Treasure Beaches Report: Pt. 2. (2020 and Beyond). : 6/8/26 Report - AI Found Wanting. Ace Dies In Service. T.C. Rocket Recovery Base & World's Largest ??? Here Now.

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

Blue Origin Rocket Base.

Residents and business owners will have a chance Monday evening to weigh in on a new vision for the Port of Fort Pierce, including a proposal that could position the city as a support hub for offshore rocket recovery operations tied to Florida’s fast-growing space industry...

The Port of Fort Pierce is one of Florida’s deepwater ports and is managed by the St. Lucie County Board of County Commissioners. Its main tenant, Derecktor Shipyards, focuses on maintenance and refurbishing of large yachts. But the draft 2026 master plan looks beyond yachts, laying out how Fort Pierce could also support the vessels and waterfront infrastructure needed to recover reusable rockets launched from the Space Coast.

The plan identifies a proposed Launch Vehicle Recovery Facility as one of the port’s major long-term opportunities. The facility would be designed to support offshore launch recovery operations, including autonomous drone ships, fairing recovery vessels and other marine support craft — the types of vessels used by companies such as SpaceX and Blue Origin as reusable rocket technology becomes a larger part of Florida’s launch economy...

Here is the link for more about that.

Fort Pierce could become SpaceX, Blue Origin rocket recovery hub under updated port plan

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The world's largest single-masted sailing yacht is making a three-week pit stop in the Fort Pierce port.

The $50 million M5, owned by Texas oil and natural gas mogul Rodney Lewis, is getting routine maintenance at Derecktor Shipyards. It arrived May 27 and will leave June 11 for New England, captain SD deKock told TCPalm.

The M5, originally called the Mirabella V (5), is a 255-foot-long composite-hull superyacht built by VT Shipbuilding in the United Kingdom in 2002 and launched in 2003. The colossal carbon-fiber mast stretches 290 feet high, the size of a mature redwood tree, and uses nearly 5,000 square feet of sail, which is bigger than an NBA basketball court...

Here is the link for more about that.

Fort Pierce port is pit stop for Rodney Lewis world-record M5 yacht

Not to late to see it.

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While up in WV for a few days, I found the 1917 cent that I posted but not much more because my poor little Ace 250 gave up the electronic ghost - maybe a coil problem. Anyhow, it quit working and that was the only metal detector I had up there. As I've documented, the poor little Ace did pretty well for what it is. It produced some nice finds, including 1800s artifacts and coins. But it is dead now.

While using the Garrett Ace, although I found it good enough to make some finds, on this most recent trip, I very much missed the Manticore, which is a much more modern and advanced metal detector that provides great target ID information, which I've come to appreciate in the year or so that I've had it.

The WV sites that I detect are challenging in multiple ways. The ground is very tough. In some places, the soil is very hard to dig, in others it is so rocky it is hard to stick a shovel into it and in other places the ground is so steep, that it is hard enough to stand on the hillside even when not trying to use metal detecting gear. Add to that the fact that I'm getting older and can't detect with the same crazy vigor that I employed in the past. I have to save my back or get put out of commission completely.

In the past I preferred to dig everything most of the time, but my situation has changed and I now regretfully have to compromise - a lot. Not only are the ground conditions a factor, but so are the conditions of the detectorist and the strategy that best fits the circumstances. There is a lot that goes into selecting the best detector and strategy for the situation. On this trip, I would have preferred much more target ID capabilities in my detector. The digging was so tough, that I wanted to avoid as much wasted effort as possible. I'm sure there were still good old targets in the ground, but taking out everything was no longer practical. I guess, I'll have to get something better to replace the poor old trusty Ace for my future hunts in WV.

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I've talked a lot in the recent past about the considerable and serious limitations of AI. I should say that I've only used the versions that are available free online, which, of course, are not the most capable, so my criticisms should not be taken as an indictment of AI in general. I'm sure the advanced and specialized versions are very helpful. The cheap basic versions are helpful to, but they are not the greatest. Too often Copilot is simply wrong or uninformed. Still, it is helpful for many queries and often quicker than doing Google searches the old-fashioned way. It will often save you some time, but for serious issues you might want to verify the answer you get. Thankfully, it provides sources for its answers, which you can check. It is a useful tool.

I asked Copilot about Milkette, because when I did my post about the drink in my tgbottlebarn blog site I didn't have a lot of information on the drink. My searches just didn't result in much information. Well, Copilot knew nothing of the drink. It told me I might being confusing it with Grapette. I knew about Grapette and have sold Grapette bottles in the past. Those bottles were very easy to sell. But I was not confusing Grapette with Milkette.

Since Copilot seemed to know nothing of Milkette, I decided to educate Copilot and sent Copilot a picture of the Milkette bottle and told it to look at the TGBottlleBarn.blogspot.com site. As a result Copilot said I was right and added the following comment. Referring to the Bottle Barn site, Copilot said, "The blog’s write‑up gives us the clearest historical context available for this very obscure bottle."

I've decided to help train Copilot on matter like this and you might too. I don't know if I'll continue to do that, but I'll give it a brief try before deciding if it is something I want to continue.

I do recommend learning to use AI. There is something of a skill to getting the most out of it. You can learn how to use it more effectively. You will also become aware of its limitations, which are important to realize.

Mark G. contributed to some posts in the past on how he, as a detectorist, uses AI. One I posted as a case study. Here is that link. Treasure Beaches Report: Pt. 2. (2020 and Beyond). : 6/20/25 Report - Using AI to Prepare for a Metal Detecting Trip to a New Location: A Case Study.

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