post-hurricane beach run

[GoVidGo]

I am off work tomorrow afternoon (wednesday) and don't have to be back at work til Saturday afternoon.

From mid PA, I was thinking about heading out to the east coast shore for detecting (5-6 hour drive), as I am sure there will be a lot of beaches primed with stuff from the ships sunk off the coast.

Maybe a Thursday-Friday road trip.

I have done some adventurous roadtrips for hiking, biking, kayaking, etc., so I have the urge to just get away, especially with my GF working out of town.

I'll probably just sleep in my car as I am sure there is no power/hotels or anything, which is fine with me. I'll just bring food, water, gear, AT-Pro, Etrac, and my mountain bike. I just want to hit the beaches and stay out of everyone's way. I am sure they have a lot of work to do and the storm caused a very big personal tragedy to a lot of people.

I been to Ocean City, MD many times and was thinking about that area in general.

Anyone from down that area?

Anyone else going out?

Thoughts?

 

[deliveryboy]

damn i wished I lived near East coast, Im sure you will find a vast amount of treasures

 

[Steve O]

I just watched two videos from a hellicopter,over Atlantic City and Long Beach Island NJ, what a mess. LBI looks like wrecked houses on a sand beach. AC's board walk is in pieces. I think it's too early to go detecting there, it just would feel all wrong.

 

[sqwaby]

Could be a tough time getting access to some of the beaches.

 

[GoVidGo]

I actually saw live feeds of Ocean City and there were 4 detectorists in the back ground! I was like 'are any of those guys on the forum?!?!'

I am not hitting the commercial areas tomorrow, but actually hiking in to some remote spots, which is actually better because you avoid the debris... and most of all the people and the BEEP BEEP BEEP! of heavy equipment clearing stuff...

 

[edjcox]

Try Delaware... Especially around the old shipwreck sites... I'd stay clear of NJ they might think your a looter... To many people just lost stuff...

 

[hunter12]

I would hold off in going to the beach, I inquired myself. The guard is there in all 3 states. Beaches are closed by the States. Two guys came in by boat to shore and were locked up and machines confiscated by police. Beaches are still in a state of emergency. Also out of respect to those who lost everything i wouldn't go. Plus it would and will give MDing a bad name. I'll wait till they officially open the beaches again. those two guys were charged with looting and hindering rescue effort's i be leave. Also there is a lot of heavy machinery moving on those beaches now.

 

[Tom_in_CA]

hunter 12, SURELY this has to be an exception, as SURELY no can say to the public that 500 (or 1000 or whatever) miles of coastline is "closed". What confisactions or bootings you are speaking of, must have been someone snooping around houses (so the issue was probably looting in structures, and the md'rs just got snared in the net, as ANY is "shooed away" from such hot-spots). But ... no .... I can not imagine the entire coast being off-limits. There is simply no way they can patrol or enforce that much distance.

Here in CA, in 1997-98 winter, we had some monster storms that damaged stairs leading down the beach, and made for un-safe beach conditions for a few days, etc... And .... sure .... some authorities were at certain beach access points saying "beach is closed" (or you might encounter yellow tape across the pedestrian paths, etc...). And yes, I'm sure if you have asked someone at that time "does this mean every beach?", I'm sure you'd have found an authority to say "yes". But the *reality* of the situation was, we merely took another approach to the beach, further down, or the next beach several blocks away, etc....

Even though you say that "all the beaches are closed" (because you "asked"), I assure you: there will be no shortage of people md'ing the beaches, and ... no .... they're not facing the "confiscations" and such you tell of.

 

[Elton]

n/t

 

[Sailorman]

Hunter12 is spot on. If you don't live there in that area stay out for now. I've surived 9 hurricanes and there's always wide spread looting and crime. Never seems to make the news though. Law enforcement is stretched mighty thin and not interested in arguing about it. Local residents are going to be trying to pick up the shattered remains of their world and may well lump you in with the trouble makers if they don't know you. Give it some time to settle down.

