SOME MORE TIPS FOR THE UPCOMING SUMMER SEASON IN THE DRY SAND ….
I found a great article on the Treasure Coast blog the other day and I want to share with you here… Many of us take winter getaway vacations to warmer climates, and many times we bring along our metal detectors to hunt the beaches at the resorts that we stay at at the various beach destinations…… here is a guide of how to more effectively hunt those exclusive Beach spots more efficiently !
You can find a lot of jewelry on a beach, but more of it in the water. Hunting in the water and in the wet sand requires a little more technique to do it well than working on the dry beach. Yet there are some things that can help you find more jewelry even in the dry sand.
It goes without saying that most jewelry will be lost where more people frolic. Both the quantity of people and their activities are important factors. And of course there is a vast difference in the quality of jewelry at different beaches. It is also obvious that you can’t find much expensive stuff on a beach visited only by people of modest means.
I mentioned volleyball courts the other day. They are good places to find jewelry.
Most of the people that I’ve seen detecting volleyball courts, detect the middle of the playing area. I wouldn’t skip that area, but you will find a lot to the back and well outside of the court itself. Think about it. Where do people dive after balls? A lot of that happens outside of the boundaries. And that is a place where things are often lost.
Another place to check on a volleyball court is the area right around the base of the posts that hold the nets. That is where people tend to lay things. Then sand gets kicked over the items. A lot of detetorists don’t check that area, especially if the polls are metal. You can make adjustments to detect where others won’t or can’t.
A third tip I have for volleyball courts is to look in the morning right after rain or watering. Fine chains and other things are sometimes exposed.
You might choose to grid the busier areas. Nothing wrong with that, but don’t neglect the areas that a lot of other detectorists might neglect. Beach chairs are often made of metal or have metal parts that make detecting difficult. Many detectorists will not detect close or under beach chairs because they don’t know how. You can learn to do it. I also would always check where beach chairs have been moved. Look at the tracks in the sand if they are still there. Often a high tide or something will cause chairs that are normally in one location to be moved.
I’ve found a lot of pairs of ear rings around beach chairs. That is the main place where there is a good chance of finding a matching pair. It seems people take them off and lay them down or else drop them there. They are often very good earrings. Other places you’ll usually just find a single earring.
When hunting dry sand, DON’T discriminate out watches! There are Rolex watches and other valuable watches in the dry sand. They won’t likely be found real often, but there are more of them out there than you might think. I don’t know how they get buried, but they do.
Another tip that I’ve found productive is to detect very trashy areas that a lot of people will avoid.
Get to know the life guards and beach concession workers. They might tell you about items being lost and where. I always remember the time when a fellow that rented jet skis and other water toys lost the keys before he opened for the day and said he’d give me fifty dollars if I found them for him. I think this was back in the eighties. I found them in just a few minutes and he gladly paid me.
Some of the old timers that I knew would sit where they could see what people were doing and where and then detect at the beach at the end of the day. You’d be surprised how often you’ll see people obviously looking for something they lost. And often they’ll ask you if you can find it for the.
There are a few tips for finding jewelry in the dry sand. All of those things have been productive for me.
Brian Mayer
Top comments
Group expert
Top contributor
Great advice Brian. I was walking on our beach in full swing today and thought about this question. The big three are Numbers, Dollars and Activity. Everything cues off the numbers. Make an imaginary chart of the most people you have ever seen–and a minimum day. Then add a few increments in the middle. (3/4, 1/2, 1/4….) This will tell you your overall chances. Look for a few other indicators to give you an idea of just how much beach usage there is–such as how long the line is at the snack bar. A minimum day is valuable for your observations too. It teaches you where the main usage areas are–the key activity centers where the few people who are there gravitate to. Activity is the “solvent” that can make up for low numbers–vollyball is a good example. At the same time, nothing can subsitiute for dollars–if its not being worn–its not in the sand. Huge numbers can offset both activity and dollars–but don’t count on it. Use the amount of trash present to get a better idea of how much usage various areas have but don’t forget–kids deposit trash too. When you have a good knowledge of how your beach operates–you can then use the three “action” modalites to fine tune your efforts. These are coverage, accuracy and depth. Heavily hunted prime sections may require more depth. Big sections with moderate potential require coverage. High trash sections require accuracy. Learn how to “turn up”one (or even all three) of these based upon what your observation tell you. This is the advantage that owning multiple types of machine gives you. Having the choice of running a MF detector up at 20 / 40 kHz helps too. When you do find something, analyse why–especially in terms of the numbers that produced that amount of concentrated activity. These are a few of the beach-reading tricks that 45 years of digging have taught me. Good Luck,
clive
https://www.clivesgoldpage.com/shop/site-reading-for-gold-and-silver-understanding-beach-shore-and-inland-metal-detecting-sites/