Re-Nourishment of beaches - Is it really all that bad?

[JohnnieWalker]

Everything I have read regarding re nourishment shows mixed reviews.

Most detectorist say it is bad cause it buries the jewelry but other readings say the dredged sand that is put on the beach sometimes has old coins and jewelry mixed with it.

Personally, I really don't care if recent clad is buried especially if some old coins and jewelry are tossed in with the new mix.

Just curious if anyone has detected a beach that has been recently nourished and had any luck with some old finds?

 

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[ivan salis]

yes it is that bad !!!! very seldom if ever does any "good" stuff get chucked onto the beach with the "renourishment" sand --but rather good "old" washed up on the beach shipwreck items as well as recent jewelry drop items get buried deep under empty "trash" sand they pile upon the beach

 

[JohnnieWalker]

Apparently there is two types of dredges one that just takes the top surface of the sand and the other method is do dig a huge hole and use that sand.

I am headed to Myrtle Beach soon, they apparently did the surface method so I may still have a chance of finding something good. (I'm trying to remain positive)

Myrtle Beach 2010


Juno Beach 2010


Tybee Island asking for Re-nourishment $$


Who's next?
http://www.dredgingtoday.com/2010/0...nished-soon-gldd-starts-phasing-in-equipment/

 

[steve from ohio]

Some of my most favorite beaches in Sarasota were re sanded and the results were that for at least a couple of years, the finds went down.....way down.

That sand they suck up and put on the beach makes for a very bad situation as far as beach erosion goes as the sand gets back into the water leaving huge cuts and a very short flat beach up to the water.

Lido beach in Sarasota is an example. Every year I would go there and find some great finds......until recently when last year they re sanded the beach. This year I found nothing of value at all as the sand was so deep and the waves cut into the shoreline, a 2 to 3 foot drop off was created right at the water line. That sand when washed away covered everything and made for a terrible situation for the turtles, other wildlife and detectorists.

I also hunt Myrtle beach every year and they recently re sanded the beach. It really changed the beach. When I would go there in the past, I found tons of rings and things. This last time.......nothing of any real value. The beach did get bigger, but with a sand that is hard packed and reminds me of brown cement.

Re sanding is a waste of taxpayers dollars as it only benefits the owners of oceanfront property and the owners of the dredging equipment.

Is it really all that bad?

YES IT IS!!!!!!!!!

 

[billinstuart]

Generally the "sand" they use is simply dirt, whale poop, and ground up crap from the ocean bottom. True beach material is VERY site specific and is simply NOT found in any quantity offshore. The corps of engineers wouldn't know beach sand if you buried them in it. Great Lakes Dredging has done alot of work in our area, and I hope they never return. Our once pristine beaches have been RUINED, even though the gubment was "looking out for us".

 

[diggummup]

Well, it's not "too good" that's for sure. They replenish the beaches down here every 5 or 6 years it seems like. For the last year or more they've been talking about a "sand bypass project" http://tinyurl.com/2fx2652 which in the long run may help out the local Hallandale,Hollywood and Dania beaches. It has yet to be approved and they are planning to "truck in" sand from a sand mine in LaBelle from what I understand. Anytime new sand is added to the beach it is bad for us detectorists and is only a temporary solution to a permanent problem.

 

[Treasure_Hunter]

The goodies they throw up on the shore do not even begin to come close to making up for what they cover up...So one guy finds a reale while detecting, hundreds of us lose any chance of recovering the old coins and jewelry that is there, plus the new stuff dropped has that much farther to sink and be out of reach in the new sand....

What is worse, it is just wasted tax money, Mother Nature is going to drag it all back out to sea in a few years, then they will just pump more sand (more money) on the beach again....... You don't want the ocean to take you home, don't build it right on the shore line....

 

[47thelement]

In my neck of the woods, they replenished the beach, I guess it was 2 years ago. Since then the only thing that has increased has been the tetnas shot given at the local emergancy room. The dredging brought litterally tons of WWII shrapnel, .50 caliber bullets and machine gun fragments off the floor of the ocean and scattered them up and down the coast of Delaware.

I keep many pieces in my finds bag when I'm hunting "private beaches" I always flash some and say I helping clean the beach in exchange for my $.50 in clad finds.

 

[Bootyhunter1971]

In my opinion it is "that bad" and worse!! Just got back from a weekend trip to Myrtle Beach. Last year I found 10 rings in 2 trips to MB, 1 was a week long trip with 7 rings, the other a weekend trip where I found the other 3. Now this past weekend, I hunted with the same machine, in the same style in the wet sand and found mostly rusted bottle caps that were down nearly 14 inches and gave a good tone on the Excal until I got them almost completley dug out, pull tabs were 10" plus deep also. The bottle caps were the style that they dont even make anymore,"coca cola classic" and others unrecognizable. I found a grand total of 11 coins and 0 jewelry. Granted, it's a little early for a lot of folks to be in the water much, BUT the depth of the pull tabs and old style bottle caps makes me expect the "renourishment" has messed it up bigtime. Walking near the water line where the sand used to be hard packed and easy to walk on is now a chore, you sink down in the sand, it is not good. Good luck.

 

[Jason in TN]

It is bad I mean the worst thing that could happen for a treasure hunter. The sand a Myrtle was pumped in from about a mile off shore was there when they were doing it. Only thing that got added worth finding were a few 50 cal bullets used from practice during WWII. I hope a small hurricane hits this summer and gets rid of all that crap they pumped on the beach. I am headed that way Monday from every thing I have heard it is bad couple hours hunting maybe a $ in change.


Jason

 

[Deepdiger60]

This is not recent but i do remember in 1985 Hurricane Gloria tore up the south shore on Long Island near the east end they had to replenish the sand on the Hampton beaches with long pipe dredges a few miles out in the ocean all that Fall and next Spring guys with metal detectors where picking up Spanish gold coins and silver coins all along the beaches one guy picked up a solid gold ring made in the 1600,s it was 24k most likely one of the dredges hit a wreak site buried in the sand that sank long ago . Dd60