Written by the TreasureGuide for the exclusive use of the Treasure Beaches Report.
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| What I Saw Yesterday. |
I thought I'd look at yesterday's find in more detail today, but then I thought of something that might be more meaningful. Actually, there was something much more interesting and enlightening that happened yesterday, and although it will be difficult for me to describe, I'll give it a shot. I'm talking about the process that led to the find. I'll try to analyze and describe how I experienced what happened and give you a sense of how mystical it felt to me.
First of all, I started the morning yesterday feeling compelled to get out to the beaches to see what was going on. I felt like I should have gone the previous day, but I was unable to. It was one of those days that I call "beachy." Cloudy, unusually windy, and rainy. It just had that feel that always calls me, but I pushed back the feeling because I thought I needed keep my appointments.
The next morning, Tuesday, the urge was irresistible even though I knew I'd have only a short time to metal detect because of another appointment. I hurriedly got my gear together and made the trip just like I had many times over the previous years. I wasn't expecting much but the urge was there.
After hitting a detour and getting delayed some more, I finally got to the beach that I had hunted maybe a hundred times before over the years. I didn't yet know if I was going to detect that beach or not and just walked out that familiar path through the dunes to take a look and snap a few photos. The pathway had changed over the years. There was a time when it was surrounded by Australian pines, which were now gone. There were painted wood markers the salvage boats used to triangulate their position. They weren't there anymore either. They build a wood walkover at some point. And at some point someone cut a kind of compass pointing north into the wood railing. Then the walkway that was continually buried in sand got removed. Many things came and went over the years and the surroundings changed.
As the accumulated experience of the years piles up, it seems your walk through the world is deeper. You not only walk the path in the present, but you walk through an additional dimension of accumulated past history. You can sense the accumulated layers of time. The depth of previous experiences surrounds you and adds a deeper dimension to your being. You are not only in the moment, but also in the residual layers of the past experiences.
So! I when I reached the vantage point from which I survey the beach many times before, I looked north one more time. What a familiar scene. My memory of similar images combined to form an something of a heat map showing locations of finds from years gone by.
The landscape was very much like it was many times in the past when I made good finds. Here a dated half reale. There a few more reales. In that little dip three gold nuggets. Right in front of that was where Mo Molinar had the Virgalona backed up to the beach with the blowers throwing all kindsof material into the bend. A distance ahead there was once what we called the Christmas tree, which was taken away by the hurricanes of 2004. All of these images were condensed into a single scene as I looked at the landscape as it was yesterday.
Despite see all that in my mind, my attention was inexplicably drawn to one spot that stood out from the entire scene. That spot was in just in front of the sharpest and highest cut, which was about thirty yards to the north of me. It was a very familiar spot nearly in the middle of the heat map.
Now there was a new urge. I ran back to the car, get my detector, which I didn't know I was going to use until I scoped out the scene.
I turned my detector on. Checked to see if everything was ready and started the walk towards the spot that drew me. No good signals for the first twenty or so yards. Nothing to get excited about. Maybe it was going to be another day of nothing exciting. Just empty sand and the footprints I left behind. That was a familiar experience too.
But when I got to the center of the spot that drew me, I heard a good signal. I still wasn't expecting much. Maybe a penny or dime. I had put away all the images of the past and was firmly in the present now. I dug the hole without excitement. Far away from the water, and with my hurried preparations and not being prepared to get my pockets and phone wet, I resorted to the Dump and Kick routine. Nothing but sand. Then I felt something solid. Still covered with sand, I got it in my fingers. Modern coin, I suppose. Then I got a glimpse of it. I got a glimpse of that grey-black look of silver. Then a small glimpse of part of the design. Maybe a mercury dime, I thought. A little more sand fell off, and there was what looked like the end of a Florenza cross. I brushed the remaining sand off. Oh. That is a nice one. It is clean. Has a little size to it. Sweet. I put it away and started sweeping again, hoping to find another or maybe something else.
I only found the one, but was amazed that I've only been out to the beach three times with the Manticore (I don't think I'm forgetting any, but maybe there was another outing) and two of those times, the first dug object was a treasure coin. That is impossible and hard to believe. I'm still totally amazed myself. I've gone through quite a few metal detectors and have had some good first hunts before but this is unbelievable.
So Wednesday I went out again, but the surf was hitting straight on and there was a lot of seaweed. The Tuesday attraction wasn't there today. It was more of a mechanical feel from the get-go. I just went through the motions. I needed to check to see if there were any more, but I also needed a little more experience with the Manticore, so I detected a while before quitting empty handed. I was just glad my back held up well and had a nice day.
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| South of Fort Pierce Jetty Around 11 AM Wednesday. |
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| John Brooks Wednesday Morning. |
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| Surf Chart for the Fort Pierce South Jetty Area from Surfguru.com. |
As you can see the surf has decreased. The surf is now hitting the beach straight on. I don't expect any more erosion real soon. It was one of those quickies.
I'd like to see photos of other areas.
Good hunting,
I'll get some pictures of the new find probably for tomorrow. Another still needs more cleaning.
Good hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net