 

[Tom_in_CA]

I thought when I saw the phrase "common sense", that it would be to "hop on it when the pickens are good" (before it sands back in). Certainly there must be SOME beaches along your 1000 mile coastline where "law enforcement" is not all over some particular neighborhood or ruin or whatever. I mean, the damaged homes (where presumably someone could enter in and loot, or presumably their valuables *might* be spread over the immediately adjacent beaches), are going to be limited to certain zones. And then there's other zones, where NO beach-side close homes (and hence no TV news crews and bureaucrats, etc....)

 

[glasartisan]

I concur with Hunter12.Stay away for a good spell. I dont even care if there are no homes near by and safe from any law enforcment.It dont make it right. There are choppers in the sky doing news stories.They will spot you.And when they spot one of us with a detector and that then gets on the news. Wow, good publicity for the hobby.Look at the pair of looters.People remember, these storms are powerful beyond belief and personal belongings get strawn about and caught up in the winds and will get deposited miles and miles away from their original site in or out of the zone.Steve

 

[scubadetector]

I can see both sides of the fence. BUT all the public beaches along the shoreline I am sure are NOT littered with stuff from houses to make one think you are looting. Maybe I am mistaken cause I haven't seen the damage. I for sure would not go where houses are in or on the beach, or where there is a ton of debris, or maybe any debris. I am also POSITIVE there are detectorists out there everywhere now and none of them post on here or any other site.

Common sense would be to go out there, find sopts that are PUBLIC, nobodys personal stuff all over the place and be safe and have fun. My 2

 

[Tom_in_CA]

You know, it occured to me: If someone here is so all-fired concerned that someone might think they are a "looter" and therefore you/we should "stay away", (even though it's acknowledged that only hot-spots are a problem, with bootings):

If someone is that concerned that you/we could be lumped in with "looters", then I wonder why they are in this hobby to begin with? I mean, even going to a sandbox, on a sunny day, in anytown USA, there is always that *possibility* that some busy-body can make this assumption. Some of us (from what I've read on forums) have actually had that happen to us anyhow. You know, someone makes the snide remark that we md'rs are "proffiting off others losses" and "shouldn't we be ashamed", and so forth. Sure, they simply don't understand that the person who lost that quarter, (or jewelry or whatever), might be months, or years, or decades removed from the time they lost it. And of course, that if YOU didn't find it, it would remain there forever.

So this whole fear of being cast as a "looter", if that is someone's fear, should probably cause them to simply get out of this hobby altogether. No, I'm not saying to go snoop at the front door of someone's house which was blown open by the hurricane. But if there's beach sections you can be out of the way of such news crews and authorities, by all means, this is the time, before mother nature sands the beaches back in!

 

[Sailorman]

Tom, you ever been in a large scale disaster? Never mind, you obviously haven't. Immediately following one of these looters move in in surprisingly large numbers. Law enforcement is stretched really thin and not inclined to argue. They want an ID with an address that shows you belong there. If you can't produce and you are in a closed area assumptions are made. It typically takes three to four days to even begin to get a handle on things of this scale. By the end of that time very often property owners are taking things into their own hands and it ain't pretty. I have witnessed this personally. If you haven't been in the middle of something like this you have no idea what it's like unless maybe you've been in a major battle zone. Surprising similarities.

You have no clue what you are talking about.

 

[hunter12]

You know, it occured to me: If someone here is so all-fired concerned that someone might think they are a "looter" and therefore you/we should "stay away", (even though it's acknowledged that only hot-spots are a problem, with lootings):

If someone is that concerned that you/we could be lumped in with "looters", then I wonder why they are in this hobby to begin with? I mean, even going to a sandbox, on a sunny day, in anytown USA, there is always that *possibility* that some busy-body can make this assumption. Some of us (from what I've read on forums) have actually had that happen to us anyhow. You know, someone makes the snide remark that we md'rs are "proffiting off others losses" and "shouldn't we be ashamed", and so forth. Sure, they simply don't understand that the person who lost that quarter, (or jewelry or whatever), might be months, or years, or decades removed from the time they lost it. And of course, that if YOU didn't find it, it would remain there forever.

