Ring Daddy #31 in the rain...

I have to admit I have been very discouraged lately with the detecting. It has been ages since I found over a dollar in change. The beach has been super sanded in. Yesterday I hunted for an hour and a half and found four targets; a bottle cap, a pull tab, a penny and a brass screw. This has been typical for weeks.
Today I tried a spot that I hit every couple of weeks. It looked about the same as everywhere else.
As I left the car it started to drizzle. Half an hour and I’m out of here.
On the first line off the top of the beach I got a dime. Hmmm. A couple of more lines and I got another dime. This was way more than normal. It started to rain harder. I kept gridding the upper one third and kept getting a few coins.
From where I was at I could see that the pier had quite a few fishermen today. Detectorists and fishermen in the rain. Then in the middle of the top third I got a mid-tone and out pops this nice gold ring. Finally!!!

I hung in the cold rain for about two and a half hours and finally called it quits. I got well over a dollar today. Lots of pennies.

The Dreaded Hump and Ring Daddy #30

I've been hitting the beach almost every low tide lately. Found a nice fossilized horse tooth yesterday and a nice sharks tooth today. I usually give the sharks teeth to kids on the beach...but there were no kids today.

Yesterday we had some heavy SW wind and I thought it might move some sand. I've been dealing with the dreadful hump lately. The beach slopes down and then humps back up before it goes into the sea. All I ever find on the hump is dimes...the wanderers. Dimes seem to move around and will line up on the side of the hump. The other day I got 5 dimes in a row on the hump. Well, I should have gone out last night but I was stupid and watched the Panthers get beat.

This morning I stood at the top of the beach getting set up and I noticed the hump was gone. The ocean was glassy smooth, nary a ripple. I walked down from the top and got a so-so deep target. It definitely was not a smooth signal. After three giant scoops of the sunspot scoop I was looking at a gold ring.

If you get a gold ring on the first target you should just pack up and go home. But you will not. You will now beat the beach and yourself to death trying to find another one. Not a lot of targets but I did get one gold ring, one silver ring, a toe ring, four pair of sunglasses and 80 cents. Here is the mess.

I did go back and get the Excaliber and waded around out in the giant pond for half an hour. No targets. None. This is how the surf has been since the renourishment. You need a hole in the surf to find targets and this year I have not seen a real hole all year.

Ring Daddy #29

A couple of days ago I found an Iron Cross.

This is a German metal given for bravery. I have no idea if it is real...I hardly think it could be, but I don't see copy on it anywhere.

Yesterday, I slogged out to the beach with very little hope of finding anything. I was not in a good frame of mind for treasure hunting. It has been almost three weeks again since I found my last gold ring and I hunt almost every day, sometimes twice a day depending upon when low tide is. My enthusiasm has been crushed by the renourishment at MB. And the wind, oh the wind…there is none. I checked the forecast, the ten day outlook, for wind and the windiest day is 11 mph. A good bean fart has registered at 14 mph.
When I arrived a fair size crowd was at the waters edge watching the melee in the surf; an acre of baitfish, hundreds of small fish flipping, leaping into the air hoping to survive another few seconds while the bluefish tore into the school. And then a shark, three or four foot long, cleared the water and splashed down into the frenzy. Whoa! What a show!
I put the headphones on and went to work, enjoying the late summer heat that has lingered into the first days of fall. Amazing that it can be upper 80’s and three months from now it will be lower 30’s and snot flying out of the sky. I hate winter.
I don’t really know why I have been going out at low tide lately. The beach is hugely humped up at the low tide line and I rarely find anything there. For the past few weeks almost all my finds are from the upper third of the beach. I always wander down on the lower beach to make sure nothing has changed and it has not, a few pennies and pull tabs.
It takes me ten or fifteen minutes to find my first pull tab. Not good.
I look up and down the beach trying to read the beach. It all looks the same, nothing to give me hope. I slog on. And on.
I pick up a few coins along the same line that I have been hunting for weeks, on and on I go, bouncing like a pinball, zig zagging the upper beach, a coin here, a pull tab there.
Halfway back to the VW I get a nice foil sound. It is less noisy than a ketchup packet, close to a wadded up gum wrapper…but it sounds more wholesome, like the girl next door with the big blue eyes. Before I dig this signal I am already smiling. I could be wrong but I am pretty sure it is a thin banded gold ring. Out comes the sand. I kick the sand around and spot the gold ring. Bingo!

