Many beach and shallow water hunters ask me whether it is best to invest in a pulse induction metal detector or buy a larger search coil for a VLF metal detector.
In my opinion, you are always better off basing that decision on the beaches you metal detect on.
If you search wide open beaches or stretches of water with a low amount of trash or ferrous targets, a pulse induction metal detector should be the best choice.
People who search on trashy beaches with moderate to high amounts of ferrous targets, may find an extra large search coil on a VLF metal detector a better choice.
When it comes to metal detectors and search coils, everything is about the beaches that you search on.
Using the wrong metal detector or search coil on the beach is the main reason why many beach and shallow water hunters go home empty handed.
Metal detecting with a pulse on a trashy site and digging all targets can be just as frustrating as using a VLf metal detector on a wide open beach with a small search coil.
You must also take into account the types of objects you are searching for, when deciding which set up is a better choice.
If you predominantly search for old shipwreck artifacts, digging all targets using a pulse induction metal detector or an all metal mode is the best plan of action.
Modern finds, such as gold and silver jewelry are more likely to be found in trashy areas.
A large search coil on a discriminating VLF metal detector is a better choice of treasure hunting equipment when trying recover deep jewelry on busy beach sites.
For many beach and shallow water hunters, a pulse induction metal detector or an extra large search coil on a VLF metal detector are very effective game changers in the right circumstances.
It just depends what your local beaches allow you to use.
Kamis, 31 Oktober 2013
Selasa, 29 Oktober 2013
New Common Application Tips
The Common Application is new and there have been problems. This is no surprise. Hopefully, these following trips can help over the course of the next few weeks when many students are submitting their applications.
Early Decision agreements and outside recommenders: If you are applying to a school via early decision, you, a parent, and your counselor must approve this through signing an electronic document. This is done through the ‘assign recommenders’ section of the member school part of the CA. You will indicate that you are applying ED to one school, and then you will invite a parent. Make sure you accurately input their name and their email address. Then when you are done, you must assign the parent. Both of these steps must be done in order for the ED agreement to be sent. As long as you do your part on the CA and indicate on Naviance that you applying ED, your counselor will be able to submit his portion of the agreement.
For additional outside recommenders, the same process is necessary. You must invite each one, and then assign them. If you forget to assign a recommender, they will not be able to complete the recommendation. If your school uses Naviance e-docs, you will not need to invite your counselor or teacher recommenders. You only do this for additional, outside recommenders.
Reporting test scores: A new addition to the Common Application is that if the student decides to self-report the scores, then he will need to indicate all test-date scores, which is contrary to College Board’s ‘score choice’. Self-reporting is optional on the Common Application, and regardless what you do here, it is mandatory to submit scores through College Board or ACT Student directly to each college. My advice here is to not self-report scores on the CA. It is unnecessary, and if you have a test date you do not want to send to schools, there is no reason to show them the scores on the Common Application.
Inputting the college essay: Please do not type the essay in the text box of the writing section. Complete all of your edits and revisions in a Word document. Keep the formatting simple and at the end of each paragraph, you should hit the ‘enter’ key twice. There also is no need to indent the essay. Once you input your essay, you can go through the text box, and make sure it looks good. At times, you may need to move the first word in some lines to the end of the previous line. Before you submit the application, you can review a PDF of the entire application, including the essay. Make sure the essay looks correct in this PDF. If it doesn’t, you can go back to the text box and make the necessary edits.
Do not wait until the last minute to submit the CA:It is well known that there are many problems with the new Common Application. I cannot predict the future, but I am going to go ahead and guess that the millions of people around the world who will be waiting until 11:59 on the last night before the deadline to hit “submit” may encounter some technical difficulties. Do not be one of these people. Please give yourself at least a full 24 hours before submitting the CA. That means reviewing all of the information on the CA and for each of the member school supplemental questions, and assuring everything is correct. Also, many schools are pushing back their 11/1 deadlines back a week. Don’t think that you should now wait to apply on the 7th. Give yourself time, and if any problems arise, then you will be able to fix them, instead of starting to freak out.
