Go to Florida or More South?

[Overkill Overkill]

Hello all,

I must hold the title for the world's most ineffective or inefficient treasure hunter. I must have logged more than 20 hours in the water and sand in Florida recently and walked away with only $1-2 and 2 matchbox cars that I can call my own!

Watching those YouTube videos are sure to help though, so thanks Sandman.

I have 5 or so days to spend detecting coming up in a couple of days. I might be able to squeeze my pennies and fly cheaply via Hotwire to somewhere tropical such as Antigua, Jamaica, Freeport, US Virgin Islands, or, alternatively, I can go back to the Florida Gulf Coast.

Is it really a hassle flying to a touristy spot such as the Virgin Islands and explaining what your metal detector is to the airport/local folks there. Are the laws a pain? Or does the quality of the lost treasure outweigh the hassles? I am looking for platinum or gold rings with lots of diamonds!!!!! Can one expect to perhaps find maybe 50% less fishing junk in the shallow water of a hot spot like the Virgin Islands vs., say, Florida? I guess another factor is water temp, but perhaps there's not much than 5-8 degrees difference between the two?

Bottom line: I'm trying to decide about driving again down to Tampa or flying somewhere more south to detect. Any feedback/experience/strength/hope would be appreciated, thanks.

 

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[DewGuru]

The beaches in and around Tampa gets beat to death religiously -- sometimes you can be the bug, sometimes the windshield. Lots of beaches around Florida, both coasts - odds are about the same regardless of your approach or location. Personally, I am of the opinion that a foreign coast will be alot less hunted, if thats what your looking for.

 

[Can Slaw]

Snowbird season is just ending in FL. Most of the Snowbirds this year took up metal detecting and our beaches got hammered ALL winter long. I have never seen so many detectors on the beach as I have this year. It is not surprising that there was not much to find on your trip to FL.

 

[Montauk3]

Belleview is fine this time of year.

The truth is that I have a difficult time dealing with sufferers of terminal rectimitus.

I guess my problem is that I'm not a liberal (fill in the blank)

Would anyone like to hear MY personal problems?

 

[h2ojunkie]

He's baaaaccckkkk. Montauk3...I think you missed your calling in life. ROTFLMAO

 

[Killer Angel]

Sorry guys, i just don't buy into the hammered beach theory. I hunt what is probably the most hammered beach in the country. We're talking about a one block stretch of beach that must see 25 to 50 Metal detectors every week. Last week there were five, count'em, five other detectorist hunting the same stretch of sand at the same time i was. And, these MDers weren't retirees with toy store dectectors. Most were pros's with either Excals or GT's. Still, with all this traffic, I pulled two rings and a bunch of silver coins from that beach that day. Better than that, I got several coins within feet of the dig holes of other detectors.

That beach is hunted everyday. And, everyday, while conditions were right people were finding the good stuff. So, while no doubt the number of detectors hitting the beach is a factor, the bigger factor are the beach conditions. If conditions are wrong, nobody finds. If conditions are right, everybody finds.

 

[Treasure_Hunter]

Sorry guys, i just don't buy into the hammered beach theory. I hunt what is probably the most hammered beach in the country. We're talking about a one block stretch of beach that must see 25 to 50 Metal detectors every week. Last week there were five, count'em, five other detectorist hunting the same stretch of sand at the same time i was. And, these MDers weren't retirees with toy store dectectors. Most were pros's with either Excals or GT's. Still, with all this traffic, I pulled two rings and a bunch of silver coins from that beach that day. Better than that, I got several coins within feet of the dig holes of other detectors.

That beach is hunted everyday. And, everyday, while conditions were right people were finding the good stuff. So, while no doubt the number of detectors hitting the beach is a factor, the bigger factor are the beach conditions. If conditions are wrong, nobody finds. If conditions are right, everybody finds.

Only 5, man you are lucky you should see Clearwater......LOL There were 7 other hunters last time I was at Daytona Beach, when you go to Daytona Beach with an Excal or Sovereign and you don't get any nulls or only a couple that means it is sanded in real bad.....Even nulls are hard to find now......LOL

I do agree with you about beach condition, we haven't had any storms to take any of the sand off and no errosion here......

 

[Killer Angel]

I'm sure the tourist beaches in Florida are getting over hunted. That was the case when i was down there a month ago. Yet, what I saw were hunters spread over long stretches of beach. Sometimes miles of beach. Up here in Jersey, everyone was working the same block of beach. And, most were working the 50 foot strip between low water and high water. Picture a cut, 300 feet long, opening up on Daytona or Clearwater's beaches.

It was a lesson in never assuming it's hunted out. Once the beach opened up, it was productive until it sanded in again three weeks later. That beach got worked, and re-worked everyday of those three weeks. Two days before the beach shut off is when i found the two rings. My hunting partner found one ring. I had found a ring the week before. All found amongst the filled dig holes of other guys who had hunted that beach no more than a few hours before.

One other point to the original poster - vacationers are always at a disadvantage. Not knowing the area really adds an element of luck to the situation. The way to even the odds of getting a good hunt is to really research what beaches are working today. Do what you can to find the most productive beaches in whatever area you are visiting. In Jersey, the beach that was working was 300 feet on a 10 mile long island. Hunt those 300 feet and you were going to have a good day. Hunt the other 9.8 miles and probably more frustration than finds.

 

[Treasure_Hunter]

I am a firm believer that the beaches down here are loaded with old silver and jewelry, problem is they are covered up with sand to the point our detectors don't see them unless there is a storm or some kind of errosion to move some of that sand off of them.

I have seen what happens when a storm tears a beach up by the amount of old silver and jewelry that is found for a couple days till the hole is covered up again....... The only thing that is over hunted is the recent drops.....

By the way OK/OK, 20 hours of hunt time is nothing, most of us have hundreds and hundreds of hours of hunt time, 20 hours of no finds is a single drop in the bucket....I have a lot more than that since my last nice gold find....

 

[Killer Angel]

IT's not right to wish for a hurricane, but a maybe a good ole tropical storm that comes in just north of Tampa, crosses the state, weakens, reforms off Jacksonville, then retrogrades across to Ft Myers, and get's pushed off by another tropical wave crossing in from Miami. Everyone gets wet, the beaches get torn to pieces, but nobody gets hurts. It's not like that scenerio hasn't happened before.

 

[Surfdigger]

Wellll....You really can't compare that beach to alot of beaches around the country.....that was a pretty unique environment....the sheer volume of target masking iron and the thousands of scrap brass and copper pieces there made that a pretty hard area to hunt much less clean out.....You guys did really well down there but it is really hard to compare "clean" beaches to that "Rust Jungle"....

 

[Killer Angel]

Wellll....You really can't compare that beach to alot of beaches around the country.....that was a pretty unique environment....the sheer volume of target masking iron and the thousands of scrap brass and copper pieces there made that a pretty hard area to hunt much less clean out.....You guys did really well down there but it is really hard to compare "clean" beaches to that "Rust Jungle"....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5vZq4LPXPpw

Good point !!! The difficult hunting conditions would enter into it. Maybe, I should have used a different beach to make my point?