I know I am latr in reading this post but this is for anyone else who may be coming down to the islands to hunt
St. John is 2/3 national park they will seize your detector and give you a ticket or arrest you It really is fair we have a number of nesting sea turtles that bury their eggs up on the beach fairly shallow they are an endangered to threatened species you cant camp on certin beaches parts of the year because of this
On the other hand the beaches you can hit are usually worth it St Thomas and St. John have the lowest price on gold and silver jewlery (no tax) so the tourists buy a ring then dont get it sized and go to the beach two weeks later the rings turn up in my basket.
The hunting in the water is usually pretty good but Saphire beach ( st thomas)is gone over every morning by one of the residents of the condos never even any trash items ( I have hit this beach several times and have found nothing signifacant)
The beach in cruse bay right off of the ferry is pretty cool for turists and there are a lot of beaches in coral bay Not state park (take a national park map with you) there were a few wrecks out in coral bay but they have been gone over by the same crew for the last 30 years
I hope this is helpful to any travelers to the islands
(bring your own batteries they are expensive here)
Good Hunting
Joe
