Big waves and serious undertow question.

[I C THE LITE]

I need some help from those of you who deal with big waves and strong undertow on a regular basis. I am down in Punta Cana for 3 more days and I have yet to get even 1 signal while in the water. The waves are smashing me on 1 side and the undertow going back out is amazing strong. I have tried the water 4 times for about 3 hours total and nothing. I dropped a coin on purpose just to see what the out going wave would do and it moved at least 10 feet out to sea b4 the next incoming wave stopped it from being gone. Any suggestions would be appreciated. I have done well in the sand. I found my first platinum/18k ring and 1 other ring along with a silver crucifix. Sorry but no pictures.

 

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[ARC]

Errr... what depth are you in ?
Undertows and rips can be dangerous if you get complacent...
stay closer in if possible is only suggestion... or wait for current to die down...
OR move to a new area of beach... DOWN CURRENT from where you are now.
Keep going till the strength of current is not so great or slows...
This is the BEST spot anyway...
the heavy's collect in these areas.
that is probably why you are not finding anything where you have been looking.

 

[I C THE LITE]

ARRC, thanks for the reply. I am very safe about going out far. I have started very far up the beach and have detected in the water in front of at least 10 resorts. I figured that the good stuff would work its way down current like you said but nothing. Saturday is supposed to be the calmest day so hopefully I can find some spot were the good stuff is at. Is it possible that everything gets buried or carried out to sea.

 

[lookindown]

Platinum ring and silver cross...I would stick with the sand and forget about fighting those rough water conditions.

 

[Beach Papa]

If there is a tidal variation where you are, go out at low tide and just hunt the wet sand. Even if you get a signal in the water with conditions like that it will be difficult if even possible to recover the target. The last time I fought rough conditions, I had a good deep signal and worked for almost 1/2 hour fighting the waves to open a hole deep enough to recover the target, the signal seemed to be gone with just a hint that maybe it was still there. I figured it was in my scoop. By the time I sifted through the scoop and found a nice heavy watch band the target was no where to be found and the hole was completely filled back in. I figured I knocked the watch off the broken watch band and it was too deep to register with my Whites Dual Field PI. Now if it had been a nice heavy gold chain it would have been worth the effort, but for me when conditions are that bad, I look for easier targets to recover. HH

 

[Tenderfoot]

I hunted St Martin beaches for 7 weeks many of which had 3' waves close to shore. They are very hard to hunt. I tried to find beaches with smaller or no waves and hunted big wave beaches on calm days. Found gold ring in chest deep water but gold gets buried deep very fast on those beaches. Good luck.

 

[chlsbrns]

If you can get behind the first breaker (furthest) you will find lots of goodies!

Do you scuba?

 

[I C THE LITE]

Thanks for the replies and yes I do scuba. The first breakers are about 100 yards out. I don't know if these are normal conditions for Punta Cana but the red flag has been up since my arrival. We are going to a chest high sand bar today that claims to have no waves what so ever. Hopefully I can break my water drought.

 

[CASPER-2]

I was lucky on this trip to punta cana - not much for waves-- 98% in water
if I had used scuba to get out a little farther - would have definitely gotten more gold

 

[Fletch88]

That may be why he hasn't had a single signal out there! Wow Casper you're the true "pirate"

 

[frogmaster-riviera]

I was lucky on this trip to punta cana - not much for waves-- 98% in water
if I had used scuba to get out a little farther - would have definitely gotten more gold

"What a trip" to Punta Cana It looks like you haven't spend too much time on a long chair with a coktail and a cigar in each hand!

Please Casper, forget your detector when you'll come to Europe

 

[frogmaster-riviera]

I hunted St Martin beaches for 7 weeks many of which had 3' waves close to shore. They are very hard to hunt. I tried to find beaches with smaller or no waves and hunted big wave beaches on calm days. Found gold ring in chest deep water but gold gets buried deep very fast on those beaches. Good luck.

French side or Dutch side? Did you tried the sister Island Anguilla's 5* resorts beaches... i did a few free air detections over there, and trust me it's "Las Vegas". You have to go there by private boat and keep your detector as discreet as you can in front of the resorts...


Saint Barthelemy island needs to be cleaned as well ;-)

 

[SonnyFl]

Believe what Lookindown said! Stay out of trouble also. Nice Plat!

 

[Tenderfoot]

I was on the French side. All beaches on the island are public even though the resorts don't want you to know. Not sure about the beaches on the other islands.

 

[frogmaster-riviera]

I was on the French side. All beaches on the island are public even though the resorts don't want you to know. Not sure about the beaches on the other islands.

The french legislation for the coast doesn't recognized any private property => all the coasts and beaches are public. Even the resorts needs to rent their space and leave at least 5m free between the sea shore and the first long chair.

Anguilla is completly privatized. They are only looking for rich tourists, so they don't see metal detecting like it is tolerate in the US has a "plus" for their customers...

Did you have a go @ orient bay in front of the Waikiki beach?

 

[chlsbrns]

Where I live we get plenty of days worth of rough surf and strong undertow. The undertow here sucks a lot of stuff beyond the first breaker. Wear scuba, ride a rip current out from the beach. Detect where the rip current leaves you. It will leave you where the goodies concentrate!

 

[Tenderfoot]

We stayed in Mont Vernon at the end of orient beach so I spent a bunch of time on orient beach. If I didn't feel like driving to someplace else it was an easy hunt. There were about 6 days in 7 weeks where it was calm enough to hunt the water there. Found 1 gold wedding band 18k in chest deep water. Also some junk. Also hunted Le Gallion, anise marcel, and friers bay. Each beach has its challenges. But it's better than sitting in a bar.

 

[frogmaster-riviera]

We stayed in Mont Vernon at the end of orient beach so I spent a bunch of time on orient beach. If I didn't feel like driving to someplace else it was an easy hunt. There were about 6 days in 7 weeks where it was calm enough to hunt the water there. Found 1 gold wedding band 18k in chest deep water. Also some junk. Also hunted Le Gallion, anise marcel, and friers bay. Each beach has its challenges. But it's better than sitting in a bar.

Sorry for you that you had stormy sea condition. Next time you go to Saint Martin, try the little beach in front on Pinel Island lobster restaurant ;-)

 

[Tenderfoot]

Next year were there for 9 weeks. I will surely give it a try

 

[fongu]

I've never hunted the ocean myself, but need to follow Casper around. What a haul....I'm tired just thinking about all that scooping and swinging the detector. I haven't been in the water since December, but hope I can get out next week. I've only used my brand new wetsuit one time and sure want to get it broke in. Good luck & safe hunting.