Pay once and SIGN your name: In order for the application to be complete and uploaded by colleges, the student must pay for each application (unless they have a fee waiver) and sign their name electronically. It is widely known that payment has been a problem with the new CA. For now, pay once and wait. It can take up to 48 hours for payment to be confirmed. If it has been 48 hours and you still have not received a confirmation for payment, then go to the Help Desk and inquire if there is a problem. Also, you MUST sign your name at the end. This sounds simple, but it is a step often skipped. Your application will not be reviewed unless you have signed it. When you are ready to submit applications, you do so through the Dashboard section on the CA. You must pay and submit each school individually. If you are unsure if the application has been received by the colleges, feel free to contact the admissions office and confirm that everything is in.
-Joseph D. Korfmacher, MA
Productive sites and treasure hunting patience
Sometimes you have to wait for a productive beach site to open up again, before you can reap the rewards of treasure hunting patience.
The hardest part of knowing any productive site is discovering the site in the first place, but once you do find an area containing old artifacts or modern jewelry it can be a future source of many metal detecting finds.
I have many, many beach and water hunting sites that I constantly keep an eye on, I am prepared to search them even if they open up for the shortest window of treasure hunting opportunity.
These gold jewelry finds from a 2 hour beach hunt are special to me, they represent a five year wait in between one beach site opening up and giving me the chance to find over 30 pieces of gold jewelry at the same site last year.
I was ready to search this old productive beach and water hunting site, after initially finding many more pieces of gold jewelry five years earlier.
The diamond encrusted 18K gold bracelet link matches three other segments of the same bracelet found on the same site five years earlier.
This may not be very popular with people reading this blog who like to beach and water hunt in groups but, "Loose lips sink ships" when it comes to producing sites.
The less people you tell about your productive sites, the more treasure you have waiting for you at the site, instead of a large crowd of people metal detecting when you arrive at the site.
Knowing where you are likely to find old shipwreck artifacts or modern gold jewelry is one heck of an advantage to a beach or shallow water hunter.
Patience really is a virtue when a productive site opens up, no matter how long you have to wait for that site to open up, it is always good to know you already have one of the keys to finding treasure.
The hardest part of knowing any productive site is discovering the site in the first place, but once you do find an area containing old artifacts or modern jewelry it can be a future source of many metal detecting finds.
I have many, many beach and water hunting sites that I constantly keep an eye on, I am prepared to search them even if they open up for the shortest window of treasure hunting opportunity.
These gold jewelry finds from a 2 hour beach hunt are special to me, they represent a five year wait in between one beach site opening up and giving me the chance to find over 30 pieces of gold jewelry at the same site last year.
I was ready to search this old productive beach and water hunting site, after initially finding many more pieces of gold jewelry five years earlier.
The diamond encrusted 18K gold bracelet link matches three other segments of the same bracelet found on the same site five years earlier.
This may not be very popular with people reading this blog who like to beach and water hunt in groups but, "Loose lips sink ships" when it comes to producing sites.
The less people you tell about your productive sites, the more treasure you have waiting for you at the site, instead of a large crowd of people metal detecting when you arrive at the site.
Knowing where you are likely to find old shipwreck artifacts or modern gold jewelry is one heck of an advantage to a beach or shallow water hunter.
Patience really is a virtue when a productive site opens up, no matter how long you have to wait for that site to open up, it is always good to know you already have one of the keys to finding treasure.
The Christian Life is a Contradiction
The Christian life is a contradiction in many ways. Those who fail to recognize and accept this reality will find it hard to remain and flourish in it. It's real and it happens to many, and though difficult it is necessary because it is the only way to be holy with God, separate, sacred, and distinct from the secular and profane. The tension between the two opposing conditions bring stress, but those who embrace it find peace. Consider the following statements and relating passages from God's Word:
Unless God breaks you, He can't bless you. Unless God rules you, He can't use you.
For You do not desire sacrifice, or else I would give it;
You do not delight in burnt offering.
The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit,
A broken and a contrite heart—
These, O God, You will not despise (Psalm 51:16-17 NKJV).
You do not delight in burnt offering.
The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit,
A broken and a contrite heart—
These, O God, You will not despise (Psalm 51:16-17 NKJV).
