Clean Beaches

Just back from a few days detecting on the South Coast between batemans Bay and Eden and I have to say tha beaches are clean.
I did find plenty of older coins and some jewelery but these were very deep from 10 to 15 inches down and had been lost for a long time (using the Infinium) I did not find any newer items from the surface down to approx 8 inches, so either nobody is loosing stuff these days or sombody is cleaning all of the shallow stuff out ahead of me, (I did not see another detector operator on the beaches at any time) I was detecting from just before sunrise until long after sunset.
Considering the size of the crowds on the beaches during the day I was very suprised to have not located any recently lost items. I did have a girl ask me to try and find her EFTPOS card and although the Infinium is good it is not that good, maybe a vlf could detect the magnetic strip but not a PI.... Anway , better luck next time when I go further North.
Cheers,
Adrian SS

Gday Adrian SS


Some beaches are just like that and produce very little, but very often though its a case of just reading the beach, visiting the beach at peak times will give you a better idea of what parts of the beach are more used than other parts, and where it might be more productive, that way you can see areas like where most people tend to sit, close to the water but far enough away from it so that in the event of a sudden wave their gear doesnt get wet.

People tend to like to get into the lower parts of the dunes, or under boardwalks, or behind buildings or structures to shelter from the wind etc, so these areas will be the most productive, in many areas they use beach cleaning machines that clean off the top 6 inches or so, they will ususally pick up surface rubbish and items sitting on the top like lost lightweight things like bangles and chains and some coins, but anything trodden in might end up too deep for them and be left behind.

If the beach has a lot of activity during the winter where most of the sand is removed and then re deposited most of the light rubbishy stuff will be washed out into the water and away, the areas just below the tideline and out a few meters can have areas where there are deposits of lost heavier items like rings and jewellery items, studying the movements of the tides in the area can give you an idea of where these deposits are more likely to be, as the water movement, tides and position of the beach causes a system of sorting where items are deposited in a similar locations depending on their size/weight/shape etc, often jewellery items are lost by swimmers and people frollicking in the shallows, due to shrinkage of fingers in cool water and also slippery sun block etc.

There are quite a few books available on beach detecting and they can give you some good ideas on what to do and where to go, one of the best things about detecting beaches is they are regularly re plenished unlike the goldfields, but all like all detecting it takes research and learning the ropes.

One such book is "Treasure Hunting with Minelab Metal Detectors" Vol 1 Successful Beach Hunting, Shallow Water Hunting and Treasure diving by Andy Sabisch 1997, I have a copy and have also seen them for sale on ebay, they are published by Minelab so you should be able to get a copy from them or maybe your local detecting shop.

cheers

stayyerAU

G/Day stayyerAU.
Yes I understand what you say. I have done many hundreds of hours on Aussie beaches and have several boxes of gold and silver and coins in return, It is just that I thought that the pickings were tad slim this time round compared to previous trips, Also forgot to mention that I was detecting full time in the water this time, trying out a new beach scoop from the States which worked bloody great (Stealth Scoop) built like a tank that withstood every attempt I threw at it to break the handle in the wet sand.

Adrian SS

Hi Adrian, I live in Bermagui and detect from Narooma to Merimbula beaches, which beaches did you do?
uncle bob.

Hi Adrianss
Slim pickin's have been the norm lately,only a few sunny days this summer have not helped either,no decent storms for a while so beaches are full of sand.There arn't too many detectorists in these parts to make any significant difference.

UNCLE BOB wrote:Hi Adrian, I live in Bermagui and detect from Narooma to Merimbula beaches, which beaches did you do?
uncle bob.

G/Day Bob,
I did a good portion of Twofold Bay, (long Beach) water was a bit high and could not get out very far. bit of an undertow which I didn't like much. A couple of beaches between Ben Boyds Tower and the Eden warfs and do you think I can remember the names, no way. Merimbula beach at the back of the Black dolphin Motel all the way around to the river entrance; These beaches were the most productive for deep targets.
Did a couple of hours at tathra beach and found nothing but bobby pins out in the water, I have done quite well at tathra in the past. A couple of hours at Broulie South Beach, this beach has been very productive for jewelery out about 40 mtrs from the low tide line but nothing this time round.

cheers,
Adrian SS

Yeah, I normally do the dry sand and to the water line of the low tides. It's been as you say very clean lately and the only possibilty I can think of is that the beach sands have moved more this summer than the last couple of summers.Instead of the sand being shifted out to sea, it's been building up onto the beaches around where I live anyway. Tathra beach always gets hit hard by other detectorists. This is the first time I haven't found any old coins and I guess the sand is too deep. Last week I got a 5c coin @ 15" deep.
Cheers,
uncle bob.

kingfish wrote:Hi Adrianss
Slim pickin's have been the norm lately,only a few sunny days this summer have not helped either,no decent storms for a while so beaches are full of sand.There arn't too many detectorists in these parts to make any significant difference.

G/Day Kingfish,
You could be right about the piled up sand, most of the beaches I went to seemed to have a steep bank leading to the water like what is formed from an undertow and these beaches are normally pretty flat which is one of the reasons I like detecting them,and they are always crowded during the holidays and I can get a good distance into the water to just behind the first or second waves where a lot of the body boarders sit waiting for a good wave. I have found several watches and a few nice gold & sil chains in these sorts of places. I also have done ok in some of the narrow channels that form just below the low tide line.
One interesting thing is that during the hundreds of hours detecting the beaches I have only ever encountered three othe detectorist and they were fairly new to the hobby. In the gold fields I have seen one other . I have been detecting almost on a daily basis since 62 with a few breakes between changing schools and between jobs and postings while in the RAAF.

Adrian a friend of mine who does the beaches around wollongong has had the same issues for the last year.The sand has been constantly building and the storms have not brought in enough wind or swell to remove this steep bank.Last year I did pretty well in the bay here and at merimbula and tathra after one storm but found nothing older than a couple of predecimal pennies at best.Plenty of 1 and 2 dollars and 4 gold rings though for a lot of hard work.
Back in the 80's I remember Windang beach was hit big time I took my kids there and there was a 10-12 foot verticle drop in the dunes.The walkway slats were hanging down like ladders and the entire fence was down at the low tide area.We walked along the drop off and just picked up florins,shillings,old english pennies and jewellery by eye.Detecting was good there for months after this.
Steve

A friend of mine lost a seriously valuable custom gold bangle on Tathra beach many years ago and I have been searching for it on and off ever since. When it was lost there were no detectors that could get down into the wet sand so I have been trying all types of machines as they became available. Knowing where and when she lost it I feel that there is still a good chance that it is still there but will be well down in the sand now, at least three foot at a guess. I thought I had found it once with the Infinium but as I got deeper into the sand the bloody thing sunk out of detection range and I was battling the waves. One day if it is still there I will find it.

adrian SS

Hey Adrian,
maybe one day when the storms hit the beaches pretty bad and on one of those lowest tides of the year might work in your favour. Being there at the right time certainly helps.
Cheers,
uncle bob.

Easter good friday is a good time any year for a low tide.