I've been metal detecting with my CTX 3030 for about 2 years now and before this hunt, the best finds were when people asked me to look in a specific area to find something they lost. Other detectorist would find sizable rings or gold pieces but I never came across anything like that. I mostly found small (but interesting stuff) modern coins and stuff. I was always happy to get out and thankful for the fresh air and things I did find. Well this hunt here was absolutely the best I could hope for.
I have to drive 3 1/2 hours to get to the beach, so I plan it out, look at the tides, weather, predicted wave heights, and if there are any functions happening before I get there. Because of the long drive, I prefer hunting in the evening and all night through the next morning. Usually 10-13 hours straight. The CTX 3030 has always held up mechanically and functioned as advertised, and I have never needed to change the battery during a visit to the beach. Of course I use a PRO-SWING Harness to help me out. My normal setting is using the pre-set Beach Mode with Recovery Fast "on" and Recovery Deep "off", Seawater "on". Target Separation to "Low Trash". At the beach I usually use the 11" coil as I did during this trip. Findings on this trip:
1/2 ton of aluminum trash as always. No picture; deposited in trash cans along the way. (12-03 to 12-15 range). One flip top was about 14" deep. Necklace chain: 4" deep in wet sand, read solid 12-10 (read the same at home). The clasp has .925, no marks on the actual chain. I used a graduated cylinder to check the density which came out to be about 10.3 g/cm^3 which indicates silver not gold. So I still don't know if it is silver or gold. The 3030 indication is in the gold range not silver. Whatever it is, it is 17g of it. Gold colored bracelet: Also in wet sand. Within 6" of surface. read solid 12-47. Thought it was a quarter. Interesting here that it is gold color but has the .925 stamp. In the morning when I was almost detected out, the beach conditions were still perfect with small waves and the tide was still out. I decided to detect a little longer. Then 6" deep in wet sand I hit a solid 14-10. To my surprise there was a large 14k ring with more diamonds than I ever thought could fit on a ring. I had it appraised. The ring was indeed 14k white gold with 7.6 carats of high quality diamonds.
Mike – VA, USA.