Unless we are driven to our knees, we are not really free.
The Lord Jesus spoke from Isaiah:
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me,
Because He has anointed Me
To preach the gospel to the poor;
He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted,
To proclaim liberty to the captives
And recovery of sight to the blind,
To set at liberty those who are oppressed;
To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord”
Because He has anointed Me
To preach the gospel to the poor;
He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted,
To proclaim liberty to the captives
And recovery of sight to the blind,
To set at liberty those who are oppressed;
To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord”
(Luke 4:17-19, NKJV)
Unless we are on the ground, He can't raise us up. Unless He possesses us, He can't promote us.
“God resists the proud, But gives grace to the humble”
(James 4:6 NKJV)
Unless we are reduced to nothing, He can't multiply us into something.
“I assure you:
Unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains by itself.
But if it dies, it produces a large crop.
The one who loves his life will lose it,
and the one who hates his life in this world
will keep it for eternal life."
(John 12:24-25 HCSB)
Let us embrace the truth of God's Word that we may live, flourish and be a blessing to others today.
Have a nice day!
Minggu, 27 Oktober 2013
Searching for old and modern finds
When I go to the Treasure Coast in search of Spanish treasure, I always make the drive knowing the treasure has been there for 300 years and if it is my time to find it, I will.
Old artifacts and treasure coins are much harder to find on a beach than modern jewelry, you have to be at the top of your game to recover older finds.
I always feel more satisfied driving home with an old Spanish silver piece of eight than a modern gold ring, because I know the old treasure coin was much harder to find.
Speedy fast moving beach or shallow water hunters rarely recover older finds using sloppy or hasty metal detecting techniques.
That explains why many beach and shallow water hunters have no problem recovering modern jewelry, but struggle to find older coins and artifacts.
Beach or shallow water hunters known for recovering older finds make good modern jewelry hunters.
You can still find modern jewelry using speedy metal detecting techniques, but forget about recovering older finds using the same techniques.
Older finds tend to be deeper targets, old finds in the area become the first casualty of treasure hunting haste.
Speedy hunters miss large chunks of ground, and even when a search coil passes directly over a deep target they are difficult to detect.
Deep old targets respond very differently to shallow targets, the same deep targets are often rejected when using anything other than a minimum level of discrimination.
You should always strive for balance in your metal detecting finds, even a variety in the ages of your metal detecting finds is a good beach and shallow water hunting sign.
These metal detecting finds span several centuries, they were all found on beaches where it is possible to recover both old and modern finds.
Take your treasure hunting time and increase your chances of finding older finds.
Old artifacts and treasure coins are much harder to find on a beach than modern jewelry, you have to be at the top of your game to recover older finds.
I always feel more satisfied driving home with an old Spanish silver piece of eight than a modern gold ring, because I know the old treasure coin was much harder to find.
Speedy fast moving beach or shallow water hunters rarely recover older finds using sloppy or hasty metal detecting techniques.
That explains why many beach and shallow water hunters have no problem recovering modern jewelry, but struggle to find older coins and artifacts.
Beach or shallow water hunters known for recovering older finds make good modern jewelry hunters.
You can still find modern jewelry using speedy metal detecting techniques, but forget about recovering older finds using the same techniques.
Older finds tend to be deeper targets, old finds in the area become the first casualty of treasure hunting haste.
Speedy hunters miss large chunks of ground, and even when a search coil passes directly over a deep target they are difficult to detect.
Deep old targets respond very differently to shallow targets, the same deep targets are often rejected when using anything other than a minimum level of discrimination.
You should always strive for balance in your metal detecting finds, even a variety in the ages of your metal detecting finds is a good beach and shallow water hunting sign.
These metal detecting finds span several centuries, they were all found on beaches where it is possible to recover both old and modern finds.
Take your treasure hunting time and increase your chances of finding older finds.
Sabtu, 26 Oktober 2013
PT Bi Fin
Hmm, I need to watch 'Stylemasters 2' apparently. That's some interesting asymmetry there. Thanks to R. Royal for directing my attention to this albeit indirectly.