It looks as though it is part of a set with the thin curved band. Who cares!! It’s the first gold I’ve seen in ages. The diamond is a wannabe, cz.

Here is the mess from yesterday. $1.91 in change.

5:30 this morning I was out again. I headed north of where I hunted yesterday. The beach was empty and the darkened sky held a few stars and one planet showing in the cirrus clouds. I see wet beach to the north but I have done better to the south…so I go south. South was the wrong decision. I spend the first hour getting a few coins on the upper one third and then finally head north. I should have listened to myself and done the wet sand first. This part of the beach is not humped up; more flat with a slight incline and there are targets all the way to the encroaching low tide line. The sky is beginning to lighten and there are mountain clouds the color of dried blood at the horizon. A few folks with cameras have come to see the dawn. Three men are casting their lines into the surf. I glance to the east and a cloud has taken on the look of a B-17 Flying Fortress complete with props. A shrimp boat in the distance with its arms spread and the rigging give the impression of a pirate ship in the half light. It turns north to intercept the rising sun. I don’t see any gulls following the ship, not a good sign for a shrimp boat. Far to sea, dark large birds, ten perhaps, pelicans perhaps, are loosely flying as a flock. Pelicans are usually more organized.
The last two planets are gone, lost in the bluing sky.
I dig a key and think about the tourists. They’ve lost their prescription glasses and keys on the beach. They have to hotwire the car and then drive home blind. I’m chuckling and digging and watching the dawn.
The shrimp boat becomes a major player for the photographers as it heads into the red sun inching over the sea.
Good Morning America.

Quite a few targets this morning but no gold. $4.74 in change in three hours. One Canadian dime that gave a horrible signal.

Ring Daddy #28

Couldn't sleep last night so I went detecting for about 2.5 hours this morning, 2-4:30 a.m. The sky was deep black with clouds and the breeze was out of the NE.

When I got out there I could see where someone had already hit the area, quite a few holes. Now, I usually don't pay too much attention to such things but this caught my eye. The person gridded the area exactly like I would have...the grid lines were exactly the same spacing as mine. Then I noticed that the drag mark was exactly like mine, from a larger scoop. I felt like I was following me. I could not see another detectorist on the beach. My clone was out there. He's out there in the darkest of night, walking zombie-like, swinging and digging all the gold before I get there.

Got about the same amount of coins that I have been getting. Also got a mood ring and a kids ring that has light blue and yellow rubber diamonds.

This afternoon I tried a bit further from the campground.

Everything I've been finding is on the top 1/3 of the beach. Not my favorite place to hunt...but there are targets so you go with the flow.

I was out there about an hour and a half when I see Gene Patrick coming down the beach swinging his Sov. We stop and chat. He shows me a small white gold ring with a blue stone and then he takes off. I swing about three times and get a low pulltabby signal. Bam, out comes this nice little gold ring. I yell at Gene and hold up one finger. He nods and keeps getting it.

After I beat up this little section of beach I go to Taco Bell, get something to eat and some tea. I'm feeling better so I head further north and detect for another couple of hours. Lots of coins and one ear ring. Here's the mess. 104 targets, $6.60 in change in about four and a half hours.

When I dig the upper 1/3 of the beach I know it will be mainly coins but somewhere in that mess is usually a gold ring. Sometimes you have to dig a couple hundred coins before you get one. Keep swinging!

Remnants of Hugo; Boolets, Gold, and Platinum!!

Last night I hunted for about two hours. I was not impressed with the beach but I was impressed by the wind. First real wind in ages, coming out of the SSW. Thought maybe it would move some sand. I thought this wind might be the remnants of Hugo.

This morning I was trying to have happy thoughts. A bad thought would come and I would overpower it with a good thought. Pretty soon I was in a pretty good mood.

