1715 Spanish Plate Fleet

[digi-lot]

I studied the history, I read all the posts on the subject, I know the rules, I upgraded my equipment, and I am heading to Florida in a week (for business).

I probally will only have one full day to hit the beaches of the Treasure Coast, but it will be fun. I am hoping for a storm early the week of Feb 7th. I will report my finds (if any) after the trip.

Wish me luck!

 

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[sherpa t]

I would like to know if some of you agree with my observations, I was on the beach (found nothing in the new sand ) when they did all the re-building and pumped in sand. I remember what that looked like. The beaches around the Treasure Museum looked basically the same a few weeks ago when I detected / looked over the area. I f people are expecting huge cuts and loss of sand - ( storm of the century - arrived at mertle beach, the next day,down on the beach - sand gone - 2 to 3 feet under the concrete retaining/ break walls for a 6 to 7 ft change !! access stairs hanging 4 to 6 ft in the air)here it's not the general case, looks to me like they will mostly be still hunting the newer sand south of the inlet. ?? Don't tell the tourest department, but I was not expecting it to look that good (bad for spanish coins ) Even Ponce Inlet after the first storms looked good ( bad ) and cut free. Days with out power and water and AC !! all that time visions of coins and deep exposed hard pack but not to be . or did I miss it ??

 

[Darod]

Sherpa t,

I've been down there several times since the "canes" came through. I've noticed exactly what you have. Although in some areas I did see where the dunes were erroded to what looks like at least 4' of soil. However the beaches look as thick as ever. Not sure if we both missed it and perhaps the surf has returned the sand?

I'm still working it on the weekends when I can,....you just never know what can wash up in the very next tidal change!

Rod

 

[digi-lot]

Which areas of the Treasure Coast has NOT had new sand added (pumped in)? I get one day and I want to use it wisely.

 

[Darod]

Good question,

Personally I don't know

I will try and find out for ya and get back to you here.

Rod

 

[billinstuart]

None of the beaches have had sand pumped on them. Other than some bulldozer work to re-establish a dune line, nothing but normal beach mechanics have taken place. Sand moves laterally along a beach, and in and out, with the waves. After the storm, high tides and strong waves have flattened the beaches. It appears the major loss was sand deposited landward of the dune line. Steep cuts are temporary in nature. Fines are moved by wind and slight water movement..coarse sand requires more energy to move, such as heavy surf. Beaches are far from static..in the area of Ponce Inlet approx. 200,000 yds3 per year move past any line perpendicular to the ocean. Wind blown fines are captured by sea oats, sea grape, etc., which establishes a dune line...thus I feel it is unlikely anything old will be found on the surface of accruing (building up) dune lines. Questions?

 

[sherpa t]

I agree will all your sand movement mechanics, but - that beach had sand pumped on it and was raised feet higher the summer before this years hurricanes.
I'm looking at my mental picture of were the sand was after that and the height to the dunes now looks the same to me ( deep )
If I had only one day to hunt it would not be the museum beach area.
But again this is only my thoughts and opions, if he has a good salt water detector and wants to work in the wet maybe he'll be the one, to say today's the day.

 

[billinstuart]

I thought you meant after the storm...sorry. Many stabilized inlets in Florida regularly undergo pumping/beach renourishment, as do beaches with commercial value. For inlets, it is sand trapped on the north side that is pumped across the inlet to the south side. For other beaches, it is crap on the ocean floor that is placed on the beaches. For instance, Stuart beach was renourished, and the resulting "beach" is largely composed of coarse aggregate that forms a steep, unattractive beach...this often is a giveaway as to which beaches are natural and which are refurbished.

 

[sherpa t]

I was just thinking, maybe I should have be more specific. The sand and bulldozers were in one specific area ( museum ) not the whole coast.
I also meant the beaches seemed to come through overall much better than I expected, too much weather channel, had us thinking we were all floating to the gulf and back again.
The ponce inlet north of the rock pile pier looked in tact, but, yes the sand fines were on the move and like a snow drift already filling in.
So , should our visitor be looking on the south side of the inlet guys,... I'm on my way to buy , decided my life's not complete without a new Titan 3000 detector for the general use of the family.

 

[ClamBob]

Was south of jetties at Sebastian last week. Timed it for low tide to search the water's edge. Very steep where the beach hasn't built back up (whether from bulldozing of dredging I don't know, but not natural looking at all). Found one new Canadian cent, but still not very good at ground balancing my new CZ 20. I miss having a meter. Found a few fishing sinkers on the other side of the jetties earlier in the afternoon. It's a bit of a drive for me. Might just wait for another storm before I try again.