Jumat, 25 Oktober 2013
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Kamis, 24 Oktober 2013
Ala Spit
My visit to Whiffen Spit two weeks ago had me thinking a lot about Ala Spit, and since I was in the area for meetings and other site visits, I figured it was worth checking out Ala while the tide was still pretty high and I still had a little daylight left. The tide was a little above MHHW and flowing rapidly into the lagoon across the neck of the spit.
Gravel Beach: Ala Spit (December 2011 -- from there you can link back to earlier posts)
This site remains one of the more interesting beach restoration stories of the last few years and I suspect is trying to teach us lessons that, if we pay attention, will help us all on future projects.One of the lessons - the more obvious one - is that beaches can suffer from a number of ills and that successful restoration must address, or at least carefully consider, all of them. Sometimes the challenge is figuring out which problems are most serious and which are secondary.
I think the more complex lesson is about restoring dynamic systems - especially after several decades have gone past. Removing a stressor does not necessarily take you back to where you would have been had the stressor never been applied. I'm trying to figure out how to use the word "hysteresis" here - because I think it is important. But I need to work longer on this argument than I have time for now -- and there will undoubtedly be other chances!
Google Maps: AERIAL VIEW
Lone Tree Point
It's not hard to figure out how this place got its name, although I'm sure the Swinomish have more interesting words for it. Lone Tree Point is trying hard to be a tombolo - but lacks enough sediment to do it very well. What sand and gravel there is has built a broad, low bar out to the rocky islet, and then spread out northward as a spit that forms a lagoon across the mouth of the small creek that winds down through the Thousand Trails campground.Google Maps: AERIAL VIEW
The geology is messy here and the bedrock forms irregular shoals and reefs offshore. The strange tilted beaches I noted on Hope Island last year are a short distance away across a narrow channel (Hope Island: May 2012).
Lone Tree provides an interesting contrast to other small barrier beaches in the area, such as the tombolos at Kiket Island (Kukutali Preserve) and the beach at Ala Spit (also the subject of the next post). The differences are partly due to the arrangement of the bedrock geology and partly due to the availability of beach sediment, among other things.
March Point
March's Point, or March Point? Either way, it's the peninsula that forms the eastern shoreline of Fidalgo Bay and is home to oil refineries and the piers necessary to unload all that Alaskan crude.
Google Maps: AERIAL VIEW
It's also the site of one of the more interesting beach nourishment projects on the Sound in the last few years -- interesting in part because of its simplicity. The road follows the edge and erosion had cut away the bank, not only threatening the road, but eliminating the upper beach. This project (which I don't know too much about and will not say too much more about) involved placing gravelly sand along a stretch of beach and largely letting it figure itself out. Which it seems to have done very nicely and very quickly.
Sometime I'll come back and post about this project again - when I have more information and when the weather is more conducive to good photos. I actually have better photos from previous visits, but I try to build the blog around the photos taken at the time (which in this case was last Thursday).
Anacortes
There's a new beach taking shape in Anacortes at the old Custom Plywood site. The lumber mill closed down a long time ago and later burnt to the ground (or the water, since much of it was over water). They're currently cleaning up the toxic residue and redeveloping the site for a mixture of commercial and public uses.
Here are some earlier pictures - from back in the early days of the blog.
Anacortes: April 2006
Google Maps: AERIAL VIEW
There's a lot going on here. The jetty at the north end is being extended, apparently to help shelter whatever ship yard or boat basin is planned for the north portion of the site. The southern portion of the site is dedicated to public use. A wetland, a small pocket estuary, will help buffer stormwater and restore some of the low energy habitat that may have once existed along portions of this shoreline.
The wetland/lagoon is sheltered by an artificial spit/berm with a coarse cobble core - I guess to keep it from washing away, not that that's very likely. The new beach, complete with drift logs, is being built on the outer face of this berm, and the estuary drains through a new tidal channel. The new beach is in turn protected by another spit, a pseudo-spit of coarser material that curves out into the bay - sort of a naturalistic breakwater.This will be a fascinating landscape to watch evolve over the coming years. The vegetation in the wetland will have to sort itself out - adjusting to the tidal regime and the salinity of the new marsh. The beach will adjust to the waves and to the dynamics of the little tidal inlet, but I suspect will do fine. I am looking forward to launching a kayak there next summer some time. The outer spit is an interesting concept, but I'm curious to see what kind of shorelines actually become established on both its inside and outside edges.