Tried a section of beach that used to be one of my favorite places to hunt before the renourishment.

Looked like a possibility of a couple of holes in the surf. I grabbed the Excaliber and waded in. Neither hole had squat. One pull tab and one bottle cap.

The beach looked interesting with a fairly steep angle and then smoothing out. Started gridding up and down. A few targets started to pop, kind of like when popcorn first starts to pop. Then I started picking up some 50 caliber shells and bullets. One hole had four or five in one hole. Then the clouds parted, the heavens opened up and a gold ring showed itself. First gold ring in three weeks! I could read the 14K.

I was working my way back towards the parking lot to trade the Excaliber for the Sov because the Sov has the 10" coil. I was at mid-beach and I got a loud signal. I am staring at another ring. I pick it up and almost grunt it is so heavy. My mind is spinning and the word "Platinum" sprints through my head. I can't read the inscription. Then I remember that Tungstun Carbide is really heavy also.

When I get back to the VW I try to switch arm cuffs, steal the one off the Excaliber and put it on the Sov...but I lose the screw. Matter can neither be created or destroyed but a screw can sure get lost in the back of my VW.

I stick the arm cuff off the Goldquest back on the Sov. I try one more time to read the inscription and am pretty sure it says PT950. Maybe I won't starve to death.

I hunted a couple more hours, for a total of five. Some more change, a couple more bullets and one little piece of junk ear ring.

Three 50 caliber shells, ten 50 caliber bullets and one smaller caliber shell.

Here is the mess.

At last, I can use the magnifying glass on the ring in question.

Here is the ring on the scale. 21.9 grams. EeeeHaaa Baby!!!!

Platinum is at $1245 an ounce. I'll let you do the math...but I had a great morning!!!!!

I stopped by Taco Bell and celebrated.

Low tide is only six hours away.

Tenacity or Insanity...Ringdaddy #23, #24 and #25

This morning I hunted for three hours at Surfside Beach. The reason I went to Surfside is that MB has not been giving me anything. It is horribly sanded in. Still quite a few folks on the beach but the sand is heavily mounded up. Surfside gave me 51 pull tabs and $2.01 in change. That might be a new personal record for pulltabs.
Ran into Gene Patrick, another detectorist, in the campground and did a lot of complaining and whining.

51 pull tabs will make you do some soul searching...like what the hell am I doing?!

Decided to try MB again this evening, the same place I got my last gold ring. When I got there the beach looked almost exactly like it had a week ago. I waded down the shallow trough with the Sovereign and picked up an occasional coin. When I got to the spot where I found my last gold ring I had to play with the sensitivity to get the Sov to act right in the water. A few seconds later I got a signal...but not much of a signal. Two scoops later I was looking at the first gold ring in a week.

A short time later I got a foil sound and my mind says Gold Ring. Bingo!! Another one. This one had me thinking for a moment. Is it silver? and then I remembered the foil sound.

I was wearing out and finally turned around and headed for the car, still sticking to the shallow water. About halfway back I get another foil sound. This one put a smile on my face...could it be??

As a reality check; here is the mess.

Not many coins or pull tabs this evening. I'm not complaining after the 51 pull tabs this morning.

A lesson learned and Ring Daddy #22

The other day there was a post on the Surf and Sand forum from a man that had lost a platinum ring with a one carat diamond solitare in front of one of the motels in Myrtle Beach. This was his post...

My wife and were staying at the Ocean Reef Resort in Mytrle Beach SC last week. The resort is located between N 71st Ave and N 72nd Ave. She lost her diamond in the edge of the surf. We meet a gentleman who was searching the area, but found nothing, he told us to put a post on here and if anyone came across the ring they would probaly contact us and return it. It is a wide platimum band with baquettes and a 1 carat princess solitare. There is a ring sizer on the ring which may help with the description. If anyone happens to find it we would be forever greatful.

Well, I jumped up and ran out the door to find the lost ring. I post said it was lost at the edge of the surf. I misinterpreted that to mean at the edge of the low tide surf. Duh!!!

