Erik Oostra

Yeah, major dilemma.. My lucky streaks always come to a grinding halt whenever I post about them.. Still, hope yours holds for a while longer.. Nice haul..

This morning I received a call out for my ring and jewellery recovery service.. A German backpacker had lost her 'very important' bracelet, could I come and find it? Unfortunately she'd send her plea for help whilst on the ferry leaving the island, but she did send a map of where she'd been sitting and a picture of the bracelet.. This would've been just another call out if my son hadn't been on the island for a holiday, and he was mighty keen to have a looksee.. I told him since the bracelet had a 'silver pearl' on it he could expect the Nox to sound off pretty hard, somewhere in the 20s.. Also it was newly dropped in dry sand so don't bother digging too deep.. Armed with a big coil Nox for both of us, we set up a grid where we crossed each others paths to make sure every inch was covered.. At one stage I told him to stop digging every thing and just concentrate on finding silver.. But I'm glad he ignored his old man because he found the bracelet.. You'll never guess what the Nox's target ID read.. Yeah you're right, 13.. The same target ID I'd told him was always gonna be junk.. In my defence the 'silver pearl' was the tiniest blob of silver I've ever come across, never mind about the other 'black pearls', the bracelet looked nothing like the one in the picture.. But like most trashy and cheap looking jewellery, this nasty, fishing wire-tied, plastic pearl wonder meant a lot to the owner.. Happy days all round.. 🙂

Thank you.. It's feast or famine here at the moment.. I'm still on the hunt for my goldy, it's gotta be out there somewhere.. 🙂

Here's a good read about a very lucky dude.. https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-derbyshire-66386477

Crusty is still getting around, albeit a bit slower these days.. He's ditched his bike for a walking stick.. Let me know when you're on the island, it'd be great to meet you.. I won't hunt Alma Bay for a while before you come, give you a chance with the PulseDive.. If you don't have any luck you're welcome to help yourself to my Equinoxes or Deus II.. 🙂

Yes, the 8'' coil is the one I wish punched a bit deeper, but that's using the PulseDive as a scuba detector.. In saltwater it struggles to hit a small gold ring at an inch, coins are a bit better ($1 and 50 cents up to 3'').. I still like the 8'' coil though for freshly dropped rings and coins in tight spots amongst submerged rocks or in cervices.. For beach detecting I like the PulseDive just as a pinpointer (without a coil).. I've found it punches deeper and is far more stable in wet sand than my ML Pro-Find 35 (which I can only use with its sensitivity dialled right down).. I also like the removable cap on the tip which can be replaced without having to buy another pinpointer/detector.. As a pinpointer it might be a bit chunky but I've found it a hard-wearing tool just right for the job.. I've never tried the 8'' coil on dry land or on mellow soils.. or even in fresh water.. You'll probably find it a different beast all together.. 🙂

Keep the new coil's O-ring lubed up with silicon grease.. you'll get years of use out of it.. My coil was also very stiff to take off when I first got it, keeping the grease on slides it off without stressing the plastic part.. I use the silicon grease used for scuba gear.. It's a bit off a pain in the arse but if you use the PulseDive a lot it's worth the effort.. 🙂 It's been a handy tool not just for snorkelling/diving but also for wading in waist-deep water in places where it's hard to swing a detector.. I only wish it punched a bit deeper.. In my experience it's only been good for recently lost rings or coins which haven't been buried too deep yet..

I tried detecting a front strip of a street in Townsville.. Since the houses were all run down and shabby looking, I figured it wouldn't be a problem.. I couldn't have been more wrong.. In front of the third house the owner came out and wanted to know what I was up to.. He pointed at the few holes I'd already dug and said I'd ruined the look of the place.. I was tempted to say it couldn't look any worse but realised that beauty is in the eye of the beholder.. What looked like a neglected front strip to me represented years of watering weeds and mowing to him.. When I showed him how I'd filled my holes and barely left a trace he became a bit more interested and wanted to know what I'd found.. Here my case totally collapsed as all I could show him was a few bottle tops and a rusty key.. It's also gone the other way with home owners keen for me to have a look.. I was asked by an elderly couple to search an empty lot before a house was build on it.. The land was owned by the lady's family and it had been sold.. I found an old lead toy (motorbike with rider) and a few pennies and six-pence dating back to the early 1920s.. They were very happy with these small pieces of family history.. Whilst I was there the neighbour over the fence also asked me to have a look at his block of land.. I also found a few bits of silver from the same era there.. In short, I'd recommend asking permission regardless of how crappy the front strip might look to you.. If you can show some good finds from the same neighbourhood you stand a better chance of convincing people that digging up 'their' land is a great idea..

Maybe the dog ate the jewellery? You could hypnotise it to find out.. Seriously though, I hope you find the stash.. I'm also forever forgetting where I've put things, often finding them in places I've looked a million times before.. Good luck..

"Lawyers for four men, who admitted stealing "gold dust" during a midnight raid at a mine site in Western Australia's Goldfields, have described their clients' bungled heist as an "unsophisticated attempt" and a "stupid idea". https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-06-26/four-men-fined-over-theft-of-gold-dust-from-kalgoorlie-mine-site/102525570

That's a very good idea Jeff, I might have to nick it.. Being hard of hearing, I'll use any info I can get to identify iffy targets, even if it's just splotches or dots on a screen.. If used together with other info like target sound, target ID numbers, ferrous/non-ferrous ID, depth of target per gauge and past experience, you'll get a good idea of what it is.. If not, dig it and find out.. Tuck away what you've learned and use the info for the next iffy target.. 🙂 As you noted, going hunting is a better way to learn about a detector than bitching about it online..

Here's another article (2015): 'Townsville is shark capital of Queensland' .. It also mentions Alma Bay on Magnetic Island, my home bay.. Keep in mind this is only the number of sharks caught on drumlines along beaches.. https://www.townsvillebulletin.com.au/news/townsville/townsville-is-shark-capital-of-queensland/news-story/8d4d68e9228fc4a01388f59b4ebf8c23?fbclid=IwAR1Bg6H8KqiFThvgUd0wVYUkqSXBZobA9drkGqPq0eKHPpiOxcK7eC3VK60

The news article just reminded me of what you said about watching out for crocks.. 🙂 They turn up along the Townsville coast more often than the island, but the ones on the island tend to stick around for a while.. Parks moved a large male from Horseshoe Bay and released it about 200 kms down the coast, within 3 days it was back again.. I never saw it when detecting along that beach, but I'll bet it saw me.. One side of the bay is perfect crock country with mangroves and a tidal creek.. Another one to watch when scuba detecting is tiger and bull sharks, they scare the daylights out of me.. Because of the mangroves and dredging to keep Townsville Port open the water around the island is usually very murky.. A long time ago I worked here as a scuba instructor and always cringed at how little people could see when learning to dive, not even their hands in front of their face.. The opposite of what they thought a tropical sea would look like.. These days I scuba detect when the visibility is good enough to see them coming, at least to give myself half a chance.. That's how my thinking goes.. 😁 I suppose that no matter where you detect there's always some beast wanting to eat you, including ticks and mozzies..

In the news this morning: ‘It’s bloody dangerous’: north Queenslanders grow salty over rapidly increasing crocodile population.. https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/jun/16/north-queenslanders-grow-salty-over-rapidly-increasing-crocodile-population

I looked up the ring's number and it turns out to be white gold.. It was made by a jeweller in Tasmania..