Site selection and reading people
When I am metal detecting on a beach or in the shallow water, I always hope to find one piece of gold jewelry.
When I used to post on the internet metal detecting forums the biggest complaint from the forum "experts" was that I found too many pieces of high karat gold jewelry.
How was I able to find such high quality pieces of gold jewelry on the same beaches where forum members struggled to find a plain gold band.
I even got accused of owning a jewelry store, which is quite ironic because after finding so much jewelry I actually thought about opening an online jewelry store lol!
The answer is site selection, nothing puts more diamonds on your loved ones finger than site selection.
Every beach and shallow water hunter has a choice to make when selecting sites to search on crowed beaches.
Looks can be deceiving, many beach and shallow water hunters mistakenly think crowded beach sites must contain high end gold jewelry finds, that is simply not true in areas popular with younger crowds.
Through the years I have had a lot of success at jewelry hunting by reading people using the beach.
A crowded beach at spring break is the last place you will see me, I do not go jewelry hunting for toe rings and mood rings.
I prefer to search sites that give me a chance of finding that one valuable piece of high karat jewelry I am looking for.
Every beach has sites within the site, I guarantee the faster you learn to read the people using the beach, the more high end jewelry you will recover.
Think about that the next time you go jewelry hunting, which people on what part of the beach are more likely to lose what you are searching for?
That is exactly how this 14K ladies eternity ring stacked with diamonds ended up in my finds pouch.
When I used to post on the internet metal detecting forums the biggest complaint from the forum "experts" was that I found too many pieces of high karat gold jewelry.
How was I able to find such high quality pieces of gold jewelry on the same beaches where forum members struggled to find a plain gold band.
I even got accused of owning a jewelry store, which is quite ironic because after finding so much jewelry I actually thought about opening an online jewelry store lol!
The answer is site selection, nothing puts more diamonds on your loved ones finger than site selection.
Every beach and shallow water hunter has a choice to make when selecting sites to search on crowed beaches.
Looks can be deceiving, many beach and shallow water hunters mistakenly think crowded beach sites must contain high end gold jewelry finds, that is simply not true in areas popular with younger crowds.
Through the years I have had a lot of success at jewelry hunting by reading people using the beach.
A crowded beach at spring break is the last place you will see me, I do not go jewelry hunting for toe rings and mood rings.
I prefer to search sites that give me a chance of finding that one valuable piece of high karat jewelry I am looking for.
Every beach has sites within the site, I guarantee the faster you learn to read the people using the beach, the more high end jewelry you will recover.
Think about that the next time you go jewelry hunting, which people on what part of the beach are more likely to lose what you are searching for?
That is exactly how this 14K ladies eternity ring stacked with diamonds ended up in my finds pouch.
Rabu, 23 Oktober 2013
Marathon hunts
I was out of town for a few days and had a chance to do something I rarely get to do recently, which is metal detect over 3 hours.
Between work and family time, my normal beach or water hunts rarely go above 3 hours, unless I run across a special metal detecting situation.
Yesterday I hit several Treasure Coast beaches and spent 5 hours searching for Spanish treasure coins before finally giving in to the sanded in conditions and searching another 3 hours for modern jewelry.
I eyeballed an olive jar shard in the high tide line at the site of an early 1600s Spanish shipwreck and unfortunately only found a handful of coins and junk jewelry searching later on a tourist beach for modern jewelry.
My longest day ever treasure hunting was last November when I walked onto a beach at 9pm and arrived home at 9pm the following evening.
Yesterday I forgot just how well balanced my metal detectors are, I was using an Anderson carbon fiber shaft on my Excalibur II and my CTX 3030 already has a well balanced collapsable carbon fiber shaft.
It is really good to know that if you do run across a situation where you want to spend a full day on the beach, you can.
My friend was using a GPX 5000 with a detecting harness, he also was not tired at the end of day.
