Who's going to hunt with Matthew?

I was just curious.......and would enjoy any reports fro anyone who's going to be hunting before, during, or after it comes through.......how much sand was moved and any increase in finds.

Stay safe out there!

A guy on another forum had a trip planned, he was going to stay a decent distance from the beach in Ft. Pierce and get in there right after the storm passes.
After a call to the local police he cancelled.
They are evacuating everyone they can all along the coast..
The access roads and bridges along A1A are going to be closed and might be for days depending on damage and sanding problems.
They might let people back into beach areas if they live there after but those people might not even be able to get to their properties.
Anyone that is already staying in the area and have no plans to leave will probably lose power for who knows how long.

Better to be safe then sorry and wait it out.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/06/2016 01:25PM by diggwr27.

I've ridden out a few TX hurricanes from a slightly inland location including the monster Allen in 1980 and can tell you that when that much rain gets dumped into a widespread area, theres going to be major transportation disruptions for days in many (most?) locations. If you go, assume you are going to be completely on your own and provide for 100% of your needs. Remember that it will take the water that fell as rain a few days at a minimum to run off and that can affect a lot of services, repair crews, etc. I wish I was going, but family obligations preclude that for me. I wish all that are able to hunt there the best of luck and look forward to seeing some great finds. Just rem, as has been said often enough(?); theres nothing out there to find thats worth your life.

Matthew impresses me with its projected track. That sucker is going to dump an epic amount of rain on florida.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/06/2016 02:04PM by Champ Ferguson.

" theres nothing out there to find thats worth your life"

Well, said very true!

However, I've ALWAYS dreamed of hunting after a hurricane especially after hearing from some of stories Toms told me.


Aaron



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/06/2016 02:43PM by Aaron.

Champ, I was in Houston Texas when Allen came through. Downtown Houston streets were full of glass from the wind blowing the slag off the skyscrapers roofs and breaking the glass buildings windows. We lost power a few days. Had to get my truck battery hooked up to my shrimp aerator to keep aquarium fish alive.

Hi ozzy, I didn't know Houston caught anything significant from Allen. I remember that the storm filled the entire Gulf before we lost power so I guess its no surprise that Houston caught some too. I was in Kingsville which caught the north quadrants and the most rain. Several tornados south of town and I have a pic of a concrete light pole snapped in half from the wind. iirc, the eye came ashore about 30 miles south of us; thankfully in the least populated coastal area in the continental US.

In the week that followed, my oil company employer asked everyone to help folks that needed it instead of coming to work(where there really wasn't anything to do anyway), so I spent those days sawing up downed mesquite 'trees', ripping up carpet, and pulling wet drywall off walls.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/06/2016 06:36PM by Champ Ferguson.

I will be watching closely and if the opportunity comes to the Myrtle Beach area or farther north, then I am sure I will be out there somewhere as soon as the storm passes. Just once I would love to hit a beach that has been scoured down close to the hard pack and pick up many gold items in a single hunt...Stuart

I just canceled a flu shot apt on Monday so that I can be out there first thing in the morning. However if there is good surf I will be surfing.

_________________________________

Nox600, CTX, CZ21, Excal II and White's DF with 920i stealthscoop...I live and hunt at the beach in Wilm NC

Yeah looks like it's going directly into the treasure coast..

Could expose some GREAT Spanish treasure!!

Keith

“I don't care that they stole my idea . . I care that they don't have any of their own”
-Nikola Tesla

We bailed out! My wife and I were on St Simon's Island, Ga, from the 1st through yesterday and decided not to take a chance and deal with anything to do with Matthew, as a whole. Their whole beach has changed since we were there back in the winter. HH jim tn

I'm heading to Jax or Daytona as soon as they let me in!

Champ, my memory may be off. It had to be a hurricane before 1985, that's when I moved out of the great state of Texas. I think it was Allen though.

Im close enough being on the other side of the island to wait and see when they let people in. Fl is flat with a high water table........ so this much waters going to look like okeechobee. If its pushing water in 15 miles..... youd think a lot of stuff is going to MOVE. BUT is suspect its going to be some time before anyone not already there will get out.

