Sand

[bigscoop]

It's interesting when I look back to my time in Indiana, those endless thoughts of coming to Florida and hunting its famed beaches. Man, I could hardly wait to get at it. In all of my planning I thought I had covered everything, even going as far as researching the targeted area's history and plotting out my hunting efforts accordingly. I was really dialed in and prepared, extremely focused and motivated and inspired. However, the one thing, and perhaps the most important thing, I had failed to factor in, and that was the sand.
Now that I've been down here a while would I be wrong in saying that the sand is, perhaps, the most controlling factor of it all? Miles upon miles and endless feet of constantly moving sand. Would I be wrong to suggest that every Florida hunter needs to be a student of the sand? I only bring this up due to the significant increase in metal detectors on the beach this past Holiday season, many of them from out of state, Ohio, Michigan, Illinois, Nebraska, and even Kansas. What an entirely different world it is down here, the beaches covered up with several inches of fresh new sand. I couldn't help but to wonder if these out of state hunters were even aware of the real challenge before them? It was a good day for a few moments of closely related reflection, to be sure.

 

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[seeker41]

hammid said....."The problem is sand so there is the solution

"

yes!!!! i would think....... "type of sand" and "lack of sand" !!!!!!!!!!!!
chuck.

 

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[OBN]

Crispn...The beach is a living organism.

It's funny you say that because I have a friend that has said the same since I've known him..... Barry the distributer of Blisstools...and now GGUW headsets.

 

[bigscoop]

well, as often as we talk and i did not realize our storys were so similar..... replace Indiana with Ohio and my story is exactly the same as yours! detecting in Ohio lakes was a dream/easy compared to east coast Florida hunting!!!! here in east coast Florida we have to fight the waves , hope for a storm, get to a ring before it sinks out of range of our detectors, search and hope for firm supportive sand etc"

i hunted hard last year and during peak hours with tourist packed beaches but walked away thinking how could there be that many people on the beach and still not really find anything!!!!!(the mumbles as max calls it) my normal hunt was a dollar in clad, a couple junk ear rings, and some sunglasses. then, later in the summer i was lucky to find anything other than a penny.

i'm glad i moved here for a lot of different reasons, its probably about 18 degrees right now in Ohio with 8 inches of snow on the ground.

if you are a water detectorist and dream of living in Florida and detecting the east coast i will tell you now, its nothing like you might imagine it to be! gulf coast is much more like detecting a lake in Ohio or Indiana but once again a ring lost falls into sand and if the sand is not supportive the ring may be out of range of the detector in a matter of minutes.

chuck

It's amazing how clean these beaches can be when you're having to step around jewelry wearing bodies every few feet every day.

 

[Crispin]

OBN: I'm not your friend in disguise, promise. Couple of stories from the beach you might like:

A hurricane was off the coast and the surf was starting to get rough. The wind was blowing so hard that we had to take all of our umbrellas down and battle the sun without shade. The city had not released us yet because they wanted our presence to keep people out of the water. At around 4pm, when the barometric pressure dropped, two fantastic water spouts formed about 400 yards offshore. A tourist came up to my stand, pointed to the water spourts and said, "What are you going to do about that?" I looked back in shock. I had left my magic tornado dispelling wand at home. I replied, "Run!" Shortly after that the bossman crackled over the radio that we were not to leave our posts. They said the barometric pressure would rise as the spouts approached shallow water and would break up on their own. When they got within 200 yards I abandoned post. The spouts never broke up, lol.

I easily pulled over 100 tourists out of the water. Prior to a storm (notice a theme,) somebody who couldn't swim was pulled out by a rip current and fell off their rented bodyboard. The breakers were so tall and freqent it took me 30 seconds to get past them. When I finally did...I was exhausted and the tourist was 100 yards away. (easily a two minute swim.) That was the most scared I have ever been in my life. That I wouldn't make it in time. Luckily, he was able to flounder until I got there. I crammed my buoy underneath his arms as my legs started cramping. We sat there for 10 minutes getting pulled farther out to sea until they came with waverunners to get us.