A balanced metal detector is an often overlooked key metal detecting factor. If you sitting at home nursing a sore arm or shoulder instead of metal detecting, you may miss a golden opportunity at the beach.
Custom straight shafts or a detecting harness are important metal detecting accessories during prime beach or water hunting situations.
Marathon beach or water hunts are possible when you take the issue of the weight of your metal detecting equipment out of the treasure hunting equation.
That also applies to your recovery tools, use a stainless steel scoop for water hunting and an aluminum scoop for beach hunting.
A sore arm from using the wrong type of scoop can just as easily stop you from being able to metal detect on marathon hunts.
Between work and family time, my normal beach or water hunts rarely go above 3 hours, unless I run across a special metal detecting situation.
Yesterday I hit several Treasure Coast beaches and spent 5 hours searching for Spanish treasure coins before finally giving in to the sanded in conditions and searching another 3 hours for modern jewelry.
I eyeballed an olive jar shard in the high tide line at the site of an early 1600s Spanish shipwreck and unfortunately only found a handful of coins and junk jewelry searching later on a tourist beach for modern jewelry.
My longest day ever treasure hunting was last November when I walked onto a beach at 9pm and arrived home at 9pm the following evening.
Yesterday I forgot just how well balanced my metal detectors are, I was using an Anderson carbon fiber shaft on my Excalibur II and my CTX 3030 already has a well balanced collapsable carbon fiber shaft.
It is really good to know that if you do run across a situation where you want to spend a full day on the beach, you can.
My friend was using a GPX 5000 with a detecting harness, he also was not tired at the end of day.
A balanced metal detector is an often overlooked key metal detecting factor. If you sitting at home nursing a sore arm or shoulder instead of metal detecting, you may miss a golden opportunity at the beach.
Custom straight shafts or a detecting harness are important metal detecting accessories during prime beach or water hunting situations.
Marathon beach or water hunts are possible when you take the issue of the weight of your metal detecting equipment out of the treasure hunting equation.
That also applies to your recovery tools, use a stainless steel scoop for water hunting and an aluminum scoop for beach hunting.
A sore arm from using the wrong type of scoop can just as easily stop you from being able to metal detect on marathon hunts.
Senin, 21 Oktober 2013
Worldwide Prone Action
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Nobby in Japan, old timey action from the homeland. All courtesy of Sally at original surfboards. There's more to come too, some excellent modern design soon....
Jumat, 18 Oktober 2013
Full moon water hunting
Now is the best time to take advantage of the full moon if you are a shallow water hunter.
During the full moon low tides it is possible to search areas offshore that we're previously only accessible to swimmers.
Jewelry lost by swimmers out in normally deeper water is almost impossible to retrieve when first lost by the unlucky swimmer.
Timing is everything when the full moon gives you an opportunity to search in less heavily hunted areas.
You usually have a short 2 hour window of opportunity to retrieve as many good targets as possible.
On tourist beaches I never waste my precious full moon low tide time digging iron, the clock is ticking as the extra high full moon high tide will make sure you are searching closer to shore than usual.
Use a discrimination search mode to go after the non ferrous targets, you can dig all targets any other time of the month.
Watches, chains and large gold rings usually stay within discrimination search mode range much longer.
If you return to search the same site the next day, try using a larger search coil or switching to an all metal search mode.
It is always better to recover the easier to find jewelry first before searching for the harder to recover jewelry.
Kamis, 17 Oktober 2013
This "Time" Has Come
I think this "time" has come.
"For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths" (2 Tim. 4:3-4 NIV).
"For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths" (2 Tim. 4:3-4 NIV).
"In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge. Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction" (3 Timothy 4:1-2 NIV).
Rabu, 16 Oktober 2013
Following other beach and shallow water hunters
There are far more full time beach and shallow water hunters than ever before on popular beaches, but that does not mean you cannot be just as effective being a part time beach and shallow water hunter.
You just have to refine your metal detecting techniques and make the most of every treasure hunting opportunity to compete with full time beach and shallow water hunters.
I always say just because someone has walked over an area with a metal detector, it does not mean that area has been searched correctly.
