Return on investment

ROI ( Return on investment) is a chapter title in one of my books, it is something that beach and shallow water hunters should take into account when traveling to metal detect.
The grass is not always greener when you go to compete against other beach and shallow water hunters in their back yard, especially traveling long distances.   
Local beach and water hunters should always have an advantage over outside treasure hunters raiding their beaches.
Not having to travel to detect is a major advantage, even a half hour drive to a beach means a full hour behind the steering wheel instead of on the beach metal detecting.
Having confidence in your beach and shallow water hunting skills, and knowledge of your local beaches will give you the upper hand over traveling treasure hunters.
Gas, tolls and parking fees can also put a damper on raiding other beach and shallow water hunters territory. 
I never like to over extend myself, I travel to metal detect but always making sure I know the best areas, and have at least two back up sites.
I try to make my treasure hunting trips a good investment, that means coming home with something to make the trip worth while.
If I travel to search for hard to find Spanish treasure coins, my back up sites are modern jewelry sites.
Easier to find gold or silver jewelry on tourist beaches, more than make up for the disappointment of not recovering older finds. 
There is a small army of full time beach and shallow water hunters, and local bloggers who detect the same beaches every day. 
If you are a part time treasure hunter like myself, you can still give the full time treasure hunters a run for their money by honing your detecting skills and searching places closer to home.
Sites you know you have a chance of searching and recovering valuable targets, instead of wasting your limited metal detecting time driving long distances to beaches that have probably already been heavily hunted. 
You will get the biggest treasure hunting returns by banking on your knowledge of the local beaches.