I wanna go in a new direction this year...

kiyote

Why am I using my CZ-3D to look for older coins and relics in parks!? It's pointless. I might as well rub a lamp. I've found a silver Claddah ring and a 1913-S cent, as well as a peep show token and about $80 in change in the last 2 years. At this point, I'm thinking either:

1. Get an underwater detector! There's lots of swimming holes and beaches where I live. (Santa Cruz mountains, CA) I could also get trained in scuba diving, which I always wanted to do. I look good in a wetsuit, too. Oh yes.

2. Get a gold detector! With a gold detector I could go out camping for a weekend, enjoy the great outdoors and nugget hunt in my spare time.

loditom

Or...........you can just do both Now I bet you didn't think of that

There was a artickle in one of treasure mags I read. This guy would go diving off the coast some where around Carmel or Monterrey
hitting an old ship wreck he found,but quit going when he was chased back to shore by a great white.
There is probally a lot of good ship wrecks along the coast line there.

HH,Tom

ricko

Nugget hunting would be my choice... get a GMT or a TDI, they are great on gold nuggets. Good luck, Cheers, RickO

demodigger

maybe your just not working the right spots. there is a park near the "mystery spot" in scotts vally that some age to it. scotts vally also had some stage coach stops. you might try doing some research. you ever take a drive to boulder creek?

kiyote

I live but a stone's throw from Boulder Creek-- I'll have to research that some more! Still, I really want to get to wading/snorkling. I'm lookin' at the CZ-21 right now. Tempting, tempting...

ricko

If you are going in the water, get the White's Dual Field PI.... the best for the beach and water.... Cheers, RickO

Zot

I would do both!

If you want to boost your jewelry finds, you definitely need a water detector.

I got one in 2006 (White's Surf PI). Here are the water finds from 3 weeks that summer (maybe some 40 hrs in the water)
9 gold rings (most of which 18k), 8 silver items.
By comparison, furious detecting in dry sand at the same locations yielded nothing on the jewelry front...



I've thought about scuba diving too, but it feels like too much hassle to me (yet more gear..)

If you buy a water machine, I highly recommend that you also get yourself a really good scoop - one that's robust and long. Settling for a cheap piece of junk is definitely the wrong place to save money. When you dig with a long scoop there's a lot of strain on the bottom end of it, and the cheap ones tend to have a short life span (at least in my experience). It's also no fun detecting if you contantly need to worry about your scoop breaking on you..

To illustrate what I mean, I wouldn't buy a scoop that looks like this:
(you can imagine where it's going to break when you bend it forcefully in some hard mud... - yeah, right there where the handle connects to the scoop)


A model with reinforcements like this is better

ricko

Excellent advice Zot (Good to see you checking in).... The scoop is critical for water hunting, and the basket size, shape and construction are important as well. There are many choices online. Cheers, RickO

kiyote

Thanks Zot! Maybe I can use my found pocket change over the last 2 years to get a quality, one-piece scoop. I'm getting excited, I should be ordering this in a couple of weeks.

Zot

The brilliance of water detecting is that there's sooooo much fewer junk targets in there, which makes every beep more exciting!

Usually you don't need to go very deep either. Most of my jewelry finds are from between knee deep and waist deep water.
Admittedly I've been lazy with venturing into deeper water though... Recovering the targets gets a lot more cumbersome when you've got water up to your nostrils

kiyote

I just picked up a snorkel for $30 at a local dive shop.

ricko

Go for it Kiyote.... show us your treasure - when you find it.... and we know you will. Good luck... Cheers, RickO