasure Coast. How Nor'easters & Tropical Storms Differ.

 

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

Windyty.com

In the above illustration you can see the current Nor'easter and the rest of the Atlantic.  The Nor'easter looks on the illustration very much like a hurricane but there are differences.

You might wonder why the storm isn't shown on the National Hurricane Center map.  The NHC map only shows tropical weather.  I'll explain more of that below.

National Hurricane Center Map Showing Remnants of Fay and Tropical Storm Gonzalo.
Source: NHC.noaa.gov

Nor’easters form from mid-latitude frontal systems, with cold and warm air masses interacting. Their energy source is baroclinic instability (cold and warm air masses interacting), not warm ocean water.

Tropical systems must have a warm core, organized convection, and a closed low‑level circulation. Nor’easters typically have a cold core and asymmetric structure.

The strongest winds of a hurricane are near the center, while the strongest winds of a northeaster are out in bands.  Hurricane winds can get much stronger, but northeasters can hang around longer.

So, Nor'easters and hurricanes or tropical storms are different, but both can cause a lot wind, erosion and damage.  Nor'easters can hang around and cause damage over a long period of time, like the legendary Thanksgiving Storm of 1984 that I've written about several times.

Fort Pierce South Beach Cam - South View Zoom.
From Surfguru.com.

Along the Treasure Coast this morning, it looks pretty much like yesterday.  It seemed like there were some bigger swells coming in occasionally, but the water was still hitting the back dunes in places.

Wabasso Beach Cam - South Zoom View Saturday Morning.

There were some very little cuts there, but they are gone now.  They got washed over.

Jensen Beach Cam Friday Morning.

I didn't see any cuts on the beach cams this morning.  Nothing at Jensen.

Bathtub Beach Web Cam Friday Morning.

Bathtub Beach was washed over this morning.  You can see the water all the way back to the dunes.

Along with the high surf, the day's tides were well over three feet.

Surf Chart from Surfguru.com.

As you can see the surf will be decreasing now, getting back down to one or two feet by Tuesday.

I'd say there are definitely some beaches worth checking this morning.  Check along the foot of dunes that got washed and also some of the firmer slopes that might have moved back.

Good hunting,

Treasureguide@comcast.net

9/25/26 Report - Higher Surf on the Treasure Coast. Checking Out Some Beaches to See How Things are Developing.

 

Here is a look at the beach cam at 8 AM Friday.  Look how high the water is.  It is hitting the face of the dunes despite all the renourishment sand out front.  Look at the waves breaking.  We haven't seen anything like that for quite a while.  Notice that rough spot about half way up.  I was always noticing that even before the renourishment.  Still there.  Don't know what causes that.

At that time the wind was WNW while the surf was ENE.  And the high tides today are running about 3.3 feet.  That is pretty good.

On a front moving through, at the beginning, you'll often see a little west tilt to the winds.  Since the beach here actually does not run straight north to south, but has an angle, a bit of a westerly component to a north wind works pretty well on our beaches.

Looking at Wabasso about ten minutes later, here is what we see.

Compare that with yesterday's view.  Very different.

Definite bit of an angle to the waves as they hit the beach, resulting in the swash running north to south.

So I went out a little later to see some of the beaches.

Rough Water Friday.

Looks like shoulder high around noon.  I was surprised there were no surfers there.  They must have gone somewhere else.  Maybe Pepper Park.

John Brooks Beach Friday Before Noon.

The water had been towards the back of the beach but the water was receding by now.

No cuts, but it looked like the beach had moved back some.  It was fluffy near the top though.

John Brooks A Bit Before Noon Friday.

Looks the same to the south.

Walton Rocks Friday.

Walton Rocks looked similar, although the beach was firm here and there were some creases at the top of the slope, which was not the case at John Brooks.

Walton Rocks Friday.

 You can see a very small six-inch-high crease in front of the trees in the distance.

Way up around the bend to the north, the dune face was eroding.  Although it looked like the erosion was in renourishment sand.  I didn't walk all the way up there to check it but somebody should.

The most discouraging thing I saw was hundreds of turtle eggs washed out along Walton Rocks.

Fort Pierce South Beach Friday.

Nothing looked very good along this stretch of Fort Pierce South Beach.  The dune foots were washed out a little in places.  

Fort Pierce South Beach Friday.

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Source: nhc.noaa.gov.

There are a couple things out there, but nothing very significant.

Windyty.com Showing the Nor'easter.

New Jersey and North Carolina are both taking a lot of damage and erosion from the nor'easter. 

"During winter, the polar jet stream transports cold Arctic air southward across the plains of Canada and the United States, then eastward toward the Atlantic Ocean where warm air from the Gulf…. And the Atlantic tries to move northward," noted the NOAA Website. "The warm waters of the Gulf Stream help keep the coastal waters relatively mild during the winter, which in turn helps warm the cold winter air over the water," The website continued. That difference in temperatures is a critical factor in powering the Nor'easter.

Here is a link to learn more about the erosion and damage up north.

Powerful Nor’easter To Hit I-95 Northeast Corridor With A Twist

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Back to the Treasure Coast...

Source: Surfguru.com.

As you can see, tomorrow will be a similarly high surf.  I'll watch to see what happens tomorrow.

Good hunting,

TreasureGuide@comcast.net