Dew

ozzie Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Champ, my memory may be off. It had to be a
> hurricane before 1985, that's when I moved out of
> the great state of Texas. I think it was Allen
> though.


ozzie, could it have been Alicia in 83? I was in the Houston area for that one too and your description sounds exactly like what I remember from that one.

"I was evacuated off Longboat Key, Gulf Coast 3 times.
It's miserable during and after hurricanes and the police don't allow you back for days as they set up road blocks.
If they do allow you back you have to prove you're 'local'. We had green stickers on our front bumper but you also had to show your driving licence photo ID with address etc.

I also suffered thru Hurricane Bob on Cape Cod where we lost power from Sunday thru Thursday and that was a miserable event too.

Stay home - be safe - don't risk your life.

Of course it could also fizzle out like a damp squib but this one doesn't appear to be slowin' down?"

I aways think about how it would feel standing out on a pier singing that "Kill the Rabbit" Bugs Bunny Song during some giant storm like that.

If the storm surge doesn't pollute the beaches with refuse it might be a good time for the locals.

Hope no one gets anything but wet until its over.

HH
Mike

Champ, yes sir, that sounds more in the time frame of events, thanks.

BWill be covering the Grand Strand as soon as they will let us back on the beaches. Seas were very calm yesterday at Cherry Grove but still picke up a toe ring 2 pairs of sunglasses and a few coins. Can't wait

The Queens treasure has yet to be found.....maybe this storm will show some goodies from her long lost ship.

Went to the beaches around N Myrtle beach and I was disappointed at how the sand was pulled from the dunes and still on the towel line. Still flat. Lots of old coins but no jewelry so heading north to see what's happening. We got power back late Monday and lost a lot of fencing and darn near had my camper turn over. Came up on 2 wheels and would have gone over had I not hooked up the truck and got it face first in the wind.

Nice job on the camper! Any silver in those old coins? I'll keep my fingers crossed on the jewelry.....

Word is ..... Jacksonville got RENURISHED from the storm so its very unlikely anything is coming from there until the sand is moved.... then they are talking RENURISHMENT on top of that. Talked to Gary D briefly by Email who also said it just moved sand around and the wind, rain, or water will have to move some sand off. He said..... but there is always recent drops. Where/when you can get in the water that sand may move first. Right now the winds are shifting from the E and N..... than is going to push sand and keep is soft over there id think. For the most part its been a tuff year on both sides to fill you pockets with gold.

Dew

Dew, well I think I am heading the other direction (gulfside) this Friday that I have off for Columbus Day and do a little spotted trout and redfish fishing! My last dozen trips to Jax have been dismal to say the least! At least I may have a little food to show for my toils vs a couple of crusty zincolns!

Mike Hillis Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I aways think about how it would feel standing out
> on a pier singing that "Kill the Rabbit" Bugs
> Bunny Song during some giant storm like that.
>
> If the storm surge doesn't pollute the beaches
> with refuse it might be a good time for the
> locals.
>
> Hope no one gets anything but wet until its over.
>
> HH
> Mike


LOL

That's hilarious!

Standing there being poured on watching the wind/lightning/rain and waves with a Viking helmet on and sword in hand like Bugs!

I took my new-to-me MX Sport to the beach yesterday to check out the after-storm beach. I went to a beach a couple miles north of Ponce Inlet. The beach had a lot of sand moved around since the last time I was there but it looked to me like it took the sand off the higher parts of the beach and moved it to the lower parts. I was suprised at how few targets I was hitting. This beach has been sanded in for at least a couple years, and it still seems to be. I found a bunch of clad and a little bit of trash. No jewelry. Coins were in the 1-6" range. Deepest find was a 3oz. Pyramid sinker at at least 10" in the surf- it took two full, maximum depth scoops with my T-rex to get it out of the hole.

