Heading to the Caribbean next week, and looking for advice

[I've got the bug]

Hi all,

I'm going to be in the Caribbean next week and there are two islands where I'll have time to metal detect. St.Kitts/Nevis, and St. Martin. I saw another post from a guy who lives in St. Kitts, and he says that he finds so many cannon balls that he just leaves them in place. I'm looking for a location where I can find a cannon ball, not really looking for jewelry, just historical items. I wrote the OP, but he hasn't been on since 2014. Anyone out there have an idea on where to go?

Thanks so much,
Bug

 

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[controlfreq]

No experience here just saying be sure to research the heck out of state and local ordinances and laws. A lot of things we take for granted here will land you in jail someplaces. Even if OK to detect, you may find yourself sideways with an antiquities law. Good luck, let us k ow how it turns out.

 

[Tom_in_CA]

No experience here just saying be sure to research the heck out of state and local ordinances and laws. A lot of things we take for granted here will land you in jail someplaces. Even if OK to detect, you may find yourself sideways with an antiquities law. Good luck, let us k ow how it turns out.

Ok. And how do you propose that the O.P. goes-about-accomplishing this ? For example, if, as you say "Ok to detect", yet "might find yourself at odds with an antiquities law" (even though not explicitly disallowing md'ing), then: How does a person go about finding out if his intended actions fall afoul of this ? Ie.: that "someone might gripe", and now he "finds himself landed in jail" ?

How oh how is someone to make sure jail cells next to Bubba doesn't occur ? To merely look it up and .... as you say .... it might be "ok to detect". No, that's not good enough. Right ? We must go another step and find out if it violates cultural heritage boiler plate wording. Right ? Because, certainly people are being thrown in jail for such things. Right ?

Ok, how do we know ? Is there a magical age-of-object by which we have now violated the antiquities laws ? And if so, .... if it's merely a matter of age, then most certainly someone's standing by you , armed with a calculator, to do the math on the ages of those coins . Right ?

 

[hardballer]

Hi all,

I'm going to be in the Caribbean next week and there are two islands where I'll have time to metal detect. St.Kitts/Nevis, and St. Martin. I saw another post from a guy who lives in St. Kitts, and he says that he finds so many cannon balls that he just leaves them in place. I'm looking for a location where I can find a cannon ball, not really looking for jewelry, just historical items. I wrote the OP, but he hasn't been on since 2014. Anyone out there have an idea on where to go?

Thanks so much,
Bug

I would almost guarantee that if you did an online search for the Department of Tourism from those islands, that you’d be off to a good start to answer your questions. They probably have contact info that can begin the process. Good luck!

 

[Tom_in_CA]

.... search for the Department of Tourism from those islands, ....

To ask about legalities of md'ing ? Sure. And be sure to pepper the inquiry with words like "Dig" and "take" and "remove" and "cultural heritage" and "treasure". Then sit back and wait for their answer.

Such was the humorous case, in the very early 1980s, when Fisher Co's monthly periodical mailer (which used to have a letter-to-the-editor section) had a question from a reader: "Is metal detecting in Mexico allowed ?". Apparently they were getting ready to head to one of the tourist beach destinations down there.

Fisher's reply was that it was not legal. And so: To leave the detectors at home.

In the following monthly mailer periodicals, other readers wrote in to take exception to Fisher's answer. Saying things like: "Since when?" and "Where did you get this info ?" and "We go there all the time with no problems".

Fisher, in defense of their earlier answer, gave the source of their information: They asked. Yup. When they'd got the earlier question, they merely forwarded it to a border consulate lawyer or Dept. of tourism or whatever. Who probably forwarded it on to an archie. And then presto: The answer gets couched in terms of shipwreck salvor language, or raiding the pyramids, or exporting gold bars, etc.... And presto: A "no" to the pressing question.

But what was/is odd, is that there is/was no shortage of md'rs on the tourist-beaches in question. And dealers in the bigger cities down there (including Fisher dealers, doh!). Presumably selling them for lawful purposes.

Sometimes it seems that md'rs can be their own worst enemies.