After two low tides I asked Glenn what day the ring was lost and what time of the day. Glenn gladly gave me much better information and narrowed down the area where the ring was lost. Low tide three found me hunting hard with hopes of finding the lost ring. I found quite a few coins and trash but no ring. The area may very well be sanded in since the ring was lost or someone else has found it.

Lesson learned; ask for details!!! and don't assume anything!!

I will check this area in the future but I no longer have a good feeling about finding the ring.

Today I ran behind and finally got to the beach right at low tide. I chose the Sov. Very little wind today but very dark storms working through the area. When I got down on the beach the waves were very small and the area in the surf looked promising...lots of shells showing. I waded in about knee deep and got my first target of the day...a fairly loud signal. I dug around in the shells and spotted a ring. Must be a mood ring or some ill begotten piece of junk. I picked it out and immediately knew I had either gold or platinum from the weight. The very first target was gold!!!

I hung in the surf with the Sov until it almost got drowned. Went up and grabbed the Excaliber from the car. Waded around until a wave finally went over my head.

Not a lot of targets but enough to be interesting. I will have to spend some more time in the surf.

Diana and I are going to celebrate at Chalupas. See ya there.

Ring Daddy #21

Low tide was at 10 so I was on the beach by 8. Good strong breeze out of the SW. Hope it continues to blow today.

Hunted a bit to the north today. Just because.

As I stood on the top of the beach I noticed a huge difference in beach in just a few blocks. To the south the beach sloped down and then was flat. To the north the beach sloped down to a runnel and then was humped up before finally dropping off into the low tide ocean. I went south.

I got out in front of one of the motels that has been a favorite spot of mine. One of my nicest rings came from out in front of this motel. I began to grid and started to find a few targets, most were about 2/3 of the way down the beach. At last I got a nice somber whole low tone. I said, "That's a gold ring." I was visualizing a thin gold band with a nice diamond. I was half right.

The sound of this gold ring is the same as half a pull tab. We have all found half a pull tab. What a nice sound! You have to wonder about the person that not only has to tear the pull tab from the can but has to then torture the poor pull tab until it breaks in two.

I found a nice silver ear ring a bit later. Then the beach seemed to get hot. And I was getting thirsty and I had forgotten my water bottle. I felt like I was left to die in the Mojave Desert. I barely made it to the car and the water bottle. I filled the water bottle and put it on my army belt. It weighed too much and started to pull down my swim trunks. I kept having to pull up the belt and trunks. I drank the water to lighten the bottle. Then I got this tiny wisp of a signal. And the digging began. After twelve or fourteen huge scoops of sand this monster brass thing comes out of the beach. What the heck is it!! And what is it doing on the beach?

I also found a piece of plumbing. Add the brass thing and then my belt really wanted to pull down my swim trunks. I headed for the car and to taco bell for lunch. On the way back to the campground I decided to hit one more spot. I got silver bracelet just before I looked up and saw a wall of water coming down the beach. I ran for the car in the rain.

Four plus hours. Here's the mess.

Today I also found two 50 caliber shells and one 50 caliber bullet. I may try to sell them at the flea market for two bucks a piece. I've found a bunch of these since the renourishment. These are from when there was a target range at MB during WWII. The sign will read, "Buy a Piece of Myrtle Beach History". I may make up a sheet that states that it was found after the renourishment and was likely on the ocean floor for the past sixy five years.

Ring Daddy #19 and #20

I have been helping my girlfriend, Diana, work on her house in NC. The place is close to a lake that has two swim areas. I snuck away before the sun cleared the trees. The first swim area was disappointing to say the least. Either it does not get used much or someone has been hitting it pretty hard. And lots of trash...pull tabs and bottle caps. But if there are lots of pull tabs I don't think it is being detected

The second swim area was full of targets. In two hours I found $6.97 in change and this small gold ring. Ring Daddy #19.

This swim area was full of bottle cap nulls. There has to be another gold ring in this mess...but I am back in Myrtle Beach and may not get back to that swim area.

