:usaflag: Reading a Beach :detecting:

[Cupajo]

There are areas along the waters edge of the local beach at low tide where gravel appears from time to time after waves have pounded the beach.

I have for years thought that this was the waves tossing the gravel ashore.

The gravel can be small up to 3/4 of an inch or very large up to 4 inches or so in diameter and can be anywhere from the water's edge to several yards up the incline of the beach.

I'm still, after years of observing this come and go, trying to decide if the stones are tossed up the beach slope or are uncovered by wave action.

It seems that some of each occurs.

I have found large stones laying high up on the sand obviously tossed there by wave action.

[attachment 149486 PicsfromFuji33WP094.jpg]

[attachment 149487 PicsfromFuji33WP091.jpg]

In these shots the layers of gravel can be seen just above the water line.

The first shot is of a large very shallow flat of heavy gravel and large stone that stretches out several yards from the water line at low tide which will allow hunting with knee high boots at this tide and very little wading.

I have taken several rings from here in the past.

The incline of the beach has radically changed in the past few weeks from a long gradual slope to a more abrupt angle up slope.

It is difficult to determine if the sands are just being moved from one area of beach to another or if it is being washed away all together.

Close by there is a spot (the second shot next to the wooden sluceway in the background) where the sand has gotten a lot deeper, so I think it is the former scenario.

We are supposed to have temps all the way up to 33 degrees F today and again tomorrow along with possible snow.

I hope to somehow get out there if I can do so without endangering my health.

Wish me luck,

CJ

 

[woodwizard]

I make it a point to hunt this area each trip out as this is area where mom plays with toddlers.plus have found many a piece of jewelry in knee deep to the shore line area

 

[thebarnacle]

i think you will find that stones are not that heavy when underwater as they do not usually have a high relitive density especially as the sea has a concentrate of salts in, i do a few beachs and stones up to 1 - 2 ft across are rolled around, i agree with you they get washed up the beach in heavy sea then eroded again and it all starts again, i dont try to figure it all out now as soon as you think you have it sussed out it will baffle you again.

 

[JOHNMARKHAM]

seems like a really good area to start hunting in.
work that area and above area really good..
nice shots..

 

[Cupajo]

Thanks for your replies Fellow Hunters,

CJ

 

[Cupajo]

Thanks for your replies Fellow Hunters,

Those pics are of so called "private" beach areas, but this stretch of beach has been in use for at least two hundred years and the older stuff I have found there date from 1900!

One 18K gold ring I found in the '80s was dated 1873 and no telling what other wonderful finds are lurking there just waiting for some lucky hunter.

Me I hope!

CJ

 

[Jason in Enid]

While the waves may be moving the rocks A LITTLE, it is very obvious that there is a lot of errosion at the time that pic was taken. That's the prime hunting time.

 

[harvdog42]

CJ,

Those are great questions. Ones I don't have an answer for. I've often thought while beach hunting, a high resolution altimeter would be a good thing to have. When beach conditions change everything is relative. You could be on the lowest section of a beach on a particular day but that low section may be five feet higher than it was a week ago.

I did a little research and there are watch like altimeters that have a resolution of 1 ft. Some are 3 ft. Since barometric condtions can change from one day to the next you have to calibrate the altimeter frequently. I don't think that would be too difficult given that roads and parking lots would remain at a constant altitude.

This is one URLs that I was investigating. The altimeter watch shown has a resolution of 1 ft.

http://www.thealtimeterstore.com/watch.html

What do you think of that idea?

Harvdog

 

[kered]

You can also get altitude from a good GPS, although not exact, they have the added advantage of being able to plot your track, great for returning to holes or even starting where you left of the previos visit, i always take mine and refer to it constantly when gridding larger beaches, i also mark my good finds with a waypoint and also any rocks that appear ocasionaly as a reference, all this can then be saved to the PC and even transfered to google earth. After a while patterns start to appear, you can find the old coinline as a startpoint from the offset, quite often saving time.
They are handy in the water too for comming back along the beech slightly to one side of the previos track when you can't see any reference to where you have passed other than your plotted track
I have the garmin colorado, the oregon series are good too(a mate has one)maps can be found on the internet quite easy as they are real expensive to buy if detailed, i'm not recomending pirating maps, but i like to try before i buy, i have bought some after trying a downloaded copy

 

[Cupajo]

Hi Harv and K,

Interesting solutions to what seems to me to be (after mulling it over a bit) a simple problem.

