8/6/20 Report - Metal Detecting. Post-Isaias Reports From Readers. How A Search Strategy Develops.

Written by the TreasureGuide for the exclusive use of tbr2020.blogspot.com.

North of Seagrape Monday.

I received this report from DJ who went detecting after Isaias.

... I went to Turtle Tr. Monday and while droves of detectors headed south, I walked north past Seagrape. Found only this newer but rounded edge cut with a definite coin line about three feet from the toe of the cut. Corroded quarter, dimes and a penny tells they were in the water awhile. Did they wash up or down? I don’t think there is much new renourishment sand along this stretch. . Since conditions were not the best, I decided to learn the differences in the v.3 update. Lots of black sand that the NOX handled pretty well before I installed the new v.3 update. Round targets like coins and a few bottle caps were better sounding - clear and unbroken. The tiny bent bronze nail was clearly not a coin but had a consistent tone (9) so I dug it. A few pieces of small lead. I only encountered one other detectorist in the area. Another indicator I noticed was not a lot of sea turtle nests washed out except in the area of the cut. (glad so few turtles were lost). Still a good day, better than the last few months.

Monday Finds.
Photo and finds by DJ.

Thanks DJ.

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And I received this report from Bill R.

Hello,
Just wanted to let you know love reading your blog. Hope you don't mind me following your leads, that's how I ended up on Frederick Douglas Monday. I took a long weekend from work (cape coral fd) to check out the treasure coast due to the storm. Pretty much hit all the beaches from Sebastian down. Didn't see much erosion until Jaycee park which I didn't detect, was in a hurry to get further south. Did find a couple of toe rings, a men's titanium ring at Wabasso. And of course tons of trash.

I just started swinging a month ago so still trying to figure it out...  No luck 😪 at FD but some lead weights, wife did great though with a ton of nice shells further north past john brooks. Was too tired at that point to head up there with the detector...

Bill R.

Thanks for the report Bill. 

You did well for having been at it only a month.

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I haven't heard of any old Treasure Coast shipwreck finds made after Isaias yet.   

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I received some questions about my Sunday and Monday detecting.  One person asked, for example, if I paid attention to the Equinox conductivity numbers.

The answer to that is no, and I'll explain the reason.  

First, I wanted to get a better understanding of the beach.  Reading a beach involves more than looking at the shape of the surface of the beach.  It also includes what is below the surface, and includes, most importantly, how items are distributed on the beach.   As I said yesterday, it appeared that the other detectorists removed virtually all of the easy targets, but not the deeper targets.  I was therefore interested in any targets that might still be on the beach and was interested in what they were and where they were.  I wanted to know if there were dense materials or light materials and if they were shallow or deep, and how deep, and if they were in a line, or just how they were distributed.  I was interested in more than what could be learned from just the conductivity numbers.  I was interested in any and all metallic objects that I might be able to detect, and as it turned out the first few targets I dug gave me some good information.  I quickly learned that targets were present, even if they were junky, and even the junky targets were deep.  I also saw that the first junky finds were in a thick shell line that ran parallel to the beach.  That information helped determine what I would do next.  It did not tell me what else was there, but it told me how to proceed.  I wanted to find out if there was a line of targets that continued along the beach, so I checked along a fairly narrow swath running parallel to the beach.

The conductivity numbers at this point didn't mean anything to me for multiple reasons.  First, the items were so deep that I only got faint signals, and I don't trust the numbers when I can barely detect an item.  I don't know that they are totally reliable under those circumstances, but more importantly, I was interested in all targets, junk or otherwise, that would tell me how items were distributed on the beach, and the location of both dense and less dense items can provide important information.  And I wasn't interested in limiting my search to targets, such as coins that would be easily identified by the numbers.  You might remember the video showing that gold rings can produce conductivity numbers along much of the conductivity scale, and the videos showing how watches and other complex items can produce almost any number.  And my first two or three dug targets told me to be especially alert to the possible presence of jewelry and other items that are not easily identified by the numbers.

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Not all of the readers of this blog are in Florida.  In fact not all of them are in the states.

I received the following report from Bjorn who is overseas.  It might be of interest if you have been thinking of traveling this summer.

Here some short notes, may be of interest to other travellers.

This was my first flight after pre-covid times.

All my metal detecting gear was no problem as usual.

The security at my departure airport was extremely friendly.

I forgot to empty my large water bottle. They tested it and let me take it with me. Gosh, was I surprised.

That airport was quite empty and most shops were open.

I quite liked this uncrowded, zen-like way travelling.

I was amazed at the amount of code-share flights.

At maximum, eight major airlines were sharing one plane to a major destination.

Looks like aviation will be changing a lot in the post-covid world ... which we have not reached yet as far as I can tell.

My destination airport Munich was even more quiet. Round 90+% of the shops were closed.

I managed to find a cuppuccino and sit outside at the Hilton waiting for the next train.

I was the only one sitting there, although the weather was beautiful. That felt somewhat eerie.

My train ride was also very zen-like. Nothing compared to my usual travels to visit my parents.

It is good to know that air travel is workable at this time. 

I really like train travel in Europe and wish the states had a better passenger rail system.  I took the train from Munich to Berchtesgarden (where Hitler's Eagles Nest was located), and stayed in a hotel, which you might be able to see in the photo below, which I got off the web.

Great area for hiking.  And the train would get you almost anywhere you wanted to go.

I departed the Frankfurt Airport to return to the states in June, 1985, just before a bomb exploded in the international departure lounge.  Having left minutes before it exploded, I knew nothing of it, and was surprised to learn about the bomb when I got back,  All of the family had already heard about it and was wondering about my safety.

These aren't the only times tainted by turmoil and violence. About 30 groups claimed responsibility for the 1985 Frankfurt bomb, including a group calling itself the Arab Revolutionary Organisation, upset because of West German intelligence recruiting Arabs to assassinate members of Arab revolutionary groups in London.

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A couple days ago I saw some one oz. gold coins on TV offered for something like $2020 each.  I mentioned to my wife that it sounded like a good price, and this morning the spot price for gold is like $2060.  It has really been going up.

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Nothing to watch as far as tropical weather today.  The surf is small again.

Happy hunting,

TreasureGuide@comcast.net