Last night was my fourth low tide assault at Myrtle Beach since I got back. I hunted an area that I don't particularly like because it never seems to give up a decent ring...just low class gold rings. Having gone three low tides and still no gold I was ready to try this spot out of desperation.

The rain and thunder had pulled away and as I put the headphones on I noticed a nice rainbow out to sea. I began swinging at 7:00. The beach was full of people enjoying the evening after the rain. I was surprised at the number of targets. Darkness began to take the day and I had to kick the sand around more to separate the targets. At one point I got a nice little signal and began digging...and digging and digging. I was becoming part of the hole and I finally had to let it go. But it bugged me. Since I was gridding I returned to the spot in about twenty minutes and resumed my ditch digging. At last a cell phone came out. Dadgum!! I now hate cell phones as bad as cans. The breeze was out of the SW and the number of people walking and playing on the beach in the dark seemed to increase. Heat lightning worked through the clouds where the sea joined the night sky and I had a few falses from the far away electricity. At 11:00 I took the headphones off and slogged up the beach to the car. In four hours I got $6.36 in change , two silver rings, two silver ear rings, one silver St. Cristopher medalion, one gold wedding band and the key to a BMW. An excellent night! Ring Daddy #20.

Here is the mess from last night.

This morning was nothing close to last night. I knew as soon as I walked onto the beach that it had filled in during the one high tide. I did enjoy the morning but targets were rare and I did not get one piece of jewelry in three hours.

We need some wind and waves.

I'm going to have to take a shower sometime this week. Getting kind of gamey.

Ring Daddy #18 and a pouch full of disappointments

Long day. At 4:45 I was on the beach. Heat lightning was flashing in the clouds at the horizon. Amazing how quick the lightning would flash and I would register the false in the headphones. No thunder, just flashbulb lightning showing the vivid white clouds for an instant. I hunted hard this morning and found very little...maybe a dollar in change. Went down the road and tried another spot and it was just as bad. One dime.

Went and did my laundry and someone stole my laundry basket. Amazing that people will steal a five dollar item knowing that they could get beat up. This is the second laundry basket I have had stolen.

Forgot to put the battery on the charger and stuck it on for about an hour.

Headed north this evening. Found the gold colored bracelet first and then about ten minutes later I found the gold colored ear ring. I was getting pretty excited and then the battery quit and I had to walk back to the car and get the battery you stick AA's in. Mutter, mutter, mutter. Found a spot with quite a few coins and was beating it up when the silver colored ring showed up. Felt heavy, thought it might be white gold (It wasn't).

Stayed close to where I found the silver ring and finally a real gold ring showed up.

Here is the mess.

I picked up the Heinz bottle buried half in the sand. The big beach rake would run over it and crushed it and then there would be glass on the beach and I would cut myself and my foot would get infected and then I would get gangreen and then it would go up my leg and they would have to amputate me at the belly button. So I picked it up.

Here is the gold ring. One of the diamonds is missing. Reminds me of a person with a front tooth missing.

Went to Taco Bell to celebrate and they gave me a cheesy rice burrito instead of a chicken burrito.

I'll be out there in the morning.

Ring Daddy #16 and #17....long day

Hit a beach south of MB this morning at 6:00. Detected there till about 8:30 and then went even further south to Pawleys Island. OMG. Pawleys Island is severly sanded in. Detected for a while and was about to leave when a man asked if I would look for a bracelet his wife had lost. He promised me $25 for the search. I hunted the area for almost an hour and did not find the bracelet. Bummer. The guy tried to give me the $25 and I took the five and handed him back the twenty. Total for four and a half hours was $4.38 and the five for the search.

I noticed that gas was $2.21 in Surfside and $2.49 in MB. Can you say gouge the tourist?

This afternoon I stayed close to home. When I walked out on the beach I noticed that the hump at the low tide line had almost disappeared, so I started hunting down low for a change.

The wind was blowing hard out of the south. Kind of fun watching people chase their hats.

Within about 15 minutes I got another should I dig it signal, similiar to the cross signal I got a couple of days ago. Out came the first gold ring of the day. Very low tone. I believe the diamonds are real.

Kept swinging at the low tide line and after about an hour another gold ring pops out.

