Well we are back from our week on Longboat Key. Tropical Storm Debby paid us an extended visit from Sat. afternoon until Tues. night bringing 45+ kt winds and flooding rain quantities. Incredible length of time for that thing to make landfall and clear out. Our condo lost some vinyl soffett and another had partial roof loss which resulted in relocation of it's occupants I'm sure. Couldn't hit the beach w/detector until Wed. am and found very little as the water conditions were very hostile to detecting. Staying in the wet sand of Holmes Beach I found a disappointing quantity of clad and just plain junk. Returning next morning to more favorable water conditions I waded out and had basically the same experience of the day before except that there were other hunters now. An elderly man and I presume his wife who were dressed nearly alike with near identical detectors and scoops. I recall seeing this pair on previous trips. Not the most gregarious hunter in the world, however I never just ignore and will always try to acknowledge or talk to any other hunter within earshot. This fellow seemed a bit curmudgeonly. He swung his way right up and around me without even eye contact, a nod, word or anything. Watching him as he hunted I saw him dig and find a target, and on realizing it to be rusty iron, with obvious disgust he just tossed it aside. I know what it was because I examined it when he'd gone a ways down the beach. I began noticing many pieces of rusty stuff on the surface after that near disturbed sand which told me he and likely she were doing that with those type finds and it really made me question his level of common sense. If you are digging rusty iron !!!! in the first place, I ask you, why the heck do you just toss it down to be covered and dug on your next trip to the beach? Later that day I met a friendly fellow Excal toter named Bob who I also recall from earlier vacations. Friday am I ventured to Siesta Beach and hunted that from nearly sun-up to 1ish. Met a couple more hard searching friendly Excal toters there too and the infrequency of our targets made me wonder where my reluctance (AKA stubbornness) to crank up my PI PRO comes from. I know I'd have dug my butt off considering all the nulling experienced and my lack of machine knowledge where the PRO is concerned but I am surely kicking myself for not even trying it. I surely hope that if I am fortunate enough to make that trip The gulf can manage that week WITHOUT ANY tropical bleeding storms.