Crispin

 

[chuckie]

Wow, great stories. Keep 'em coming. Thx

 

[Crispin]

Chuckie: Glad you liked them. This is another lifeguarding story. A little background for you on Virginia Beach: The tourist beach runs from 1st street all the way up to around 42nd st. Just South of 1st first is Rudee Inlet. In order to cross from Rudee Inlet to first street there is a bridge. After 42 street is another 50 some odd blocks of beach used mostly by locals and then Fort Story.

Around the 4th of July, noon, sweltering heat and humidity: A very attractive blonde in a bikini walks up to my lifeguard stand to ask a question. I was always attentive to tourists in general but I was extra attentive given the elevational advantage of a lifeguard stand. She asks me, "When are you guys going to finish the bridge?" I'm thinking to myself, 'what bridge is she talking about?' Cheseapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel has been finished since I was born, Hampton Roads bridge tunnel is always under repair but traffic flows through okay. Maybe she meant the bridge from Rudee Inlet, they had that down to one lane a few months back for repairs. So, I reply, "you mean the one lane traffic from Rudee Inlet?" She replies, "No, the bridge you haven't finished yet." I'm completely stumped, even though I'm afraid of looking stupid I respond, "I don't know what bridge you are talking about." She turns around, points to the 14th street pier and says, "That bridge!" I answer, "O, you mean the bridge to England?" She answers, "Yeah, when is that going to be finished?" I answered, "I don't know, but we are working on it." I then tried to get her phone number...but failed.

Crispin

 

[bill from lachine]

Crispin,

LOL...Lucky you didn't get her phone number.....I'm sure she would have you scratching your head every time she spoke....

Thanks for the chuckle I needed that.

Regards + HH

Bill

 

[chuckie]

Funny!

It reminds me of a similar story. We were vacationing in Wildwood Crest several years ago. We had walked down to the beach just after dark. Just on the horizon were lights from several fishing boats. I said my stepdaughter (who was 9 and is probably the smartest person I'll ever know) "look, England"! She was amazed!

She's 16 now and we (but not she) still get a chuckle about it.

So many good beach stories......

 

[bill from lachine]

Folks,

Here's a story to give you all a few chuckles......back in the 1970's during my mispent youth my vacation spot of choice was Barbados....did 6 winter vacations during that time...

Me and my buddy met up with a couple of nice ladies and decided to do some body surfing at Bathsheba beach which was on the Atlantic side of the Island....beautiful beach but much to rough for swimming...

Being young and foolish the 4 of us would hold hands and wait for the next wave to hit us and carry us up the beach...we're talking 4 to 6 feet high.....we'd get tossed around like corks in the water and needless to say the bikinis
didn't hold up very well under those conditions....lol.

Pretty foolish when you think of it because there were very strong undertows also....somehow we managed not to drown or get pulled out to sea.....I'd love to hit that beach with a metal detector some day.....with the sand continuously moving there's bound to be some nice jewelry getting uncovered by the waves...

Here's some pictures of the beach if you're interested.

Regards + HH

Bill


bathsheba beach - Google Search

 

[bigscoop]

Hot! Big waves! Take off running full speed across the sand, enter the water, dive into breaking waves, find yourself completely naked in the water on a crowded beach. Keep those drawstrings tied!

 

[Crispin]

My wife and I were in St. Maarten's visiting a beach on the Atlantic Side. I strolled into the water up to my knees just wanting to enjoy it. I should have known better, I turned my back for a second...and wham! Blind-sided by a wave. I didn't mind being embarassed...I minded that the wave took my glasses; the only pair I had on the trip. I made an attempt to look for them, hopeless. Dejected and downtrodden I went inside to the bar. I told the bartender my story and he felt so bad he gave me a couple of free drinks. The sun was starting to go down and despair was setting in. My wife couldn't drive the rental and I was blind without my glasses.
Suddenly...inspiration strikes! I tell the bartender to hold my drink and run back to our hotel room. Without saying a word to my wife I pick up my snorkle and mask and head out to the ocean.

