Refurbished beaches

[dirtdigginlady]

I was just at Myrtle Beach for a week and was told that the beach there was refurbished in Oct. I was wondering if you are there right after they do this, are your chances better at finding something good or older stuff? They said they went about a mile out in the ocean to get the sand. I would just like to see some discussion on this subject. The beach seemed really sanded in while we were there and we didn't find anything good.

 

[mrowdy]

I was there in Sept.2008, when they were re-doing the entire beach. They went out several miles to dredge up the bottom, and pumped it into shore. Metal detecting wasn't good, but finding shark teeth was excellent. Last September (2009) was more productive, although not spectacular.

 

[JOHNMARKHAM]

you might have to wait for fresh drops after spring break..imo..

 

[Dig]

Yeah they renourished one of my better beaches and she is pretty much dead for now.

 

[BARKER]

Hi Folks; Same here in Boston. Deader than a door nail.!!

 

[tidewalker2]

In about 1985 the Army Corps of Engineers refurbished Rockaway Beach in NY. They must have dregged their dredge across something good cause a few weeks after they were done I found the items below. The coin is a 1820 Mexican 4 reales. The object on the right looks like a pewter sand shaker cap. The object next to the coin is a pewter button and the rest are either pistol or musket balls. I guess it all depends on where the fill comes from.
ED

 

[Geo Unit]

Try researching the area they dredged from. Rumor has it they dredged over a few old wrecks off the Jersey coast.

 

[Steve from Ohio]

Beach re sanding will end with the death of socialism in the US.

There just is no more money to do this foolishness and with states having big budget deficits, sanding will be last on the list of things to do.

They almost have to do beach re sanding every year because nature seems to not like having so much sand on the beach. It should be in the water where it belongs. Nature will take care of how much sand is needed on the beach.

Chalk it up to mans arrogance that he can control everything.

 

[Dig]

Tidewalker you should get with the Army corps of Engineers (if thats who did the dredging) and they will have the GPS or Loran coordinates they used for their fill procurement areas. You should get out there and do some diving....

 

[jimmy jam]

To Steve, if they don't re-sand the beach, people won't go, then we find no lost stuff.

 

[Steve from Ohio]

The beach re nourishment program started in Florida in 1964. Not all popular beaches were re sanded till the mid 70's.

People went to the beaches before that. Lots of people went to the beaches of Florida without re sanding. There are beaches today that have never been re sanded and still attract people.

Sanding destroys reefs and the natural ebb and flow of the sand. It also causes problems with wildlife. Fish have problems in areas that are re sanded.

Re sanding is terrible for us who wish to find historic finds and even for us who like to find modern coins and jewelry. Try finding anything of value on a recently re sanded beach. We all wait for the big storm that washes away the sand. Cuts in the sand is where heavy gold objects are found. Not in 3 or 4 foot of sand.

I have been a part time resident of Florida for almost 25 years and the re sanding has been nothing but a money maker for the companies who do the dredging and landowners who own property on the waters edge.

Storms come in and wash all that sand away with all the money for re sanding wasted.

We as taxpayers should not have to pay to give money to these people. Re sanding is a big money maker for vested interests but of no value for the average taxpayer.

We as a country cannot afford to waste money re sanding beaches.

 

[dirtdigginlady]

Well at Myrtle we found NOTHINg. It was the worst hunting I've ever experienced on the beach.

 

[Steve from Ohio]

The weather has been pretty cold and not many people have been to the beach. Newer drops will be few and far between.

Once the weather warms you will find more. If they sand the beaches then maybe not.

 

[XT18000]

Same story at Galveston; Moved ton's of sand here to there after IKE and covered
up every thing for miles and miles ( 3 to 5 feet deep ). What a waste of money!
They'll never learn to stop fooling with mother nature! Galveston is going to slowely
but surely wash away and all the money they waste is not going to save it!

 

[Joe_TNTX]

This is my first visit to a beach with a metal detector and it was re-sanded over a year ago. The Isle of Palms near Charleston SC had eroded on the North end to the condo piers. When they dredged in new sand from nearby, they sucked a 10 inch cannon ball in and it clunked down the 30 inch metal pipes and plopped out on the beach. So I figured it they could pull a cannon ball in, maybe they could flush some gold or silver pirate treasure in, but so far no such luck.
I am going to do more hunting away from the stretch they resanded as I have had very little luck so far.

 

[DonNWF]

Steve I couldn't agree with you more. Beach re-nourishment IMO is idiotic. That's where I stand or sink in the sand. Here in NW Florida, Pensacola to Panama City all beaches with any real estate development (condos, hotels, beach residences, businesses) have been re nourished. Those without development have not. In my area the beaches are mostly on barrier islands with the beaches on the gulf side. Barrier Islands are always changing. Historically they are building up or being washed away. Ours are actually moving toward the west. Yet that is where all the beach development is. and all the money interests and the tourist business is there too. These human economic forces have decided that they can beat the force of mother nature through re-nourishment and they use tax payer money to do it. Their pitch of course is, what is good for the economy is good for all, and their position has merit. After hurricane Ivan our local island was re-nourished. Without that pumped in sand the island would probably be deserted with abandoned high-rises. Most of these projects involve more Federal dollars then state money and by law, to get that federal money a beach re-nourishment project must provide for public access. I believe access points must be established every quarter of a mile or so. Obviously that is a good thing for beach pirates be they local or visitors. And the backlash to that is some beach owners have fought re-nourshment because they don't want to provide public access to pulic beaches.So that is the good.
The bad -- Well Mr or Misses detector person who live in Minnesota or Montana or other points north, who will never have an opportunity to visit our beautiful Florida beaches to swing a coil in the sand or in the water help pay for us that do. And it's millions and millions of federal dollars. You can say - well that's how it works. But if I was detecting some crappy frozen park somewhere in the north in February and knew my tax money was going to re-nourish some white sand , emerald green water, partly public beach in NW Florida just so economic development could continue there, I think I would be pi--ed off.
The Ugly - Well that vision above is pretty ugly to me. Bur so are re-nourished beaches for detecting.
The new sand is continually washing back into the Gulf covering everything out in the water. The new sand covering the beach is four feet deep and the only thing that will make a cut down to the old is a hurricane and who wants that. We now have a burm ten feet high planted with sea oats to keep it anchored and it runs for miles. You can drive the road but you can't see over it and see the green water. The burm ends at the National Seashore boundary and of course there is no re- nourishment there. The NS is disappearing slowly and naturally over time and so will the developed beach too - eventually. Despite the crazies that think they can stop it. Maybe they can with another billion or so of your money and mine. I think I'll take up fishing again and forget about detecting the beach for awhile. We are getting a new fishing pier out on the island. It's being paid in part with your FEMA dollars. And my guess is that our next big hurricane will take it out just like the last one and the whole process will start over again. I love that beach and the water.