So this whole fear of being cast as a "looter", if that is someone's fear, should probably cause them to simply get out of this hobby altogether. No, I'm not saying to go snoop at the front door of someone's house which was blown open by the hurricane. But if there's beach sections you can be out of the way of such news crews and authorities, by all means, this is the time, before mother nature sands the beaches back in!

Tom you don't seem to understand ,The governor 's of these states have closed the area to the beaches. Rt 1 from Rehobet beach De to O.C maryland wich is about 14 miles long is sanded in up to 3ft in some ares. I'm not saying were compared to looter's and i'm not talking about a quarter somebody lost. Most of these people lost everything they have. So" I personaly will give them a braeck this time. Sure theres plenty of coast line to MD. But our areas are closed.Besides the treasure chest may not spill open every time we have a major storm. The people arresred came in by boat to a closed beach, NO houses around, just police scanning the beaches. iv'e been inthe hobby since the 80's, Iv'e seen all types come and go.I served a yr in Nam and I have never seen worse conditions than what we have ,even over there. Better to say a prayer for the people.

 

[Tom_in_CA]

Sailorman and hunter12: If what you are saying is true, then why have there been various posts on the "finds" forums of various metal detecting forums, of people who .... SINCE DAY ONE have been metal detecting? There is no shortage of posts of people already showing what they found after the erosion. So what gives? Are they all law-less miscreants? And I'm not talking about finds from now, days afterwards, when perhaps the sun is out, and people are allowed back to the beach. I'm talking about finds (based on posts you can read) from the immediate hunting (well, maybe not in the MIDDLE of the storm, but the minute they could get on to the beach anyhow). What gives with them? How did they do it ? No one seems to be "taking issue" with them on their posts. Instead, it's just the normal "oooohs and ahhhhs" and "atteboys" associated with any finds gloating post. Why is that? Why isn't anyone giving them stern warnings for their mis-behaviors and lawlessness?

Sure, it's a no-brainer to avoid the places with authorities booting people, adjacent to homes that are subject to looting. But the entire 1000 mile coast?? CERTAINLY this "beaches closed" news bites can't mean the entire coast-line (or ..... at least, there's got to be eroded zones on strictly tourist beaches, not adjacent to those blown-open-houses hot spots, where persons therefore aren't being booted).

 

[hunter12]

Tom , were not saying not to hunt were you can, A lot of reports on finds are comming in from areas south of were the storm hit the hardest. If you can get out , detectorist should do so. But were we are and the good beaches to hunt were and are closed. Please don't take it to hart that were implying that your way of thinking leads to looting; but if we could in our area , we would be at the beaches. Also some of us beleave in letting the people hit hardest to get a chance to revive a little. They have no water in some areas, no gas, and most places make Hiroshima look like a resort.Most normal storms ;were out hunting asap. But this was a bad one , people died.So out of respect for the dead and destitute: i myself will refrane for a week or so before going down to the beach. I'm only 1 1/2 hrs away, so please let it rest out of respect for the people.

 

[Sailorman]

You present your argument as you should be allowed to go in wherever you can get whether or not the area is a disaster zone. That is flat wrong. Period. There are fringe areas with lots of erosion where things were minor. Gee, the storm was only 800 miles in diameter. I really doubt those guys are hunting in the tore up areas. And as I said law enforcement is spread thin. You might get away with it in a few spots. Just because you can get away with something doesn't make it right. If it's closed, stay away for darn good reason. If it's open of course you can go.

 

[Nuke em]

Other than the reasons above and i do understand your desire to detect after a storm and we here need a few this winter instead of the pilling up of shingle on the beaches over the last 2 years, but i think you could come across a body which would not be nice . They dont know yet how many have been killed and some unlucky detectorist could find one , best stay off the beaches for now.
The treasure will be there for you when its all sorted.
Finding a body is not nice , i found one on the beach on 27 April this year.