My Best Week This Year

[Compass]

I've actually had some pretty good weeks of detecting earlier this year mostly because of a drained lake I stumbled upon before the pandemic. However, this was certainly the best week of beach hunting for me in 2020 with my 4th hunt of the week this morning. It seems to be an unusual time of the year for significant beach erosion, a phenomenon usually experienced during our winter storms out of the northwest Pacific or in the late summer when hurricanes in the southeast pacific generate swells that make their way to the southern California coast.

I already posted about the first 2 hunts and hunt #3 came a day after a massive swell that I think even surprised the weather and surf experts. The lingering swell coincided with some extreme tidal swings so I anticipated that the conditions would still be ideal for detecting and I wasn't disappointed. It was a situation where I even had options on where to hunt as it seemed that pockets of targets were scattered over miles of wet sand, not particularly dense with targets but enough to keep me digging as many targets as I wanted to. 

One of these pockets yielded a nice sized silver ring that I thought was gold at first because it felt smooth and heavy and looked so clean in the moonlight. However, it was a fresh-drop silver and meant that other heavy metal targets could be nearby. Shortly after, a sterling silver cross made its way into my pouch and not long after that, perhaps, my favorite find of the year.

A nice coin-sized target was scooped out of the hole into a mound of wet sand beside the hole. Rather than taking a smaller bite with the scoop to retrieve the target I often reach down with my hand to feel for it and that is what I did with this one. In the darkness I love the feeling of a heavy unseen target in my hand immediately followed by the discovery of a hole in its center and the realization that I have a ring that is possibly made of some precious metal.

However, when I felt this target it took me a little longer to process what I had found. It felt like a heavy wet noodle and when I lifted it up I could see it was a clean, glimmering bracelet with gemstones! I turned on my headlamp and saw the golden luster and a stamp on the clasp where you would expect to find one on a nice piece of jewelry. Pretty confident that it was the real deal I thanked God for this wonderful moment that will be etched in my memory for the rest of my life.

Today's hunt was fun although not nearly as memorable. It seemed that the sand was beginning to return but there were still enough targets to keep me busy most of the morning. I did find a small, unmarked, gold letter "B" pendant that I'm sure is a lower carat piece and several small silver jewelry pieces and a pretty, wave-shaped, cuff bracelet that I thought was silver but turned out to be plated. 

Here are some of the better finds this week- actually all from the last 3 hunts as the first hunt yielded only costume jewelry:

The bracelet is 7" long, stamped "14 K" and weighs 8.5 grams.

Used the TDI BH with Ground Balance "off" on all 4 hunts

Thanks for reading,

GL&HH!

[Skate]

That is a nice haul. The beaches are a mixed bag this year due to closures. Glad you were able to take advantage of the opportunity.

[Tony]

Great hunt.....I love those all night hunts in the shallow water.......and I mean shallow water only !

[Bill (S. CA)]

Compass,

Nice results.  Maybe our paths have crossed, I'm sort of north from Santa Monica to Zuma.  I see that some of the guys hunting the southern beaches have done really well.  Unfortunately for me I got called back to work at the wrong time to take advantage of these unusual conditions.

Just curious since I see that you have quite an arsenal of machines, any reason why the TDI Beach Hunter was your detector of choice over either the Equinox of Excal?

[Compass]

8 minutes ago, Skate said:

That is a nice haul. The beaches are a mixed bag this year due to closures. Glad you were able to take advantage of the opportunity.

Thanks Skate, Yes, surprising to find so many "fresh" drops but so much sand was moved that I suppose a lot of it was sitting up in the dry for some time.

[Compass]

5 minutes ago, Tony said:

Great hunt.....I love those all night hunts in the shallow water.......and I mean shallow water only !

Thanks Tony, Just to be clear- that picture were some of the better finds from 3 hunts, each about 4 to 7 hours long. Mostly in the wet sand but an occasional wave  would put me in knee deep water.

[Compass]

6 minutes ago, Bill (S. CA) said:

Compass,

Nice results.  Maybe our paths have crossed, I'm sort of north from Santa Monica to Zuma.  I see that some of the guys hunting the southern beaches have done really well.  Unfortunately for me I got called back to work at the wrong time to take advantage of these unusual conditions.

Just curious since I see that you have quite an arsenal of machines, any reason why the TDI Beach Hunter was your detector of choice over either the Equinox of Excal?

Thanks Bill, I imagine so but it's been years since I've hunted around Zuma. I recently retired so it's nice to be able to go to the beach now whenever things look promising. That is a good question about my choice of detectors and I hope I have a good answer.

- My Beach Hunter is the best detector of the 3 for the black magnetic sand that I encounter on my beaches. It's not super thick most places but enough that it affects the Nox and Excal more.

- I believe that it is the deepest of the 3, especially, on the low conductor metals. The Excal is pretty deep in "all metal" mode but the target footprints seem small to me and the audio subdued whereas the Beach Hunter seems to belt out a tone on even small targets. I don't feel like I miss as much with the TDI BH. Now I do used a modified lithium ion battery pack that runs at about 15 volts but I would still feel the same way operating at the lower voltage. I use the Nox in fresh water where I can use the "gold" mode. It seems to operate more like a pulse with discrimination in that mode. Unfortunately, I am not a big fan of the "beach mode" on the Nox and with my hearing impairment I feel like I'm missing a lot. It might just be me but it seems like I have to concentrate so much more when I'm using the Nox in "beach mode" and I don't get close to the depth I need with my stock 11" coil. I could just need more practice with it though.

-  I used a Pro PI, then a Dual Field for several years with pretty good success. I think that the Beach Hunter is like the Dual Field but with a  stronger audio response, silky smooth threshold and greater affinity for low conductors. The 14 K bracelet I found yesterday really sounded good on the TDI BH but I tested it on the Dual Field and it had trouble "seeing" it. I think of the Beach Hunter as a Dual Field on steroids.

GL&HH!

 

 

[kac]

Well done!

[Joe D.]

Hello again Compass!,

Excellent finds!! And excellent explanations!! I'm glad your doing well on the beaches!!

How's the canoe coming along?!👍👍

[Compass]

2 hours ago, Joe D. said:

Hello again Compass!,

Excellent finds!! And excellent explanations!! I'm glad your doing well on the beaches!!

How's the canoe coming along?!👍👍

Thanks Joe, The canoe is coming along slowly. I am now stripping the bottom. Of course, I took the last few days off to metal detect.