Salt water beach hunting

The ocean beaches have long been referred to as a treasure vault for gold rings, chains, precious stones and only the few who search for them and retrieve these items can experience this form of detecting excitement. We have all heard the quote "life is a beach" but nowhere is the meaning of this felt quite as strongly as the water hunter understands it. I have always been excluded from this fraternity by reasons that I was sure were quite sound, however my resolve broke after spending many hours walking and detecting salt beaches and watching the water hunters at work.

As many know it is a frustrating task to decide from the many different salt water detectors which one is priced right and yet effective for this purpose. I had no experience with a pulse detector and wild claims are made continually by users who have found that they must defend their decisions to purchase. The users tell stories about the positive side of their experience with nothing about the negative problems with their detectors.

I selected a mid priced detector that used pulse technology and one which was light to carry and yet stable on the beach or in the water. When it arrived my impression was that it looked rather cheap and my air tests only caused me to have more misgivings about my decision. A trip to test it on the beach and wet sand was in order so the following day I walked down onto the beach in front of a plush hotel and turned it on. I had walked about thirty five feet down the beach when I received a strong signal. Digging down to about five inches I saw a flash of silver and grabbed greedily for it but it was held fast. It was held by a long chain and had been buried for a decade at least because the silver chain was encrusted with black crud and finally came free. In my hand was a silver crucifix with a nice blue turquoise stone and a long silver chain necklace. Not the richest find but an impressive first find because I had walked over that spot a dozen times with my other detector. The pulse magic must work! Now to work the wet sand along the high tide area. Galveston is not overburdened with rich trinkets and they may be few and far between but as I walked the beach I had a strong signal and dug to see the water washing the hole and again that flash of silver! However I was puzzled because I seemed to be looking not at a single ring but several rings. Upon inspection that was indeed the case and it had seven silver rings all looped together. All I can say is its a good thing that a water hunter came up the beach about that time and explained it to me. It seems that it is a puzzle ring and when you get the rings in the right order it all fits together.

All I can say is now this pulse detector really had my attention and it was time to get wet. I dug through all of my old scuba diving stuff (I used to own a scuba diving shop) and came up with a weight belt which would fit the slot in the detector just perfect. However the first time I tried to wear my pool shoes the current ripped them off of my feet! So I picked up a pair of old lace up tennis shoes which worked fine. With the detector slung behind me the rod and coil were so light I could see that this was going to be a fun experience. Now the tough part - the water bucket! These things come in all shapes and sizes and price ranges up to several hundred dollars but I went see my friend Bill at Alexander Enterprises (a metal detector store) and wonder of wonders he had just exactly what I needed at the right price(cheap). It was a long handled stainless large basket with 5/8 holes all over it and a tee at the end of the handle. It was tough and sturdy and light enough that I could carry. Now it was my turn again because I could just see the smaller goodies slipping through the 5/8 inch holes. I took some 1/2 inch galvanized hardware cloth and cut it so I could roll it up and stuff it into the basket. Next I cut the round piece to fit on the bottom. If I do say so myself it looked like a good job and the holes now had wires across them to catch the small earrings and gold chains.

Labor day was fast approaching and I wanted to get ready for it so I could look under the surf for glittering goodies. I went to Galveston's Stewart beach before dawn and the sea was calm and the wind was still. Entering the water the threshold sound shuddered once and then adjusted itself to a steady tone. I waded out waist deep and began sweeping the bottom and it wasn't long before I began picking up targets (mostly rusty bottle caps and hairpins) but the water bucket worked like a charm and I was impressed at the depth of some of these small targets. "Editors note; it is impossible to tell anyone how deep a target is in the sand bottom. The bucket would cut as deep as one foot at a time but the sand would quickly refill the hole and sometimes the target would be recovered on the first scoop and sometimes it would take several". Targets would slide deeper or get washed out of the hole sometimes so please understand when someone tells you that they found an object at 11 inches underwater it strains my belief to accept it. Almost all of the objects that I recovered were in water deep enough that I could not see the bottom.

The sun began to slowly rise above the horizon and shine through the clouds with golden rays that did justice to the clear water. This was a very positive experience! The singing voice of my detector seemed to fit and I waited with expectation for the next signal. I quickly learned that faint broad signals often were rusty pieces of metal several scoops deep. Coins made a clear precise tone like a toy train whistle while faint sounds seemed to remind me of a harmonica. My expectation peaked and I was sure that the object that I was digging would have a golden color. As I lifted the bucket to peer into it a school of small fish around me was chased by a larger fish and for reasons known to them headed towards my legs! Just as I peered into the bucket they rammed my legs and I jumped strait up! Wow, this was going to take some getting used to.

I worked my way down the long beach and through the deep troughs and shallower bars between them and I noticed a stingray rush out from under the edge of my foot (from now on I will move the coil across the bottom where I want to walk). While working in the shallower water I got a target and dug out a gold plated ladies watch! The watch didn't have any water in it so it might work when it was cleaned up but the band was broken (oops! did I do that while digging....) The thing that you notice when you first experience water hunting is that you are in a sort of time machine and the little hands of the watch just fly around. The hunt was over and I had a great experience without locating any great treasure but I was happy and charged up ready to go again on Labor day when the crowds would come back.

The day finally came and conditions were perfect as before and I noticed a large shrimp swimming through the clear water (Galveston usually has dirty brown water with winds and waves) but I have noticed that the only time in a year when it seems to get just right is around Labor day. While I moved through the water and gazed at the placid sea my head turned to see the seawall which was painted to look like the creatures of the sea and along where I walked I could see pictures of large great white sharks with open mouths and great big teeth. Not something that I wanted to think about in the warm water of the Gulf. I worked water as deep as my armpits and expected to find the heavy gold rings that the guys wear when they go farther out in the surf. The signals just seemed not to be there and I had to come back to waist deep to pick up targets again. I watched the swimmers and not many had any jewelry on (maybe they had noticed the water hunters) but the women had some but only came deep enough to get wet and walk back to sit in the shallows. Lovers were the only ones oblivious to everyone else and had gone far out in the surf and most folks just stayed around the first trough. I had picked up a pocket full of bottle caps, fishhooks, nails, bobby pins, coins, and pulltabs when I decided to work the shallow water.

There are numbers of targets in the shallow water (mostly pulltabs) and I was digging up another I supposed when I looked into the bucket and didn't see anything. I had just decided to dump it when the flash of gold dazzled me. Jammed into the hardware cloth wire was a gold ring with a small stone in it! Thinking back on it I have to wonder if some of those targets out there in the deeper water turned out to be the gold ring and I had not noticed it. I admit that I wear reading glasses and when in the water I just look into the blurred basket for big gold objects. I'll work on that. I was happy... my detector had vindicated itself and I had a golden prize. The time machine had done its work and it was time to go home again. drat!

I decided that I would like to go again and work the beach this time. This time the wind had died and the mosquitoes were thick along the beach. I walked fast to avoid the bugs and neared a stairway down to the beach where I got a good signal. Digging down five or six inches I was pleased to discover that there was a digital sports watch with the correct time! It had 30m on the face and I supposed this indicated that it was a diving watch good to 30 meters deep.