Carolina coast

[mountaineer]

In November I'll be at the N. Carolina coast and it will be my first time to detect on the beach.
I can detect at Wrightsville, Carolina, Kure, Oak Island, Holden Beach, Ocean Isle, Sunset, etc? Any preferences for this time of year? How would you compare any of those to Myrtle Beach, SC, this time of year?
Has anyone ever detected around Cape Fear on Bald Head Island?
Any suggestions, tips, or pointers are appreciated.
Mountaineer

 

[Dick from IA]

Can't help ya, mountaineer, as I've never hunted the NC Coast. In November I'll be on the South Carolina & Georgia Coast enroute to Florida for Thanksgiving.

Hopefully we can both get some good tips.

 

[DavHut]

I spent 4 days in and around Wrightsville Beach in May - no detecting.

But one thing youll note about all these eastern beaches is this: They are big.

You have to concentrate your efforts in the areas where people congregate heavily - or used to.

Some places to consider which are common to all beaches are:

- Showers and bathrooms where clothes changing occurs.
- Areas within 100 yards of beach entrances (people dont go much farther to lay their towels.)
- The entrance and exits themselves.
- Around piers.
- Around Volleyball courts.
- Around Lifeguard stands
- The areas in front of beach bars and clubs.
- The pocket beaches in front of high rise hotels.

In wet sand, the places in front of these same areas and wherever there is a cut bank or a rip zone are good producers.

Probably the best tactic is to spend a day watching and looking and asking questions of locals about these things.

Also, do little research n the internet scrounging up pics of the places you intend to go. Tourism Dept's and area businesses always put pics of lots of people enjoying the sun and fun at their beach. The intent is to lure vacationers to their beaches, but its like posting a "treasure is here" map for to you.

For impromptu junk-ets or in lieu of any research, most of these mentioned are known to produce goodies.

PS - discriminate only iron and dig all repeatable signals.

 

[John 'n' W.Va]

That is a good list David. I think I read you have a 250. I like to do MDing very early in the morning or when the people start to leave. Try to enjoy the beach with your family midday. They will appreciate that. With my ace 250 in Florida I run the sensitivity all the way in the dry sand. In the wet sand I turn the sensitivity down 3 or 4 notches. Till it starts running quiet. You will know what I mean when you get there. I can get a penny at 4" and a quarter at 6" but it is tricky. Stay out of the salt water it is harder yet. Get a big scoop. You don't have to pay a lot of money, be creative, mine is a big ice scoop. If you live on the beach get the good stuff. If you are just visiting have fun and keep it simple. Do most of your Mding in the dry sand. I stay in all metal and dig almost ever thing. Loose sand is easy to dig. Sometimes trash is treasure.

 

[John 'n' W.Va]

PS: Check with the locals first. You are not aloud to Md on most government beaches. Parts of Cape Hatteras are open to Mding and some aren't. If caught you can lose your car and worst of all your metal locater.

 

[DavHut]

Nice tips, too John. Thanks for the comments from a beach hunter who knows his stuff....

 

[Uncle Willy]

WE have a beach out here that is 29 miles long. Now that's a beach.

Bill