Happy hunting,
BobJ

 

[tone Junky]

Hey, I'm new here & I'm getting ready to go to the Treasure Coast & the Keys & I wanted to make sure it was OK to Metal detect in both places. I read somewhere that it was illegal to hunt the Vero Beach area because of the 1715 shipwreck. Is this true & is it illegal anywhere else in Florida?

 

[wreckdiver1715]

Tone Junky, Welcome to the Forum. Please don?t believe those stories. You can metal detect Florida beaches to your hearts desire. The only exception is in national parks along the coast, and even then you can sometimes get permission from the ranger. Hunting in the water, as long as you don?t get within 3000 yards of the center of one of the wrecks. I would stay out of the water until you do some homework on the wreck locations, and you will need a GPS. You can find those locations posted in this Forum. However, anything found on the beach from the base of the dune, down to the mean low tide line is finder?s keepers, even on the beaches adjacent to the wreck sites.

 

[bootyhunter]

so does that mean you can walk over the beaches that the motels sit on, or is that (motel) property??

 

[billinstuart]

Any land west of the dune line on the east coast is private property. You can legally access the beach only thru a public access. Further, it is illegal to disturb the vegetation in the dune line, thus cutting thru undeveloped areas is discouraged. Be especially careful of the sea oats...they are the only thing that holds the dunes in place. Also, be careful where you park.

 

[bootyhunter]

I'm sorry, To clarify I mean walk from the public acess site detecting down the beach past motels but between the dune & water line.?

 

[billinstuart]

ALL beach areas between the dunes and the water are public property, and despite what some arrogant property owners think, they DO NOT control what happens in front of their property on the beach. The same for beaches ajacent to underwater leases..they beach is still fair game even though it is technically within the lease..the lease is only under water. Be advised that there is an unwritten rule that all tourists must pay any local that asks a fee of $100.00 to use their beach.............(just kidding, it's only $5.00)

 

[bootyhunter]

that answers alot for me, thanx Billnstuart I was wondering that for a long time now, & with all the beach (umbrella rentals) on the sand in the beach area behind the motels one almost had to guess it was motel property, but if you live down there & say that is not the case I will have to believe you over some pompous hotel staff,, LOL ThanQ Again

 

[Darod]

Just remember,...the dune is the line between public and private property. The dune itself if off limits! But everything to the east to dune up to the water is public and huntable. Everything west of the dune is private in most cases. HOWEVER, there are public parks on the beach, they are huntable. I do pretty good on those myself. I live in Melbourne Florida and I've lived here since 1984.

If you keep to those line above you should be fine. OH, remember that some areas are off limits as stated by wreckdiver above. You'll have to ask the Park ranger for access to those areas.

The public parks I'm speaking of are small and mainly just a playground, boardwalk, and some pavilions with picnic tables. Lots of trash but lots of change and the occational gold/jewelry piece. SO, if you get tired of the beach then you hit a few of these areas. There's plenty of detecting for you out there, ENJOY!

OH, I almost forgot,...since I'm a 20+ year resident of the area, if you find anything of value your supposed to drop it off at my house before you leave the state

Rod

 

[digi-lot]

As promised, I am providing a report. After a spending most of the week at the Cape, I finally had one free day, last Thursday (2/10). Unfortunately most of the beach accesses were closed, even Golden Sands. I tried Treasure Shores first. I did find pennies up to 8 inches in the wet sand. By the way, my XLT worked great in the wet sand. It just needs the proper programming. After finding nothing but large beautiful shells, I went to Ambersands. One of the hunters there found some nice pottery that he said was from the fleet. Of course I found none. But I did find more large shells! After a few hours, I went to just south of Sebastian Inlet and hunted there. I found nothing. Next I went up to Bonstele Park, only to find it closed. In fact, everything north of the Inlet is being covered with new sand.

At this point I decided to figure a way to get to the Corrigan's wreck. With the exceptions of walking 10 miles of beach or knowing someone who lives on the beach, it is impossible. Therefore, I headed back to Ambersand to polish off my day of no finds.

However I did enjoy it! I found over 2 dozen beautiful shells and had some very interesting conversations with some local treasure hunters. I even helped a few XLT owners by programming their XLT for wet sand. If I ever come back, I know were I want to hunt next.

 

[mvSWAT]

Hey digi, I've got an XLT coming this week and am going to Cocoa Beach in May. Can you give me any pointers on that wet sand setting? Thanks Dan.