While drinking the second beer a fellow tourist next to me started to stir his glass. I watched the small whirlpool form in the glass and thought about my glasses swirling around the bottom of the ocean. It was at that exact moment that I had an epiphany. I remembered my oceanography courses about how currents are not random and follow patterns.

I picked up a few pebbles from the beach and went out into the water approximately where I had lost my glasses. I dropped the pebbles on the ocean floor and then fluffed water at them. The currents picked up the pebbles and I followed them underwater. When they stopped moving I fluffed them again. Darkness was descending, I was exhausted from battling the crazy surf, and I had gone around in a circle three times; on the fourth lap...my pebbles landed on my glasses!

I rushed back into the hotel, completely out of breath, and looking like a drowned rat. I held my glasses above my head and yelled to the bartender(still wearing my mask and snorkle)..."There is a fine line between genius and insanity!" The bartender laughed and replied, "You sir, are insane."

 

[Crispin]

Bill: There is a fine line between genius and insanity. You sir, are a genius.

 

[bill from lachine]

Crispin,

Thanks for the pat on the back....but I'm pretty sure many on here would disagree.....I've got the insanity thing down pretty pat......I do manage the odd bit of wit or wisdom from time to time during my ramblings....lol.

One of my coworkers once told me I was pretty good at spacial thinking....still not sure if that was a shot or a compliment....

Here's another funny at my expense.....about 20 years ago...myself and 4 or 5 other employees were drafted to give an inhouse marketing course to the staff.... we probably spent about 2 years in all together putting the course material together and giving courses in major cities both in Canada and the US.

When the course was over one of the Vice Presidents hosted us to a supper at a high end restaurant.....as a thank you.

I happened to be setting opposite him and after a few glasses of wine....he asked me what I thought of the course and it's outcome.....and wanted my input as to how to get the material ingrained into the corporate culture.

I was taking all this in with a straight face......so I told him quite frankly that the course was quite intense over a 2 day period, however, for the most part all the attendees absorbed most of the material very well......and I suggested that to get Senior Management to buy into it we should give them a 3 day session because they weren't quite as fast at absorbing all the complex material.....luckily everyone in the room broke up including him.....lol.

Regards + HH

Bill

Bill: There is a fine line between genius and insanity. You sir, are a genius.

 

[chuckie]

OMG Crispin, I just burst out laughin'. Folks around me thought I was insane!!!! Thanks for the great story and laugh.

 

[bigscoop]

Deep, cheap, sunglasses. Found two pair the other day in the sand at the breaker line, also some of the usual lite crap items. I don't recall a single shell in my scoop the entire hunt, even with some of the deeper targets. Don't recall any grey sand either. Just loads & loads of new deep sand. Usually, here on these beaches, I can get in the breaker line and work it parallel, eventually finding a few areas of crushed shell pack, or exposed pack, but not lately.

 

[s1u2r3f4]

Deep, cheap, sunglasses. Found two pair the other day in the sand at the breaker line, also some of the usual lite crap items. I don't recall a single shell in my scoop the entire hunt, even with some of the deeper targets. Don't recall any grey sand either. Just loads & loads of new deep sand. Usually, here on these beaches, I can get in the breaker line and work it parallel, eventually finding a few areas of crushed shell pack, or exposed pack, but not lately.

I know. This morning was just 4 cents and pull tabs deep. I buried a gold band about 10 in. and with the Explorer ll, couldn't hear anything. But like you said, this is the time for experimenting!

 

[bigscoop]

I know. This morning was just 4 cents and pull tabs deep. I buried a gold band about 10 in. and with the Explorer ll, couldn't hear anything. But like you said, this is the time for experimenting!

White gold or yellow gold? Wet sand? What setting were you using? How big was the ring? It all makes a difference.

 

[Smoogle]

sand .........really not good in the undies I can tell you

 

[bigscoop]

sand .........really not good in the undies I can tell you

I've had to grind my way through that a couple of times.