Padre Island Treasures!

ScubaFinder

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Jul 11, 2006
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Re: Padre Island Treasures!

Joe, I've been there, was just telling someone about it this morning. One of the most interesting hunts I've been on, due to the remote location. When I went, I travelled by land and camped on site. It was like 30 miles from the nearest road...I passed 4 shark fishermen on the way out there, most within the first 30 minutes of the trip, then not a soul. The isolation near the Mansfield cut is extreme, the only clue I had that humans inhabited the area was the occasional ship going through the channel. My research skills were not so well honed at that time, and I was on the South side of the cut...idiot...but I still made some finds, both Spanish and Indian. I'm going back someday, with better equipment and a more focused approach.

It's still a trip I'll never forget, I went by myself and camped behind the dunes (just like the indians). It was strange returning back to busy South Padre after being so isolated for 4 days. Can't wait to get back there, but it's not a day trip, and not one to go into without a lot of planning and preparation.

Jason
 

bakergeol

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Feb 4, 2004
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Re: Padre Island Treasures!

Joe

Bill Mahan's book Padre Island Treasure Kingdom was my favorite as a teenager. His incredible spanish coin finds on the beach with his D-Tex were quite inspirational. I was going to go down before it became an national park but unfortunately life took a different turn. I have always regretted not visiting the island before detecting was prohibited.

George
 

ScubaFinder

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Jul 11, 2006
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Re: Padre Island Treasures!

The National Seashore does not encompass the entire good hunting area, they'll nail you if you go digging ANYWHERE when the Kemp's Ridley Turtles have nests out there, but the rest of the year you can still hunt in some great areas. Remember, there were 3 ships, one went down 2.8 miles North of the cut, another 5.2 miles North...one wasn't found by the treasure hunters of the 60's. When they cut the channel, they ran right through the ship and scattered it everywhere. I got this from the head of the archaeology dept. at the University of Texas, there is plenty South of the cut too, especially on the seaward end of the cut itself. I'd love to dive the actual channel...but I don't think I'm a prison kind of guy, and I sure as heck don't want to find out. :D

Like I said, it's incredibly remote...requires ATV's or boat transportation just to get there, and you'd better have everything you need with you...but you can still do some good hunting out there. There are also still some really interesting indian artifacts out there....if you can get there after a very windy period, sometimes the area behind the dunes is cleared of sand and arrowheads and primitive tools become rather easy to locate. Next time a hurricane makes it this far west, I'll be one of the few driving INTO the storm. :D

Jason
 

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