Monday, August 12, 2013

Hitting below the belt

I found a 1.4 ounce 14K bangle bracelet early yesterday morning, the result of people watching.


Here in south Florida we have had a few days of choppy two to three foot waves, that kind of surf is always a good sign for wet sanding.
If you observe people in the water during choppy surf conditions, you will see people like to stand just inside the waters close to shore and get hit by waves.
Not sure why, maybe it is because swimming is a little more dangerous in these surf conditions and people prefer to stand inside the water and just get hit by the incoming waves. 
These kind of "slapping" waves work wonders for shaking loose bracelets, anklets, rings and sunglasses from unlucky tourists getting hit standing close to shore.
I found three large junk rings, a silver bracelet and the chunk of 14K gold using my Minelab CTX 3030 in the wet sand.
This is my favorite metal detector for "Cherry picking" along the wet sand for low tone targets.
Other beach hunters were already searching the area when I arrived at 4am but they were not real competition, walking waaay too fast and swinging their metal detectors like golf clubs.
The more time you spend beach and shallow water hunting, the more you will know how to anticipate where you have the best chance of finding jewelry on the beach.
It normally takes a day or so for the wet sand to be productive after choppy surf conditions.
Many water hunters stay home during extended periods of choppy surf,  missing out on easy wet sand jewelry finds because they only water hunt. 
Or as water hunters always like to say "It is all in the water", yeh right! 
I saw the opposite yesterday morning, two dry sanders showed up as the sun began to rise and never ventured lower on the beach than the previous high tide line. 
When the majority of people likely to lose jewelry are close to shore getting buffeted and slammed by incoming waves, the deeper water and dry sand are the last two areas you should be metal detecting.
Learn to read the people in the water and learn to anticipate where you will find lost jewelry. 


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