matt

Thanks! I'm hoping to be in the water really soon. I'm thinking of taking one of the lanyards off my kids boogie boards or surfboards to use to keep the detector attached to me if a big wave yanks it out my my hand.

I too have read every post since the beginning and have really enjoyed it. Lots of times after a hard day of work it is nice to take my mind to something else. Thanks.

You are definitely doing well with the Manticore and it's great to see it. Do you think that the Deus missed these finds? It's funny how confidence in your machine can make such a difference.

I like the video! I am getting into detecting in the surf and underwater and your video just cut my learning curve by a bunch. Thanks for posting it. Hope you post more. Seeing your technique for target retrieval really helps. Are you just using a snorkel or do you use a battery powered hooka?

Super nice finds! Can't wait to try out my m8 coil too. It sure seems to sniff out the small gold.

I work in school construction and we started a new baseball/ softball field project a few weeks ago at a high school. After the grading contractor cleared the grass from the site and started ripping the dirt I realized that it would be a great time to bring out my detector and see if there are any good targets so I started scoping out some of the spots that looked good. We had a little rain after the initial ripping and processing work and I was able to find several coins with my naked eyes, but no mistaking the the shine of a nice gold ring sticking out of a dirt clod! 5.7 grams of 14k gold! I took my detector out last weekend for an hour, but with all the aluminum cans and other stuff that the lawn mower chews up it was not what I hoped. And just so many coins! They started disking the ground yesterday and today to aerate the soil so I came home for lunch and going to grab my detector and try again this afternoon for a little while. Hope I can find some more gold.

Congrats on the first gold found with a metal detector! The first are always the most difficult to find and attending a training class can sure help with the learning curve. Hope you find many more.

Wow! Thanks for sharing your experience. Hoping to one day be as lucky to find a gold coin.

I think I am going to try hunting without the coil cover as well. It fills with water and sand so easily which adds a lot of weight. When hunting on the wet slope I fond I am constantly tilting the coil to try and drain the water so it's not so heavy.

Time to get a back up!

That's a great first day! Looking forward to hearing your opinions of it as you get more time underwater.

Looking forward to hearing you report on use underwater.

The right place at the right time! Nice finds for sure.

That's incredible if you found the chain with all the rings on the chain!!! Have you checked to stones to see if they are real diamonds?

I bought one but never used it. After detecting for placer gold for so many years I still just tilt up my coil and use the edge to pinpoint the target when it's out of the hole in a spread out pile of sand. Takes a few seconds to retrieve. Maybe I'll try the pinpointer next time out, but I hate taking more things with me to lose. I usually hunt in a t-shirt and swim suit though.

These are some pictures of my 2.5" and 6" dredges in the water (I think in 2007) with my best friend Kirk. Many half ounce days of dredging! I would leave the dredges in the water all summer.

I wish I could dredge in California! I know the PLP has the reclamation thing going, but I haven't joined to find out the details. Sold my 6" dredge after the ban in 2008, but my 4" dredge sits near an extremely rich creek outside of Downieville waiting to be put back into the water...I can only dream about that big deep hole on my property for now...

You are doing well out of the water! Have you checked the diamond to see if it's real?

Thank you for the detailed response! Fortunately the water in Hawaii never gets cold so a wetsuit is really not necessary at any time of the year. The water is almost always very clear unless there is a bug storm surge. Hopefully I'll have some success next trip there.

Another great find for you! Some question if you don't mind because I am beginning to start this type of detecting. Do you use a sand scoop or just fan the sand and use the pinpointer? Do you use dive weights to help stay in place in the surf? My last trip to Hawaii was in the surf and shoulder deep and I could not stay in place with the waves pushing me a couple feet every time they hit me.

Wow great finds! I would keep hitting that beach instead of going underwater. I never used a ctx, but I would bet the Manticore would do a good job on that beach.

The first thing I would do is one on one training and that would put you way ahead (or a group training). Gerry gets rave reviews for his training but if it's too far North, I'm pretty sure Doc does training out of Las Vegas too. The read and research, and join a club to access claims.

Great finds! Half dollars are sure difficult to find, especially silvers.

Those are some great finds! I watched the video. Thanks for posting it. Are you only using a snorkel for air or some type of surface supplied/ scuba?

That's a bummer. He was well known on many of the forums way back, but unfortunately I never had the pleasure of meeting him. RIP John B.