Thought I should check out a motel a few blocks down the beach and spent some time there and this silver ring showed up. I thought maybe it was white gold but it is 925. I don't see very many silver rings engraved with their names and an inscription.

Here is the mess for the three hours of swinging this afternoon. Dug the can at 2' easy...it wasn't exactly easy. Oh yeah, there is also a silver necklace in the pic. $2.26 in change and a real nice batch of pulltabs.

Maybe this hard south wind will help things. I'll be there in the morning.

Ring Daddy #15 and feeling small

Two and a half hours this morning netted me $3.17 in change and a five dollar bill. Also, some glow in the dark condoms. But they look huge. I'd fall right out of them. I could do a contest on the forum and give them away. The package says you have to expose them to light for 30 seconds and then rise and shine. What are you going to do, take your flashlight with you to make them work on the beach. My luck, the flashlight would be dead.

A bird just flew into my camper. I had the door open. I told the bird to git and he flew back out.

Anyways, no jewelry at all this morning.

This afternoon I hit another spot and after about 15 minutes of swinging I get this nice low tone. Bingo!

Just to make sure you don't get the impression that this is easy, here is a picture of the evenings finds. Only 40 targets dug in two and a half hours. $1.43 in change.

The top of the beach seems to be sanding in and the bottom of the beach is horrendously sanded in. And I forget the last time I saw a hole in the surf.

The renourishment has really killed detecting at MB. Oh well, I'll try another spot in the morning.

Cool morning in July and gold

Yesterday I hunted early morning and late afternoon for a total of seven hours. I dug 123 targets for $11.07 and a silver chain.

I had to flog myself to get out of bed this morning but I was on the beach by 6:00. The past three mornings have been something almost fall-like. Cool with a nice breeze. Wow. This does not feel like summer mornings. I actually had to find a blanket last night.

What a delight to be out when it is just a tad cool, watching the sun pink up the horizon and then witness the red-orange ball climb into the sky.

Dig, dig, dig. 82 targets this morning...oops...84 targets. I threw a couple of cans up onto the upper beach where the beach machine could eat-em-up.

Somewhere in the three hours this morning I got an almost nothing signal. Scratchy, gnarly, just a bit of something there, should I dig it or should I not dig it. I did not hear any null so I dug it. One scoop and the signal was out of the sand. I had to kick the sand around a bit before I saw Jesus. 14K 2.8 grams

I went to all metal and tried to find the chain but like most of the time I did not find the chain.

All of the targets are on the upper beach just below the dry sand area. There must have been some erosion on the upper beach last week while I was in NC.

I'll be back out there this evening.

Ring Daddy #14

No trash picture today. I mixed yesterday mornings hunt trash with yesterday evenings trash and they had babies.

Jason from Tenn. is down and swinging hard...every low tide and yesterday morning he got a nice ladies gold ring.

Jason has a new Whites Dual Field PI that he let me use yesterday morning. The waves were big smashers; make Jim suffer waves. But I had to try the PI so I waded in to get slapped around. There were some holes but they weren't deep enough and I waded around listening to the sound of each wave coming through. This is very annoying. I am not sure how to set the dials to eliminate or at least lessen the wooOOOOoooo noise of each wave.

I was out of town for a few days and when I got back I see that the beach is more sanded in than when I left. Someday I will go out to the beach and it will be a desert of sand for as far as I can see. It will happen.

Low tide last night was nine something. Went out in the failing light and gridded in front of the blah, blah motel. This is a huge motel.

My Excaliber is still not back from Minelab so I was using the Sov on the beach. Down and back, down and back. I was picking up a few coins and strangely enough, no pull tabs

After an hour and a half I got a signal, a brash, healthy, here I am signal, much too big a signal for anything good. I dug it and kicked the sand. Even in the dim light I could make out the gold roundness.

I should have quit when I found the wedding band but gold makes you crazy so I had to keep swinging for another hour.

