Ocean City and Bethany Help Needed

[SMPress]

OK, I have never detected at the beach beofre, I am a relic and coin hunter. I am going up to my parents place in Bethany for a short vacation, and thought I would hit the beach. I have borrowed a beach machine from a friend, so I cqan hunt dry or wet.

I have seen many posts refering to not being able to hunt on the beach during the day, that you have to wait until after 5pm. I have also seen posts of people putting up video of hunting whle people are all over the beach. I have looked through the forums here, and done some google searches, but have still had little luck in figuring this out.

For anyone who knows, when can I, and can I not, hunt on these beaches? Any pointers or reccomendations on where I should go?

I figured on hitting Bethany at the crack of dawn, as it is less than a mile from where I am staying, but will there be anythign there? Are people out scouring the beaches in the evening to get whatever people lost during the day?

Thanks for any help!
Andy

 

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[Dr.Jones]

I just left coin beach . It's high tide. I'm going back after 5 to get lower on the tide line. Good luck

 

[bill_nj]

There is not law saying that you can not hunt before 5PM (at least in the places you mentioned). Alot of people just prefer to hunt when the beach is less crowded. I have not hunted OC but I did hunt Bethany a few weeks ago. Did not find much. The beach was replenished this past spring.

 

[OBN]

OC on a good sunny day will net you ton's of coins and possible gold. Got back from there a week ago, I hunt the water but my buddy does the dry once an awhile...think he dug close to 200 coins one day and got 2 nice silver rings..he has found gold, rare but it's possible...Sunny is the key....hunting is allow anytime...24 hours..just need a head lamp........

 

[bootyhoundpa]

i did the delaware beaches last labor day weekend....bethany used to have alot of wwII artillary shell fragments... acually all those beaches had targets but they were kinda few and far between unless you could find a low spot in the sand.....but having said all that i made some nice finds in those 3 days...found a wallet and milit dogtag both of which i returned....found nice large silver ring and small silver necklace and of course clad.....play it by ear.. i was not sure about when and where i could hunt so i would first check with a life gaurd prior to starting and the answer would ussually be something like yes detecting is allowed so long as you dont interfere with the beach goers...good luck...

 

[SMPress]

Thanks guys! I will check with life guards, if there are any there on duty. I will be hunting when I can, mostly when the family is asleep, so I am thinking late nights and early morning mostly. If they want to go to the beach one day, I may hunt while they are playing.

Andy

 

[SMPress]

Is there any section of beach at Ocean City that anyone would recommend? I don't go down there very often, but it sounds like Bethany may not be the best for detecting? I would need to be able to park somewhere in OC, not sure how many place I can park near the beach?

Thanks
Andy

 

[Bill - De]

You can hunt the beach any time the beach is open to the public. Be curteous, and thoughtful of others, and don't invade "their space". Fill in your holes, even though it is only sand, and please take your trash with you. If lifeguards are present, say hello, ask them if they can point you to any cuts in the beach, and let them know that you remove all the trash you did. I just mentioned that to a lefeguard last week, here in Delaware, and he thanked me 2 times, for removing trash. He said he and the others, get many calls regarding some little kid cutting their foot on someone else's trash.

Bethany is a quiet beach area, and fewer visitors than O.C., so finds may be better on the busier beach, but you never know. Parking will cost you about the same at both places.

Good luck, and have fun.

 

[SMPress]

Thanks Bill, I always remove dug trash, but good call on letting the life guard know as well, certainly cant hurt!

Bethany is definitely a quieter beach. Would you recommend Rehobeth over OC? I figure they are roughly the same travel time for me from Bethany?

Thanks!
Andy

 

[47thelement]

Not sure when you are going or if you are there now....

here is my two salt-encrusted-half-rotted-away two cents, I have a place in Bethany and have hunted Rehobeth, Bethany and OC on many occaision. Your best bet is to go OC. Park on the East/West streets on west side of Baltimore Avenue and you can park ALL DAY for FREE. Just be sure you are not in a area that needs a permit. So you have to walk an extra 2 blocks...2 blocks or $10 to park, you decide.

Keep your hunting to 5th street and the Inlet. This is where you will find the largest concentration of people.

The people who use the beach between the fishing pier and the inlet are mostly single day users and carry everything they need for the day with them for the entire day to the beach. This area can also be very trashy and the crowd can at times be intimidating.

As for the people on the North side of the pier, these are from what I have observed mainly vacationers. They carry less to the beach and purchase more things on the boardwalk.

My best advice for you is to park your car, leave your detector in the trunk. Go to the areas I mentioned and look at the people and the jewelry they are wearing. Decided for yourself which area is the area for to hunt. Take all the factors into consideration before you make your decision. Also if you are going into the edge of the surf, try going 2 hours before low tide and hunt for 2 hours after.

Good Luck and have fun.

 

[SMPress]

Thanks 47, much appreciated!

I am going on Labor Day Weekend. Arriving on the 1st, Thursday, and leaving that Monday I think, haven't decided yet.

