Worm

10 hours ago, TTT2866 said:

Hi everyone!!

I wanted to share the amazing week I've had out in the field. The stars seemed to align with fantastic low tides coinciding with the mesmerising full blood moon. As I type this, I realise that one of the rings I found actually pictures the Southern Cross made with sapphires - perfectly mirroring the beauty of the night sky that blessed our treasure hunt.

Typically, this particular beach boasts tides that reach around 1.8 meters, but the real magic happens when they plummet to a mere 0.1 meter. Such extraordinary lows grace us only about four times a year, and when I spot them on the horizon, I meticulously plan my week around them. Whether it means setting my alarm for 3-4 am to dive into the hunt or embarking on an evening adventure post-work, arriving at the beach sometimes around 9 pm and staying out till early morning.

In the the early days of the pandemic, we uncovered this treasure trove, and it was not uncommon for us to haul in 1-2 ounces of gold jewelry in a single weekend, accompanied by a plethora of old and new coins. Whilst the golden bounty may have thinned over time, we still strike gold, harvesting half to a quarter of an ounce here and there on these bountiful tides. I've often joked that I make more at this beach than I do at my regular job; it's safe to say that my equipment has more than paid for itself.

What's truly remarkable about these low tides is the access they provide to areas that are otherwise unreachable. I like to venture out to the back of the reef, a territory usually off-limits, and explore the edges where the ocean drops to greater depths. This is the channel where precious rings tend to wash down, but their recovery is nothing short of Herculean due to the chest-neck deep waters, unpredictable waves, and the challenging terrain of rocks and slippery clay. I'm fairly certain I'm the only detectorist to have ever braved this territory. I can't begin tell you how many headlamps and Equinox's I've killed from being thrashed by waves here.

Our journey began along the shoreline when the tides were at a more manageable 0.5 meters. We scored a few rings, but as the tides receded, I ventured farther out, while my partner combed the shallows, raking in a bounty of her own, including a lovely 4-gram 18ct band. The first night brought me two 9ct gold rings as soon as the tide dropped to around 0.3 meters. As I continued to explore, I uncovered numerous coins, silver pendants, and more treasures. The lowest tide on the first night was 0.2 meters. A few weeks prior, I had struck gold with three rings in this very section.

The second night, as the tide hit a beatiful 0.1, I ventured back to the far reaches of the reef. A strong 70s signal on my trusty Manticore had me expecting another coin. To my astonishment, I uncovered an absolute ripper of a platinum ring, weighing just over 15 grams – my first full platinum find. A few meters away, right on the edge of the drop-off, I received another strong signal, yielding a silver ring, a copper wire and a copper ring, all nestled together in the same hole. Funnily enough, my partner also found a full platinum ring last time we were here, which was about of half the weight and about 40 meters away.

On the third night, as weariness began to swing, with fingers aching and my back doing its own thing, I pushed on, determined, like a king, and voila, I snagged, my last silver ring. 🙂

Over the course of three nights, my tally amounted to12 rings. My partner could only join for two of those nights, yet she managed to score about six rings and some amazingly preserved Versace sunglasses. All in all, a successful outing. Our nightly average typically hovers around 6-7 rings, and this time, we certainly had to put in the effort to meet that mark.

Happy prospecting! 

 

awesome finds👍

On 4/30/2023 at 4:14 PM, Jeff McClendon said:

I have no problem with people buying a detector like the X-Terra Pro for less intense beach or turf hunting where audio response is sufficient to dig. If target IDs are important........that's another story entirely.

I am not going to sugar coat this just because the X-Terra Pro says Minelab on it.

Owning the Equinox models since they were released, I am well aquainted with their single frequency operation in moderate to high mineralization. Up averaging of deeper targets using single frequency was severe, just like it was with the older X-Terra series, the selectable frequency Deus 1, ORX, Deus 2 Mono, Legend and any other detector that was only using a single frequency. I posted about it and made a long chart with a comparison of target ID accuracy for single frequency and SMF using the same detector. At least out here in higher iron mineralization, there was a huge difference in target ID accuracy. 15 kHz was by far the closest to ID quarters correctly here. Lower conductor and smaller high conductor coins....nope. The 6" nickel IDs are pretty good for all of the detectors charted using their SMF tech. The 6" clad dime IDs are slightly up averaged from surface clad dime IDs on all of the detectors using SMF tech in that test.

So, anyone expecting accurate target IDs using 5, 10 or 15 kHz on the X-Terra Pro on medium to deep targets just because it looks like an Equinox Lite, better have super mild soil or beach conditions. Otherwise, there is not enough secret sauce in the Equinox single frequency operation (which includes the X-Terra Pro) to make miracles suddenly happen.

 

Thank for all the info just received my xterra ro yesterday