 

[Harvest]

If you go to the Caribbean with your metal detector you will ,one , lose your metal detector .two, end up in jail ,three ,pay a very heavy fine and wreck a very good vacation probably the rules down there are the ones they decide that you are committing . By the way the place they call jail would be described as a outhouse with bars

 

[CASPER-2]

I dont know what Harvest is talking bout
I detect in Carribean all the time - only thing I can tell you now is that it is illegal in Jamaica - they will take "hold" your detector and you can pick it up when you
leave - no jail - no fine ...they got sick of poachers hammering wreck sites - think mostly in Port Royal area and recently banned all detecting (unless you have special permit)
As far as I know - all other islands are still open - I have not hit St.Kitts... but have hit St. Martin as well as most of the the other Carribean islands

 

[Tom_in_CA]

If you go to the Caribbean with your metal detector you will ,one , lose your metal detector .two, end up in jail ,three ,pay a very heavy fine and wreck a very good vacation probably the rules down there are the ones they decide that you are committing . ....

I dont know what Harvest is talking bout
I detect in Carribean all the time -....

Isn't this just so typical ? And here's what will happen next : Someone .... in order to un-ravel the confusion and "clarify" this, will do what ?

Drum-roll: .......... THEY'LL ASK . I mean, .... gee ........ who better to ask than the powers-that-be ? Roll out this pressing question to border consulates, dept. of tourism, and the local purist archie . And then ..... sure as sh*t, someone will couch the answer in terms of shipwreck salvor and raiding the pyramids and tell you "no". Meanwhile : The oldtimers like casper will be sitting back scratching their heads saying "since when ?".

It's as if we md'rs can be our own worst enemies

 

[controlfreq]

Isn't this just so typical ? And here's what will happen next : Someone .... in order to un-ravel the confusion and "clarify" this, will do what ?

Drum-roll: .......... THEY'LL ASK . I mean, .... gee ........ who better to ask than the powers-that-be ? Roll out this pressing question to border consulates, dept. of tourism, and the local purist archie . And then ..... sure as sh*t, someone will couch the answer in terms of shipwreck salvor and raiding the pyramids and tell you "no". Meanwhile : The oldtimers like casper will be sitting back scratching their heads saying "since when ?".

It's as if we md'rs can be our own worst enemies

... maybe the confusion lies in the Carribean being an ocean with different islands being controlled by different governments. Personally I would expect a different experience between a resort in BVI and a random beach in Haiti.

Different countries have different laws. In some places the simple act of taking a selfie with a local policeman can land you in prison. Recall a group of airplane spotters at a public airshow found themselves in jail a few years back. These guys collect info on the planes they see like bird watchers do. The country they were in considered any photog, recording of data, etc on military equipment to be espionage. Similar hsppened to a guy with a hand held GPS a few years back in a country he traveled to for business.

H3!!, even here in the US, ignorance abounds among the unintelligent, uneducated ruling class, ever tried to detect in state or federal parks...? Ever ask why...

 

[Tom_in_CA]

.... Ever ask why...

control-freq : I have no doubt that fluke bizzare stories exist. Eg.: Someone who got their hands cut off for jay-walking. Or someone who took a picture of a plane and found himself in a 3rd world dungeon, etc... Heck, I even have a newspaper clipping of someone here IN THE USA who got a ticket for eating a hamburger while driving (the cop called it "distracted driving"). I'm sure there's a clipping somewhere of someone who'll get pulled over , roughed up, ticketed, jailed, etc.... in some USA location for nothing but a tail-light out.

There will ALWAYS be fluke stories via over-zealous cops. Just as in you can find stories of someone chomped and killed by a shark for swimming in the ocean. Never mind that 1000 people per day, all year long, swim at that same beach with no shark attacks.

Sure, ask away. Wherever you go to. And be sure to pepper the question with words like "dig", and "cultural heritage" and "take" and "remove", and "treasure" and "indian bone". After all, ya can't be too safe, right ? After all, you wouldn't want to mince words, right ? After all, you don't want to share a jail cell with Bubba. Right ?

I bet there's not a single place in the USA (even the most innocuous sandbox) that I couldn't fetch a "no" at.

 

[A2coins]

Hit the beaches many wealthy upper crust drop stuff