1st time out with excal in Cancun

[I C THE LITE]

Just purchased an excal and used it down in Cancun. Hunting in water sure is more difficult and time consuming than land. Waves, stingrays and digging far to many holes to locate the target. I tried the beach and water up to my chin. Did not find any gold but real happy with the 3 silver bracelets, 1 necklace (very heavy but not sure of metal), 1 ring (again not sure of metal), 4 earrings, 1 belly button butterfly with stud, 1 pair of sunglasses and about $17 in money from 6 or 7 countries. The learning curve was amazing. Everyday, I feel like I was twice as good as the day before. Any tips on digging signals in the water would be appreciated.

 

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[Beach Papa]

Put the center of the coil over the target. move the coil back and forth, forward and back until you find the loudest point which should be the center, or if it is loud all over, and you move the coil 10" for a 10" coil before you loose the signal, then the target is shallow and hitting all across the coil. In either case, put the center of the coil over the target and then your right foot right behind the coil. Now you know the target is about 5" in front of your toe. Move the coil to the side, and put your scoop at the end of your toe and dig straight down. Scoop, check hole and repeat until the target is out of the hole and in the scoop. Happy Hunting, Papa Ps. It would be nice to see a photo of your finds if you have the ability while on vacation.

 

[streetglide]

Hello. My name is Joe I live in California. I will be in Cancun In May. Can you tell what areas or hotel beaches you detected? What scoop did you use and any other Info. Thanks Joe

 

[I C THE LITE]

Joe, I stayed at the RIU Palace, They have a real nice Bay where the waves are rather calm. Right next store is the RIU Cancun and I did rather well on their beach. If you were to go out of the RIU Palace and walk to the left all the water that direction is rather calm as compared to going towards the right. I have no idea what the name of my scoop is. Good luck.

 

[bigscoop]

Pinpointing with the Excal is pretty simple. You "don't" use the center of the coil as with most other machines. Simply swing left to right over the target as you move the coil back, when you lose the signal the target should be centered just ahead of the front center of the coil. (Some do this in reverse and use the back of the coil.) Also, start your scoop a bit further back, if you start too closely the angle of the scoop will often pass over deeper targets.

 

[Sir Gala Clad]

Swing/Sweep or Wiggle?
How much further back?

 

[firemac]

good job, post your finds for us

 

[Sir Gala Clad]

JC Wide scoops work best with the Xcal, especially with the 10 inch or wider coils.
The DeGhetto T_Rex (9" W, 12" D, 6"H) stand up water scoop is ideal for this purpose especially on sand bottoms.
It catches the small stuff with it's 1/4" rectangular grid pattern.

If you need to dig near rocks, or shell, and need a stand up water scoop that drains fast the Sunspot Stealth 720 is ideal.
It lets you dig deep fast (15" L, 7 " depth, 6" H). Be aware that the small stuff such as ear ring studs fall through the 1/2 inch holes.

The small stuff falling through is not a big deal as you can get around this, when needed, by tying rain gutter screen inside, using a floatable sieve with smaller holes, walking back to shore and dumping bucket and spread out till you isolate it.

 

[bigscoop]

Swing/Sweep or Wiggle?
How much further back?

Swing/sweep or wiggle? Doesn't matter, same end result.
Depends on the angle/size of the scoop and the expected depth of the target.

 

[lookindown]

Pinpointing with the Excal is pretty simple. You "don't" use the center of the coil as with most other machines. Simply swing left to right over the target as you move the coil back, when you lose the signal the target should be centered just ahead of the front center of the coil. (Some do this in reverse and use the back of the coil.) Also, start your scoop a bit further back, if you start too closely the angle of the scoop will often pass over deeper targets.

Great advice bigscoop. I have to use the drag back method with my AT pro and the center coil method with my CZ21. When I miss a target it is usually because I didnt start my hole far enough back...Im getting better though.

 

[Sir Gala Clad]

The end result is where most of my problems lie. Put in biblical terms many are called, few chosen, and less enter the promised land of my scoop.

When hunting on dry or wet sand and expect the target to be deep , I dig the first three scoops as fast and deep as I can before I checking to see if the target is still in the hole and then recheck the hole after each following scoop.

Wheb hunting in shallow water, I check the hole each time to determine if the target is in the hole before dumping the scoop. I only sift the scoop after determining that the target is no longer in the hole.

Many times I am able to recover shallow target(s) on the first scoop.
Most targets are retrieved within three scoops, or five scoops if not centered and I need to widen hole.
Then there are those holes that a dune buggy could fall in, which must be not only filled but packed. On wet or dry sand, these are usually due to detecting a large deep target such as a rusted galvanized iron pipe, aluminum can on end, or the dreaded hot rock(s).
Or it could result in a wide disturbed area shallow water, from trying to retrieve a light object which shifts location, or small non ferrous items which fall through the scoop holes.

And then there is the vast Unknown! The beginning and the end which is the Yin Yang of the Metal Detecting World.