You can see in the top picture (above) where the various lines have developed on the sea wall.

There is also the wall of the sluice-way along with a chain link fence in the bottom picture.

These are more visible in the shot I include here.

[attachment 149625 PicsfromFuji33WP125.jpg]

The chain link fence is sunken in over three feet of sand at the water end where its bottom was a foot above the sand a month ago.

The sand piled up from the water's edge (here at low tide) to its highest level wasn't any higher than the sluice-way wall at the water's edge a month ago!

Here's a closer look!

[attachment 149632 PicsfromFuji33WP125.jpg]

There are similar permanent reference posts and walls along the entire 1/2 mile of beach and also the nearby cottages for reference as hopefully they will be immovable and will be there to use.

I for one like to stay away from high-tech unless it's a metal detector!

Regards to you Friends and thanks for your input,

CJ

 

[Dig]

I admire how well you know your beach Cup!

 

[Cupajo]

As much time as I have spent there over the years (probably thousands of hours in forty years!!) I would have to be deaf, dumb, blind and stupid not to know it very well!!

There is no way to know what is still out there or where it is, but by constantly observing the waters edge and the sand movement I am able to decide where my efforts are best spent.

Thanks for your reply Friend,

CJ

(Nobody finds 'em all, but I'm workin on it!!)

 

[Cupajo]

At 10F the beach this AM was truly frozen here on the Ct shore!!

Four layers of warm clothing and feeling like the Michelin Man helped, but I could still feel the biting cold.

The north wind had settled to a gentle stirring of air from the north and somehow the cold didn't seem to penetrate as badly as yesterday at the same time when the wind was gusty.

I fully expected my footprints to be the first on the wet sand at the waters edge as I moved along watching the sun-rise, but alas there were others from someone walking a large (from the paw-prints) dog!

When I saw this view of the "Tide Rock" I realized I would have to share it with you readers and a second view as I returned from the eastern end of the beach.

[attachment 149684 PicsfromFuji33WP134.jpg]


In the second shot (I'm really liking this little Fuji) Long Island is barely visible on the left edge of the picture and a tiny bit of Ct on the right.

[attachment 149685 PicsfromFuji33WP137.jpg]


NY City would be somewhere over the W/SW horizon behind the "Tide Rock".

The water was lots warmer than the air so I could see wisps of vapor rising, but they aren't apparent in the pics.

If the temps will just move up into the 30F range and the water will just stay so calm I'll be doing some hunting to post about.

GL&HH Fellow Hunters,

CJ

 

[kered]

Real nice pics of calm water, never got that calm all last year here

 

[Cupajo]

The Long Island Sound is pretty well protected, but when the wind gets cranking from almost any direction, especially the S/SE and the W/SW, she can start jumping out there!

I really like it when she's calm and beautiful like in these pics.

Add a few degrees so it's not so cold and it's great hunting!

Thanks for your reply,

CJ

 

[Cupajo]

When a hunter frequents a beach it isn't very difficult to recognize when changes have occurred.

Sometimes these changes are very noticeable such as a heavy cut into the beach where waves have torn away tons of sand and left the substrata exposed.

In my hunting ground that means heavy gravel and cobble sized stones such as seen here peeking out of the water.

[attachment 150238 PicsfromFuji33WP016+1.jpg]

The two large stones are more like small boulders than cobbles and are scattered here and there among the cobbles.

When they are exposed that spot is clear to "rock bottom" and it is the best possible exposure of whatever is hidden there!!

A tell-tale sign when walking the local beach is large gravel above the low tide water line.

Some of the gravel is as large as a base-ball!

Along the half mile or so of beach there are several spots where the gravel is evident and generally out from the low tide line for up to forty feet or so is prime hunting as far as the exposure of the bottom is concerned!

This cannot expose something that is no longer there of course (heavily hunted beaches can be productive if one studies the waters edge at low tide and watches for the "signs"), this is at the least the best chance for finding anything if it is there!!