If someone knows how to set the PI to eliminate the woooOOOOoooo I would appreciate the input. Thanks, Jim

Ring Daddy #13 and a little perspective

Hit the beach about 4:30 A.M. this morning. Quite a few people wandering the beach at 4:30. Tried to avoid them as much as possible. I did not take my camera and was kind of kicking myself because the clouds looked like they might give an outstanding sunrise. Worked basically the same area as yesterday. Detected about a mile down the beach and was almost back to where I started when this lightweight gold wedding band showed up.

Here is the mess for this morning. Just under three hours of scanning the beach.

Yesterday, I got a little bit of perspective. I was detecting and not finding much and kind of in a funk, cussing the renourishment and how sanded in it was and...then I spotted her. At first I was not sure exactly what I was looking at. Maybe the young lady was turned at a wrong angle...and then I realized this young lady with the smile had no arms. She waded out of the surf and walked up the beach. She was enjoying the day and the beach and what she had.

I detected past her and then in a couple of minutes looked back. There she was, walking down the slope with a plastic shovel held with the toes of her right foot. She taking a child a plastic shovel.

We can sure get all caught up in ourselves and how life isn't treating us right. Sometimes it takes a woman carrying a shovel with her foot to make us appreciate what we have.

Ring Daddy #12 and the 4 A.M. Assault on the beach

Two o'clock this morning MB had a major thunderstorm. It seemed as though it was a continuous rumble and lightning for two solid hours. I got up and did some writing, wondering when the lightning would transform my computer into mush. Just before 4:00 the storm quit. I checked the radar on the weather channel and it looked like clear sailing.

Oh, heck fire, I might as well go detecting. I ate a bowl of cereal with yogurt and headed out the door.

I got to a nearby beach, parked and headed into the darkness. When I got a ways down the beach my stomach started to grumble and then I started having the urge. I tried to work through it but the urges kept getting stronger. I thought I might have to dig a hole in the beach.
Finally, I quit and headed for the car. Walking seemed to awaken the urges. At last I got to the car and headed home. Now, of course, the urges went away. Dadgum.
I got a quarter and a dime on the upper beach between bouts of gritting my teeth.

This afternoon I stayed close to home and detected.

Lots of high school, college kids, and finally it seems like the families have made their way to MB.

Fairly good crowd and I was actually finding a few targets.

My Excaliber is in Las Vegas and so I was hitting the lower beach and shallow water with the Sov.

Nice breeze, little bit of cloud cover; a really nice day.

Here is the mess. This is three hours of swinging.

About a mile down the beach from where I started I got an iffy, crackly signal. It was this 10K ring. Now, why would this ring give me such a s0-so signal? I almost passed on this one.

Someone needs to write a guidebook, "Public Bathrooms and Porta Jons at Americas Favorite Beaches". I would buy a copy.

More Blah Blah Blah and Ring Daddy #9, #10 & #11

Yesterday afternoon the wind was blowing hard and I tried a section of beach that actually had some people on it. I found three pieces of can in an hour and a half.

This morning I dragged my poor body out of bed a bit after five and injected some coffee intravenously.

At 6:02 I pulled into the parking lot near blah blah blah. There was a cloud bank and the sky yellowed and oranged and it took a while for the sun to make its appearence. My third or fourth target right at the water line was gold ring #1 for the day.

OK the pressure is off. I wade into the small depressions and work the bottom of the beach. At 6:45 I dig my second gold ring. It was just above the hole I worked a couple of days ago and got the gold class ring.

Now, I start to do the math. Let's see, two gold rings every 45 minutes and I have to be back to the parking lot by 9:00. I should end up with at least six gold rings by 9:00.

The clouds moved in and at one point I thought maybe we'd get some rain.

Quite a few coins and cars today. Here is the mess.

At 8:15 I got a nice sounding target and out pops #3 for the morning.

It says 585 and Titan. I am 95% sure it is gold and ?? titanium??maybe. 14 K is 583.3. This is 585. It has the weight of gold. I will have it checked but for now I say it is gold.

I hurried back to the parking lot and took my hard earned quarters out of my pouch and fed the meter to give me another hour and a half.

I went south and found gobs of pulltabs. Also, the digger. Pretty nice digger.

