Even after finding thousands of gold rings at the beach, and writing eleven beach & water hunting related books, some of the things I pull out of my scoop basket still surprise me!
When I first moved to Florida from England, I decided to make the most of the natural resources by changing from land to beach hunting. By natural resources, I mean white sandy beaches packed with year round visitors wearing platinum, gold and silver jewelry. A change of search areas also meant a change of metal detecting equipment better suited to beach and water hunting. I am a stickler for detail when it comes to treasure hunting, from equipment and research, to site selection and search techniques. So, one of the best decisions I ever made was ordering my first Minelab metal detector from the Kellyco Detector Store here in Florida. My own metal detector research told me what equipment I needed; a misspent youth scouring tidal river banks in England for old bottles and clay pipes gave me a beach hunting edge. I still use many of those ‘eyes only’ treasure hunting techniques to this day. Heavily hunted tourist beaches or ‘sanded in’ conditions can always be open for treasure hunting business when you know what clues to look for…
This has been a strange year for me. Although my metal detecting time has been restricted to weekends, my gold numbers are ‘through the roof’ in the first six months of the year. I broke through the one pound mark of gold jewelry recently, recovering a Versace diamond encrusted platinum & 18 K gold pendant, weighing a whopping 1.7 ounces. Also, earlier in the year I recovered a 3 ounce white and yellow gold chain with pendant and a sapphire clasp.
Below is another 2.6 ounces of gold, being a mega gold charm bracelet pulled out of my scoop basket earlier in the year. Although the heavy gold charm bracelet is a large attractive target, it responded with a faintest of audio tones, as deep gold often does. The two heavy half ounce gold rings were recovered in a similar fashion this year, using my custom CTX 3030 beach mode and gold audio target tone to sniff out deep gold beyond the range of ordinary metal detectors.
As the beach is consistently changing, it makes good treasure hunting sense to adapt and go with the flow of the changing environment. Doing the same thing on the same beaches is not my style, and it shows in the variety of things I recover, from three hundred year old Spanish treasure coins to recently lost wedding bands. I am proud of the successes I have had detecting and really enjoy helping other beach treasure hunters to experience the thrill of pulling something really good out of their scoop basket.
You can check out my previous Minelab Treasure Talk blogs to see what treasure hunting equipment I recommend using for beach and water hunting. Once you have the correct metal detector for the job, it is time to work on your beach, water and people reading skills. Next up is site selection and search techniques, including sweep speed and search coil control. Get those things together using the right equipment and you too will be firing on all cylinders!
I used to live in the beach and water hunting shadows. You probably had more chance of seeing a Big Foot than Gary Drayton at the beach. All that changed, when I decided to write my first beach treasure hunting book. It was my way of giving something back to the hobby I love so much. My ‘outside the box’ beach and water hunting techniques are a little unorthodox, but you cannot argue with the amazing jewelry, coins and artifacts featured in my books. When people accuse you of owning a jewelry store, you know your beach and water hunting techniques really do work!
Inside the cover of all my books you will see the title of this blog, a quote from Benjamin Franklin. Look at your trusty Minelab as your initial investment in the hobby, and my beach and water hunting related books as the perfect way to get a return on your interest. My books are available at your local metal detector store or my website at garydrayton.com or through amazon.com.
If you can’t be lucky, at least be good!
Gary T. Drayton
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All the best and good luck!