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Wednesday, July 2, 2014

Timing your beach hunt when a storm is forecast to impact the coastline

Heres a few tips to help you when a storm approaches the coastline, and everyone with a metal detector  in your area is excited to go treasure hunting. 
Many beach hunters make the big mistake of timing their beach hunts too early,  going beach hunting and getting burnt out early. 
Similar to how a weekend beach or water hunter goes metal detecting early on Saturday morning, does not find anything and thinks the weekend was a bust.  
Patience is a virtue when it comes to beach hunting and coastal storms, timing your beach hunts makes a difference. 
Sure, it is easy to get wrapped up in the hype of detecting forums and beach conditions type blogs.
If you base your storm treasure hunting on other peoples beach conditions or ratings you are already chasing the pack, usually a large pack at the same beach!
My advice is to wait until the wind and waves has actually done something to the beach, before rushing out to the beach too early.
If you live a long distance away from the beach, use beach webcams close to the areas you intend to search for recon purposes. 
Try not to assume too much about an eroded beach, it is after all called treasure "hunting" and you have to hunt the treasure you are searching for. 
Never assume an eroded, or cut beach is hunted out, if you arrive at the beach and several beach hunters are already metal detecting on the beach. 
Not everyone has the same skill level, and you may still find something good behind sloppy beach hunters.
Never assume an eroded, or cut beach like the one on the photo below is a bust if you do not find anything. 


The following high tide cycles will always bring sand back into the area, but they may also wash and deposit coins and jewelry back into the area. 
This happened to me several years ago on a Treasure Coast beach after hurricane Katrina passed by, with an 8 foot cut that was not productive until two days later. 
I could not believe I did not find anything searching this huge cut for 8 hours, especially as the cut ran for at least a mile in an area with two Spanish galleons wreck sites. 
Luckily I know treasure coins can get washed back onto the beach, the next day I found three Spanish silver two reales on the same beach. 
The day after that, I found another two silver reales and a large silver flat coat button. 
You can even find coins and jewelry on eroded beaches many weeks after erosion has taken place, depending on the tides or surf action that follows. 
Developing good timing comes with beach hunting experience.   Once you have metal detected during, or after one or two coastal storms you will be better prepared to search following storms.  
Today, tropical storm Arthur, or soon to be Hurricane Arthur, is moving up and away from the coast of Florida. 
The beaches it may effect are several hours driving distance from my house, I checked out several beach webcams last night and early this morning, the ROI (Return On Investment ) is not showing for me at the moment. 
Internet surf projections and webcams save me from having to call in sick for the day with a bad case of Spanish treasure fever lol! 



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