Four plus hours and my best day of detecting this year. Low tide is 7:36 this evening. I will be back at blah blah blah trying to add #4 for the day.

A Tip from a friend and Ring Daddy #8

Yesterday afternoon Gene Patrick and I hit a stretch of beach that was so dismal that Gene called it "pitiful". I told it him it didn't come up to being pitiful. Last evening I got a call from Dwayne Patrick, yep, another Patrick and he told me he had gotten a gold wedding band at blah, blah, blah. Well, blah blah blah is not too far of a drive from the campground so I headed there this morning, long before the sun showed up.

I have only hunted this area a couple of times in the last ten years so I didn't know where to park. I passed the blah blah blah and didn't see the parking lot. I went on down a long ways and finally parked. Now the question is which detector to take, the Sov with the 10" coil or the Excaliber with the 8" coil. I debated and grabbed the Excaliber.

Out on the beach I was not seeing any holes and started digging pulltabs and shell fragments. The shell fragments came in with the renourishment sand. I kept moving down the beach toward blah blah blah. It seemed that blah blah blah was a long way down the beach. More pulltabs and shell fragments. I was cussing Dwayne. I was starting to hate hearing the signals because it was all junk. I saw some small depressions with water in them and ran through them but got nothing. "Why, that no good Dwaye."

I went over a little hump in the beach and suddenly I was looking at a hole in the surf...a fairly deep hole.

I waded in and got a nickle, then a quarter, then a penny, then it was targets everywhere. Shells in the scoop and that dark grey sand that means you are where you need to be. I start feeling better about things. And the targets kept coming. I got a little foil sound and smiled...maybe a thin gold ring. Nope, but it was a small gold charm. Alright!! More coins and at last I am looking at a gold class ring in the scoop. Now, I am excited!

Maybe I can get another one. The lifeguards start putting out the chairs so I know it is 8:00. I need to be back to the parking lot before nine, when you have to pay. I am swinging and the tide is rising. At last a wave goes over my head. I get out and hike back to the parking lot. I make it back with 15 minutes to spare.

Here is the mess. Eight sinkers, $2.28 in change.

And here is the class ring. 13 grams. The gold charm to the left of the ring above is 1.3 grams.

I called Dwaye and thanked him for the tip. This was the most fun detecting I've had this year. Finally a real hole! It seems like it has been at least six months since the last time I was in a real honest to goodness, filled with treasure, hole.

It is my daughters birthday so I will not make the evening low tide...but I will definitely be back at blah blah blah tomorrow morning before the sun comes up!

Shocking! and Ring Daddy #7

Good Golly Miss Molly has detecting been horrible!!! The beach is mega-sanded in. I was hoping that the Memorial Day crowd would liven things up with a few new drops.

But the crowd never materialized. Saturday there was a fair crowd, about like we had here on Easter weekend. Sunday was sparce, and Memorial day was "shocking". I didn't say that, another metal detectorist said that.

In fact I was so disgusted after yesterdays thirty cents that I told myself I was not going out until we got some wind.

But I found myself grumbling and had too much energy not to detect, so out the door I went.

I hit a stretch of beach that used to be very good. It is now so sanded in that the pier only has six pilings still in the water at the end. 90% of the pier is out of the water. Shocking.

Definitely no people at MB. You look up at these 100 room motels and see one or two rooms where the door is open or there is towels on the rail.

I got over a dollar today. Three quarters. Man, I was lucky to break a dollar. $1.34

Here is the mess. Better get Maaco! Got two 50 Caliber bullets and two sharks teeth. The one sharks tooth is quite large but really beat up.

On this section of beach there was only one motel that had a small crowd in front of it. I decided that it probably had a good crowd over the Memorial Day weekend and felt like it was the only chance to find that needle in a haystack.

I beat up the area in front of this motel for at least two hours and finally this ring popped out.

My first gold ring in almost a month. And I detect almost everyday. It was the 27th of April when I found my last gold ring. Three and a half hours total time today.

The renourishment has really killed MB. And now the economy is really hurting this city. I might get a four wheel drive and give Ghost Town Tours.