When I went out a couple of days ago I found a strip cleared for a couple of hundred yards that was twenty feet or so wide and 15' out from the waters edge at low tide!

Coarse gravel was covering the sand for 6-8' above the low tide water line in several spots along this stretch of beach.

[attachment 150242 PicsfromFuji33WP130.jpg]

Such as seen in this shot.

I might add that anything that gets trapped in the spaces between these stones is there until dug up!

They settle down between the large stones and are covered with sand and smaller gravel and nothing short of a major huricane will disturb them!

The large stones make for hard digging and call for heavy duty tools, but the prospects for a great find are good!!

I hope this information is helpful to anyone reading that is not familiar with these things,

CJ

PS I really like this little Water Proof Fuji!!

 

[Cupajo]

The large stones in the above pics are a couple of yards in front of the sea-wall in the back ground.

[attachment 150285 PicsfromFuji33WP011++.jpg]

The white post has a ribbon of green paint that makes keeping track of the depth of shifting sand easier.

The eroded sand and the abrupt drop from high tide line to the water is evident in both shots.

[attachment 150286 PicsfromFuji33WP012++.jpg]

The "Sound" is a fairly protected body of water and isn't subjected to the same abuse as an ocean front beach.

Other dynamics are surely at play at those shores, such as rip tides and huge waves tearing at the sand, but if a hunter can locate and watch the day to day relationships of these sorts of reference points, posts, sea-walls, docks, etc. then they can better estimate the accessibility to finds.

GL&HH Fellow Hunters,

CJ

 

[Cupajo]

A quick walk on the beach this PM at sun-set revealed just how much sand was moved by yesterdays 24 hour long strong, west wind!

[attachment 150439 PicsfromFuji33WP001.jpg]

The first shot reveals that the sluice-way is now totally exposed as is the last post in the chain link fence and the bottom of the fence is now a foot or so off the sand!!

In the next shot the stones pictured in the shot above are now under several feet of sand!!

[attachment 150440 PicsfromFuji33WP002.jpg]

The white post is more exposed and the edge of the water is farther out due to the shifting of the sand at that spot.

All along the 1/2 mile pf beach gravel is exposed more than before and the sand is reconfigured into a long gentle slope rather than an abrupt rise from the waters edge to the high tide line.

It's always interesting to wade out after such an event to determine what has happened out in the water and how it corresponds to the changes on the beach.

I hope these bits of information are allowing you to be more aware of the changes to watch for at your favorite beach so you can scan the spot you like to hunt and determine if it might just be a waste of time while a hundred yards away the finds may more exposed.

GL&HH Friends,

CJ

 

[goldnugget]

Thank you for the information on the Beach Eroison and the Great Pictures. You must live on the Beach. I'm about 3 1/2 hours from the Coast of N.C. and S.C. goldnugget-Charlotte,N.C.

 

[Cupajo]

Thanks for your reply GN,

I live about a 5 minute walk from the water and have ample opportunity to observe the changes that take place at the water's edge.

I like to share these observations with those hunters that may not have had a chance to see these changes for themselves.

Today I found the sand has been pulled way down from high on the beach and there is now, once again, a long gradual slope from the high tide line to the waters edge at low tide.

[attachment 150571 PicsfromFuji33WP007.jpg]

Hundreds of tons of sand have been moved back out into the water and most of the easily accessed stone layer under water close to the low tide water line is under a heavy layer of sand.

This makes finds close to the water line harder if not imposable to locate.

The beach just above the water line is now soft sand with a small pebbly gravel mixed in and there are no gravel deposits at all and the walking is hard as one's feet are sinking into this fluffed up layer of sand and pea-sized gravel.

When the heavier gravel and stones are deposited along the water's edge the surface is firm and the walking easy.

The low tide water line is much farther out from the fence posts now too.

(The posts have been replaced many times over the years and the owners don't get the message that Ma Nature doesn't want it there!)

[attachment 150572 PicsfromFuji33WP008.jpg]

(A little better look at the dammage to the fence.)

A little warmer weather/calm water would allow me to check out how these observations reflect on the actual conditions in the water.

I hope this information is of interest to enough of you hunters out there that I can add to it as things change.

GL&HH Friends,

CJ