It is amazing how many good targets you can recover following sloppy beach and shallow water hunters.
When you can clearly see the lower beach has already been searched by scoop drag marks and dug holes, you still have a couple of golden opportunities.
Most of the easy surface finds should already be gone, search slowly and concentrate on trying to recover deeper targets that were being partially masked by surface targets already recovered by previous hunters.
Always double check around any areas of disturbed sand, some beach hunters give up on disappearing signals from targets on edge.
Get into the habit of using your foot to push the sand around a filled hole on the beach, before slowly sweeping your search coil over the disturbed patch of sand as there may also have been a more valuable target in the same hole.
I have found far too many nice pieces of gold jewelry following other beach and shallow waters, to ever get discouraged by signs of a freshly hunted beach.
You just have to refine your metal detecting techniques and make the most of every treasure hunting opportunity to compete with full time beach and shallow water hunters.
I always say just because someone has walked over an area with a metal detector, it does not mean that area has been searched correctly.
It is amazing how many good targets you can recover following sloppy beach and shallow water hunters.
When you can clearly see the lower beach has already been searched by scoop drag marks and dug holes, you still have a couple of golden opportunities.
Most of the easy surface finds should already be gone, search slowly and concentrate on trying to recover deeper targets that were being partially masked by surface targets already recovered by previous hunters.
Always double check around any areas of disturbed sand, some beach hunters give up on disappearing signals from targets on edge.
Get into the habit of using your foot to push the sand around a filled hole on the beach, before slowly sweeping your search coil over the disturbed patch of sand as there may also have been a more valuable target in the same hole.
I have found far too many nice pieces of gold jewelry following other beach and shallow waters, to ever get discouraged by signs of a freshly hunted beach.
Selasa, 15 Oktober 2013
Ogden Point
This is the last post from my three-day weekend in British Columbia. I promise! And this one isn't even a beach, but it is a coastal entry and one that I thought made a nice coda to my Vancouver Island beach tour.
I took the Blackball Line's Coho ferry from Victoria to Port Angeles - which means I got to sail out of Victoria's wonderful inner harbor, past Ogden Point, before heading across the Strait of Juan de Fuca to the U.S.Google Maps: AERIAL VIEW
Ogden Point marks the entrance to Victoria Harbor. The summer cruise ships were all gone, but there were still crowds walking the breakwater, enjoying the great Sunday afternoon sun.
Ross Bay
I guess our little tour of southern Vancouver Island is taking on a bit more urban flavor - from Pacheedaht to Ross Bay. They're both spectacular beaches. But that's pretty much where the similarity stops!
Ross Bay is a large embayment on the south shore of Victoria. Dallas Road follows the back of the beach, protected by a large seawall. The seawall was built to protect the bluffs around 1912, following a particularly large storm that threatened to wash away the cemetery behind the southern portion of the beach.
Google Maps: AERIAL VIEW
Around 2000, Victoria undertook a major gravel nourishment project, building a beach to protect the base of the seawall. The design involved several rock groins and an awful lot of well-sorted gravel (2-3 cms). The result is a remarkably steep beach (well-sorted, highly permeable gravel typically does this). This is probably a pretty durable solution to erosion and seawall damage. And it's probably a more pleasant and more accessible beach with the seawall largely buried in gravel.
Ultimately, I suppose you need to consider the alternatives. Maintaining the seawall presents its own problems - costs, safety, aesthetics - and is probably not doing the biology much good, either. Removing the seawall and trying to restore the beach of 100 years ago is probably not practical, for all sorts of reasons. Not only would the road and cemetery and any other development be lost, but the community would have to accept ongoing erosion and bluff retreat into the future. Nourishing the beach with a more natural mix of sediment would have benefits, but would also occupy a much larger footprint and represent a larger disturbance to the existing benthos, although in the long run, I wonder if it would be a more realistic option. Unfortunately, from an engineering perspective, sand is probably harder to keep where you want it and there might be a greater need to occasionally add more material.These projects always have a lot more angles than I can represent in a simple blog post and in a setting like this, I can imagine there are some pretty strong opinions, too. I guess if there was an easy solution, it just wouldn't be as interesting!
