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Hunting for rings and jewelry at the beach can be a challenging pastime and each beach is a little different but people play at the beach the same everywhere. In the above picture on Galveston Texas beaches note there are a concentration of people building sand castles at the waters edge. If it comes to rings the more valuable rings are generally women's diamond rings and we can pay for our detector with just one good diamond ring. Note that people generally place beach blankets on the dry sand or set in umbrella chairs. Not much jewelry is lost there but there is a crowd at the waters edge and one in the water. There will be some rings lost in the water and I have discussed water hunting before but I want to focus your attention on the activity at the waters edge. Most often women play in the sand with young kids whether they are trying to teach the kids to build sand castles or just finding an excuse to do it themselves they dig in the sand with their hands. This is generally after they have oiled up with suntan oil which makes their fingers slippery.
You see the picture of an accident waiting to happen. Either the rings come off in the sand when working on the sand castles or when they sit at the waters edge (as women love to do) their hands on the sand get covered as the tide and waves cover them with sand. As often is the case with people who sit at the waters edge a large wave will race to the beach and swamp all of those sitting at the waters edge. They will jerk their hands out of the sand to protect themselves from the large wave and off comes the rings.
I have found men's jewelry at the waters edge and I think that's because it's easier to find. Women's wedding bands and diamond rings are generally very small and v-e-r-y difficult to find even when you know where to hunt. Most of these tiny rings are almost impossible to find over three inches deep. We find so many pulltabs and metal screws and nails that we get used to a good strong beep and the diamond ring may only be a whisper near to the surface.
Now I dig those signals also (because I find a mans big ring now and then) but we cannot hurry the process and we must train ourselves to listen for the weaker signals. Sometimes a non-motion detector is good for this because it will give you an indication of the size of the target. A small, weak signal is a must dig. I watch beach hunters who walk fast and swing fast and I know that there is no way they will bother with a very weak signal. Even a pulse water unit will sound a weak signal at 3 or four inches and only diligence and the careful detectorist will find many of these rings.
Sometimes pulse detectors have a problem of their own. If the pulse duration is too slow that may mean that you have to swing the loop slow or you will miss small targets and only find beer cans. Some beaches will simply wear you out with too many trash objects. Your best option there is that if the beach activity supports your efforts and there are plenty of people there playing at the waters edge then your job is clear. You must clean the beach yourself! I know that this takes time but go to the beach on the low tide and when there is an off-shore wind to push the water out. Begin by wearing a large coin apron and just dig every target even iron and start cleaning the beach yourself. I would do this when I am not observed if possible so everyone else doesn't benefit from your efforts. Clean the beach before the big weekends and holidays just when the big crowds will hit. Then hunt it late in the evening before anyone else has a chance to find your goodies and when you may not be seen by many. This trick of cleaning a good area to hunt can work in other places as well! Try cleaning the areas behind home base in the ballfields that are used frequently or a favorite picnic area.
I just got back yesterday from the beach and the weather was cool so I decided that I wouldn't water hunt but instead I would hunt the wet sand with my Piranha pulse detector. Usually this entails digging pockets of pulltabs but on my sixth hole at the very waters edge I picked up a weak signal and turned up a pile of sand and watched as the waves washed it down. Imagine my excitement when I spotted a golden shine at the edge of the water. I picked up a gold ring in a ball of wet sand and when I started wiping it off the sun displayed a lovely green sparkle. This was beginning to be fun and I took my time wiping the sand away and discovered two diamonds along side of the emerald. Wow! At the same time my wife came walking over towards me and grinning also. She had found a large silver earring, a gold earring, and a full pack of Winstons. All of this happened within five minutes of arriving at the beach. Many detectorists begin the hunt and listen for the weak signals and then when they get tired they just look for the loud beeps. Wet sand hunting requires digging the very weakest signals and your full attention to the job, but such nice rewards!