Commentary on the MXS: it ran very stable in Beach mode at a sensitivity of 7 out of the water, and a sensitivity of 5 in the surf up to about 8" of water. May have been okay deeper than that but I wasn't dressed to get wet and the surf was rough so I didn't go any deeper than that. I ran it as high as 10 on the sensitivity but the setting of 7 had no falsing, so I kept it there most of the time. VIDs were accurate much more often than not. Inaccurate VIDs were attributable to very corroded targets. Most all the trash I dug I expected to be trash but as I am trying to learn this machine, I was digging everything. Had conditions been less rough I would have found more good stuff. At dead low tide the quarter line was well into the surf, which was a pain to hunt. This detector is sensitive to little stuff even in salt mode. I found a 5/8" long fish hook a couple inches deep in wet sand. I have found that the detector is a lot more stable on the beach if you get a ground balance in the area you are hunting and then lock it. Otherwise, everytime you stop to dig a target you will have to pump the coil to get it back to balanced after you have retrieved your target. Pinpoints accurately, with accurate depth. Really like the ability to change the sensitivity on the fly. Really don't like the balance-too nose-heavy. I may try to add some weight to the back to see if I can balance it out. Four hours of hunting had my arm aching. I am liking this detector alittle better everytime I use it.

All in all a good day at the beach.

Same scenario in Cocoa Beach / Cape Canaveral and S Wabasso as the others noted re elsewhere.. Surge didn't get near the toe of the dunes.. Mainly sand got dragged from inland toward the ocean, adding a good 6" of overburden to what had been the previous high line, as well as rebuilding the slope approx 10' closer to the shore line.. There's actually a very shallow " v " cut running parallel to the shore just inland from where the old high line had been in both locations, creating a 6" to 1' rise in elevation as you walk oceanward.. Nothing was uncovered except a boatload of shells where you'd expect them to congregate during flowback..

Flagler Beach N of Daytona appears to have taken the hardest hit along the E Central shoreline (the popular pix showing A1A falling into the ocean) and there was an area in S Melbourne Beach (between Cocoa Beach - Wabasso) that eroded to within feet of a few back porches, but other than those it was good news for the beach communities / bad news for detectorists..

Swamp

I'm down at Orange Beach right now. This side didn't get any of the storm at all but what it did get, is vacationers that had their east coast plans cancelled by the storm. This is my first trip ever down here and it wont be my last! I have talked to a great number of people that have been coming here for vacation for 15+ years and they tell me this is the most crowded they have seen it in October, and it's really not bad at all. This whole area of shore line has been sanded in. One of the old timers told me they brought in about 4 feet of sand several years ago, to replace what some storm washed out to the gulf. At any rate, it is extremely tough digging for me. I have a scoop but EVERYTHING I have dug has been deep. I will dig through at least 10 inches of dry sugar sand, then hit some kind of shell bed. Everything I've found coin wise, is sitting on top of those shells when I get to them. Digging 10-12 inches for ever target, gets old. Even if it is sand. The water has been too rough to get out in it with the detector past knee deep. The scenery has been great...it is beautiful water and sand here. There are still plenty of bikini babes to look at too

I too, have the MX Sport here. It is doing great on the wet sand here and exceptional in the dry. The problem I have is when I get in the water...it will overload when the water comes across the coil. I have put it in Beach mode which runs some kind of salt program for it, and reduced sens. Those seem to help and I still end up having to dig deeper than I want to anyway. It is hard going when the tide sneaks up on you and about knocks you down. They jellyfish are also abundant here now. I've not been stung by them yet but several people have.

So far all I've found is a man's wedding band and approx $1.35 in clad. The rest of my digs have been pull tabs, tent stakes, and LORD HAVE MERCY at the crown caps. These beaches have rules against glass containers but it is evidently not enforced at all, as every one of those crown caps have came off of glass containers. They are EVERYWHERE. It's bad enough digging 10+ inches...it's even worse when it reads good and is a crown cap that deep.

Killed it this Thursday and Saturday at the Grand Strand. Besides over 200 coins, lots of costume jewelry. I got a 14k and white gold cross, a Titanium mans ring and several 925 toe rings and earrings. Beaches were flat but I looked for big shell beds that had just a thin layer of sand. Full moon today but family coming down so be a few days before I can get back out. The E Trac worked well in the wet sand. Tried using the Racer 2 and it worked and was stable but it just didn't have the depth even set at 95.