A few beach hints please

[THC]

I usually hunt lakes, but I will try some beach hunting soon, so I need some hints as to where I should it the beach. I've got a submersible mashine, so I can head out into the water. Should I hunt the zone, where the water washes up on the beach, in shallow or really deep water? I know these are really basic questions, but I just can't figure out if the water carries jewlery away, or if it just stays where it was dropped. Thanks for your hints.

 

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[tb]

THC,

I'm new at this so others might have better advice. I try to hunt the low tide. Usually right near the water's edge. Once I find a target, be it junk or something good, most of the other targets will be in a pretty straight line down the beach parallel to the water's edge, usually not more than 2 or 3 feet outside of that imaginary line. I try to cover 6-8 feet each swing. This seems to work good for me where I hunt. Good luck hunting,

tb

 

[Sandman]

Welcome to beach hunting. Salt water beaches are different because there is more wave action to move targets and sand around. Things seem to find a level based on their size and weight. Sometimes these will gather in a pocket with like items. It's a thrill to scoop up a couple gold rings in one scoop and there could be more in that spot. Dig a little deeper just to make sure. The best instruction will come from this web site. www.thegoldenolde.com Ol Norm has passed away, but his advice is still good for hunting fresh or salt beaches.

Ya Gotta Put Your Coil Over It,
Sandman

 

[ClamBob]

I am not new to salt water beach hunting, but this is my first year with a good detector for salt water. I absolutely agree with Sandman...when you find something: look around that area thoroughly.

Tides, wave action, current direction, erosion, build up. Enough to drive anyone crazy if you try to make any sense of it. I do have some theories, though. Or, at least, some hypothesis (what the heck is the plural of hypothesis?).
Start with what we know or can assume.
My area of Florida near Daytona Beach:
Over the years, the beach has gone through cycles of erosion and build up. The tendancy (with a lack of storms) is for build up.

Assumption 1: Left to it's own, sand will wash in from the sandbars (or other depths) and build up on the beach.

Fact 1: The size, shape, and specific gravity of sand allows it to be moved much more easily than most metals.

Fact 2: Coins and other artifacts do wash in from shipwrecks.

Assumption 2: Coins wash onto the beach while the beach is building, but at a slower rate than the sand.

If you can picture it in your mind, you might see a cross section of the sand layers moving slowly towards the shore with coins, rings, etc., moving even more slowly, embedded in the turmoil of the top few inches of sand. Slowly, the sandbars (looking like waves in the cross section) roll onto shore and add to the shoreline. Sometimes rolling over items (making them deep targets) and past them (making them shallow, moveable targets). This building process takes many years.

This is why I search as close to the water's edge as possible, at low tide. The beaches here are building. I want to catch the coins on the way in. That is where they are coming from. I would rather search the sloughs between the sandbars, but waves and current make that nearly impossible.
This is how I picture it, anyway. Reality may be quite different.

In the meantime, I really want to search an old swimming hole that I know of. Calm, fresh water. Only things I worry about are the big lizards (alligators). I had a distant cousin get eaten there about ten years ago.

HH,
BobJ

 

[wmas1960]

Scanning over the replies here there are a few things I haven't noticed. To throw a few other thoughts out there, here goes.

As I have read in the past, someone drops an item out on the beach. As the tide comes in, waves come in and wash sand over it and it gets burried. When the tide goes out, some items that get exposed by wave action can get washed into the water and drawn out with the tide. Then eventually settle to the bottom and the action basically continues over time. Tide or waves come in and push some stuff back ashore, Then, as the tide goes out, it pulls loose stuff back out.

Then there is an issue regarding the shape of the shore bottom. Generally, the sand pulled off the shore gets deposited off shore. It builds up and often forms a sand bar which is a rise in the bottom. You can often walk off the beach, get to your waist or shoulders in the water, then find an area where you can stand with the water only at your knees. (I am speaking in a general discription here).

As the waves pull stuff off the shore, items usually will get pulled down to the low spot, right in front of a sand bar. Being heavier, valuable items that stay along the bank of the shore, will settle to this lowest spot on the shore. Then, there are items from outside the sand bar, say objects from a ship wreck etc., that can get thrown in. When the tide is high, items can get washed in over the sand bar, Then, get deposited among the stuff that gets washed off the beach.

When the weather gets bad, waves get strong, tides are exceptionally high... Items from further out can get caught in the currents and washed ashore.

When there are exceptionally low tides, these areas that may have been under about 5 or 6' of water can often be exposed.

So, when ever there is an extreme low tide, one where the sand bar might be exposed, this is a good time to search all that sand that you previously couldn't get access to. Look for an area on the beach that might look like a river but could only be about 2' deep. If your detector has a water proof coil. check this area. This would be the lowest area of the shoreline. The areas where a lot of stuff comes to rest and gets burried as it gets washed out. Don't ignore the slope up to the normal water line of the beach also. There might be stuff that is in the process of being washed out that will be under the surface there.

Always go out and search AFTER a storm. Especially when the tide is LOW and areas of the beach are now exposed.

 

[wmas1960]

A couple things were mentioned in the last post, before mine. Reading that post a little more carefully, something that I just learned, or noticed, that I will have to consider, next time I get down to FLA and get a chance to do some searching.

The areas on the sand bar, or inside the sand bar, might contain items that are deep, as sand gets washed in and deposited over the top. The discription I mentioned might still hold true for newer more recent objects but, for the older, perhaps more valuable stuff, I will have to search those areas more slowly. Use Headphones and pay close attention to faint signals as many good objects could be burried deep in the sand.

 

[neilo]

Look for depressions in the sand in the water and gutters created by currents you will find most jewelry sinks down t a hard compacted layer sometimes quite deep the gutters and depressions mean you dont have to dig down as much and you are more likely to be able to pick up targets which would normally be out of range of your detector.Storm water outlets are good at creating gutters and are sometimes worth a scan, there may be more rubbish in the area but it is worth putting up with..
seeya Neilo

 

[southern gent]

The florida coast is a bit different than some, in that the sand is usually finer, which allows heavier targets to go even deeper. As for tidal action bringing targets to the beach, no so much. A gold ring lost on the beach will almost invariably stay on the beach, and such is the case in the surf as well. Only an extreme tidal change,( storm surge for instance) will bring goodies from the water. As for northern beaches with coarse sands, once you master the ground balance of your detector SLOW DOWN. Many hunters have walked over targets that I have found moments later simply because they are looking for the quick hits. I can't tell you how many rings I have recovered because my threshold went away, I took the time to take a few scoops and checked the spot again. I love the coarse sands because targets only go so far. Virginia beach for instance, a ring lost yesterday should be at around eight inches after three tide changes. At Myrtle Beach, same ring, about eight inches. At Daytona or Vero, it could be anywhere from eight to twelve inches by that time. As far as hunting the surf, where the latest rip current is has alot to do with it. Hey we could study this for a lifetime and still not know it all. Thats one of the things I love about treasure hunting. HH! Chris

 

[THC]

Great help so far!

From what I have heard so far, the goodies basically keep getting deeper, unless there is something like a storm to take the sand away? I will print all of this information out, just to go ever it again and again and again....

Please keep the hints coming! This is becomming a very valuable thread! Thanks so much!