Metal Detecting In Virginia Beach

[3121]

I would like to know of any good places to metal detect in Virgina Beach VA and the best time to go detecting during the the 4 of July? Have any of you guys been successful at metal detecting at Cape Henry Beach, VA. Thanks

 

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[LadyDigger]

When you say Cape Henry Beach...are you referring to Ft Story where the Cape Henry Lighthouse is at? If so, you can not metal detect on the base, nor the civilian beach (ocean side) or military beach (bay side and nicer ) on base. I already called security and it's a no go, due to buried ammo, some live ammo.

The oceanfront is good...seems the majority of the beachgoers stay around the 17th Street entrance, give or take 5 streets north and south. But lots of MD'ers out there daily, at all hours.

Sandbridge Beach, the part we went to last week, yielded some clad, but nothing exciting, but we were chased off after a couple of hours due to thunderstorms rolling in and with hubby and I taking turns watching the kids play in the water...only one of us could detect at a time.

Chick's Beach (Chesapeake Beach) is ok....found lots of fishing stuff (sinkers and such) and some clad, nothing exciting. But we weren't there long.

The beach along Ocean View, stay out of the water, jelly fish haven along the shore. Found some old clad, lots of nails, etc...mostly trash on that beach. Nasty beach to me....has been that way since I first got stationed here in 1978...ewwww!!!

Croatan Beach is ok...surfer side we found lots of clad, did not spend much time on the swimmers side.

Spoke with the Rangers at the Seashore State Park...no metal detecting authorized, either on the trails or the beach area (across the street). Spoil sports!!

Virginia Beach and Chesapeake City Parks Office say "Surface Detecting ONLY, no digging". Spoke with the City of Virginia Beach office and they informed me there are NO LAWS in the City of Va Beach or the State of Virginia governing Metal Detecting. They have no prob with anyone doing so, only ask that you pay respect to property and people (i.e., beachgoers). And even though the City says it's ok...we still have to abide by the laws of the City Park Offices regarding city parks. So, that to me...is kinda' like "double jepaordy". I would think the City Office would override the City Park Office....oh well.

Remember too...if you go to the oceanfront, show your driver's license with a local addy and parking is FREE on Wednesday's ONLY!!! Sandbridge, with local addy, charge only 2 bucks, instead of the 4 buck parking price. The oceanfront attendents won't tell you about the FREE WEDNESDAY PARKING...you have to tell them, whereas, we found at Sandbridge, they ask if you're a local...nice folks

HH...and Happy Fourth....may see you on the beach sometime.

 

[Roadquest]

3121 Let us know how you made out at the beach. Roadquest

 

[Cubfan64]

I would like to know of any good places to metal detect in Virgina Beach VA and the best time to go detecting during the the 4 of July? Have any of you guys been successful at metal detecting at Cape Henry Beach, VA. Thanks

Check out the posts under the "Beach and shallow water" section - you'll find some guys in that area I think.

 

[LadyDigger]

3121....hubby got me a Minelab Explorer II....it was too heavy for me...so he uses it. He's not been in the water's edge with it much, found mostly pennies there. He's waiting to get his underwater detector and then go scuba diving. He's certified, or whatever you call it and dives alot. He and his buddy are hoping to start searching for sunken ships!!

I use a Garrett Ace 150 and I love it. Not good on the wet sand, but oh well...I'll let hubby have all that glory

Best time for the beach, esp in this heat is early in the morning. I see some out there detecting as early as 5 am. Some go at night when all the folks are gone. They do rake the beach each morning, somewhere between 3 and 6 am, not sure of the exact time. Whether the rake picks some of the good stuff up or not, I am not sure. The oceanfront itself, is full of bottle caps and pull tabs and I have found beer cans buried in the sand 6 inches and more...UGH!!!! Aluminum foil gets me too and those juice boxes!!! I have detected from midway the beach to the boardwalk and most what I have found is basically junk (i.e., broken bulbs from the Christmas Boardwalk display, nails, all sorts of iron stuff). Once in awhile I may find some clad, but rare. But I hear awesome stories of ppl finding nice jewelry. I have found 2 rings and several earrings (all costume jewelry though )

There are quite a few wrecks off the coast of VA/NC (Graveyard of the Atlantic). I have not yet, but I have heard, the best time to metal detect is after a good storm. Not that I wish VBch to get hit with a hurricane, but these Nor'easterner that come through, do enough damage to the shore. But have been told that is the best time to go. You can probably try the Virginia Beach Central Library (next to Loehman's Plaza on VB Blvd) and check their map section or books on shipwrecks. I know there is a book about shipwrecks of the GRAVEYARD OF THE ATLANTIC....but can't tell you the author's name.

You have metal detected on Ft Story before? I just called about 2 weeks ago and was told, as much as they would love to say yes, they can't, due to all the ammo around the base. Not even on the military or civilian beach. I was told that if I got caught, security would take my detector from me and I am not about to let the happen!!! The Cape Henry Lighthouse, currently has digs going on. The old lighthouse. I keep meaning to drive down there to check it out. I think I am going to go down there personnally and speak to someone face to face...as I would love to detect the military beach. I love that beach, no tourist, no crowd of locals, just so peaceful and they have a snack bar on the beach I like the bay side better than the ocean side.

We are just learning about where to detect in this area also. There is a metal detecting group here in VB...trying to remember the name of it. They have been formed since the 70's I believe or the early 80's. I have been calling all over the place to get permission to dig....sometimes it's hard to get ahold of land owners .... we drive around town and look at possible places. My hubby grew up in this area and I have been here since 1978...so I remember where alot of the farm land was and such. Alot of those MOM AND POP stores have since long been gone too....and if you go to the VB Courthouse, the main bldg...they have a map room there, you may get some old maps there of the area. We plan to go in the next week or two, as we have our eyes on some land we want to detect ...whether is pans out or not is yet to be seen

Hope you find something this weekend!!!!!! Happy Fourth and Good Luck on your search.

 

[3121]

Re: Minelab Explorer 2 beach setting

I have a Minelab Explorer 2 metal detector and I wanted to know what is the best setting to run the machine at while detecting the wet sand area? Because I want to decrease the amount of pops and chirps that are heard when detecting in wet sand. The program that I thought worked best was Quickstart Smart but I am not sure what Iron mask number should be used what sensitivity level, threshold level and Noise level. Any help would be greatly apprecitated. Thanks!