I am not really familiar with OC, but I think the streets are higher near Bethany, and lower on the South side of town where 50 comes in? Obviously i will be able to tell when I drive in, but I am thinking that is the case in my mind.

I appreciate the help, and will definitely get down there to check out where looks good at the time.

Can you hunt these places in the evenings without being hassled by police or life guards?

I looked up the tides chart, big swing, I guess that has something to do with the Moon.

Thursday Low Tides: 4:41am and 5:19pm
Friday Low Tides: 5:31am and 6:18pm
Saturday Low Tides: 6:24am and 7:20pm
Sunday Low Tides: 7:22am and 8:25pm

I saw on another forum a post about not being able to hunt certain hours prior to Labor Day. Do you know anything about this? The posts above lead me to believe that there are no restrictions, but thought I would ask since your are obviously a local.

Will you be hunting on Labor Day weekend?

Andy

 

[MBbeachrat]

Bethany does not allow you on the beach from 1:00 AM to 5:00 AM. All other beaches open 24 7 for MD. Bethany is very over hunted anyway. I have been to Bethany maybe ten times this year and always a couple MDs withen 30 yards of me . One guy does the dry every morning at 5:00 AM and then 3 or more come along at around 6:30 AM. Ocean City at the southside very over hunted also. I think you may want to try Rehoboth first then the higher numbered streets in OC. Maybe start from end of Fenwick and head south. Everthing is really sanded in now. Finding more in the dry. You can hunt all day but it is much to crowded. Kids crashing into you with body boards and so on. Much better to just hunt after 6:00 PM untill 9:00 AM can cover a lot more ground. Get a headlamp.

 

[bootyhoundpa]

fyi--not sure but i think fenwick is off limits..... double check with someone first....

 

[littlebill31]

Go to Dewey Beach. Plenty of drunken idiots losing all their stuff in the sand there. I live right near the Indian River Inlet bridge and go to both Dewey/Bethany/Rehoboth a lot. Well, not since I tore my knee.
Bethany has a nice little group that goes out all the time, over hunted, "redhat" society, tells you false info, or will point you out to a nice beach patrol officer.
Rehoboth is usually pretty busy with good finds, but still ask the lifeguards and try the north part in front of the Boardwalk Plaza hotel. Fancier items.
Dewey, well, Dewey is full of drunken people that passout on the beach. Mostly college age. In 1996 I was on leave, at the beach for the weekend, and in one afternoon found over $500.00 in cash total. No foolin'.
Cape Henlopen State park is another good spot. It's north in Lewes. Pronounced "Loo-is", lol.
Also, Tower Beach just south of Dewey.
Most all beaches in Delaware can be hunted east of the dunes. Still ask the life guards though. I have had no problems all day and then went back to the same place and was asked to leave.

 

[Bill - De]

We've been hunting Rehoboth, in front of the Bardwalk Plaza toward Rehoboth Blvd all summer, and I'll tell you that it has been slim pickins for wife and I. Nothing but clad this year, and there are typically from 5 to 7 detectors swinging out there every day. I have done better at O.C. and Lewes. Daytime hunts were almost a disaster, with all the 5 to 10 y.o. kids swarming me and constantly asking questions. Some even threw coins down in front of me, and yelled out "find that". Too distracting for me, so early AM is better. (but that's when the other hunters are there).

No perfect place, and you never know from one day to the next, when the coil will go over that target we are all after.

Have fun; good luck.

 

[SMPress]

Thanks all, much appreciated! I am looking forward to my trip more than ever now.

 

[MBbeachrat]

Did Bethany this morning because I didn't want to drive, counted nine MD. 4 in the water plus me and 5 in the dry. Spent more time talking then swinging. Was fun but not to productive. Fenwick replenishment has just finished stay away from there. Go to OC between 142nd street and 28th street that's the longest least hunted stretch.

 

[lonelyduckhunter]

Detected OC this morning for 4 hours with a buddy 80th thru 90 no jewlery just change. Hunt OC once a week all summer been slow on jewlery July and August. Seen more people detecting the beach this year than any other year not uncommon to see 6-12 other detectorist a day in OC this year. The inlet and boardwalk area has been getting pounded all summer.

 

[OBN]

The inlet and boardwalk area has been getting pounded all summer.

From the years of history and the daily depositors theirs more gold there then anyone can dig in a lifetime, You just have to be there at the right times, be a Diligent hunter, and be in the water.

http://forum.treasurenet.com/index.php/topic,417156.0.html

And things can change with the tides..From 10 a few weeks ago, to last week 4 days...one gold only

 

[SMPress]

I havent seen anything official yet, but I read on another forum that the governor of Maryland has closed Ocean City, mandatory evacuation by 5pm Friday.

I am still plannign on going out on Wednesday next week, if things have been re-opened. It looks like they are expoecting this thign to drop to a category 1 by the time it hits us. I remember getitng hit by much worse in Annapolis when i was a kid, when the tides would rise 6 feet aove normal, and we had to go out every hour all night long to re-tie the boat lines. This seems like it is supposed to be much weaker, cant beleive they are evacuating the whole city

Andy