Bahamas Cruise and MDing: Should I bring it?

[ToastedWheatie]

Planning on a Carnival Cruise that includes stops in Nassau and Freeport in the Bahams.
Is it worth it to bring my machine, or is it a waste of time?

Don't genearlly have access to salt water beaches, and I believe my White's M6 can handle some wet sand, but it's certainly not waterproof.

Are these public beaches hit hard by locals and tourists? Not going to have the time to seek out areas outside the usual tourist areas,
etc.

I believe my questions and concerns are kinda obvious.

Anyone have advice or experience?

 

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[TerryC]

By all means, YES. Take it. And stay in and around the tourist spots or you may lose the machine to a local. TTC

 

[christo000]

Of course If u can fit it bring it I was always bringing my v3i around now my kids & wife bring more stuff on vacations, solution got the deus xp folds to nothing win win lol good luck on vacation hope to hear of some great finds

 

[Tom_in_CA]

hopefully there's some erosion (sand going "out") when your ship pulls into those various beaches on your stops. If so, the wet-sand zone can be fun. Mother nature can take out all the light stuff for you, etc... However, if the sand is sterile (sand coming "in"), then the wet sand will be lame, and devoid of targets. You'd be forced to hunt the dry sand.

I'd do it if it were me However, knowing my wife, she'd forbid the detector on a couples pleasure trip. AAaaaarrrhhh

 

[AC1955]

Definitely take it. I have friends that detect around Nassau and Freeport. Stay by the major hotels...lots of drops there. Your M6 will chatter like crazy in the wet sand, so stay in the dry. Your coil is waterproof, but not your electronics (of course). M6 is not good in the wet at all, so stay up above the towel line.
Good luck hunting! You should have no problem finding gold (jewelry) and coins. Enjoy your cruise.

Anita

 

[ToastedWheatie]

I'd do it if it were me However, knowing my wife, she'd forbid the detector on a couples pleasure trip. AAaaaarrrhhh

Thanks for the input. We're a group of 8, so I'm hoping she won't notice me missing......

 

[ToastedWheatie]

Definitely take it. I have friends that detect around Nassau and Freeport. Stay by the major hotels...lots of drops there. Your M6 will chatter like crazy in the wet sand, so stay in the dry. Your coil is waterproof, but not your electronics (of course). M6 is not good in the wet at all, so stay up above the towel line.
Good luck hunting! You should have no problem finding gold (jewelry) and coins. Enjoy your cruise.

Anita

Thank you too for the advice.
I have been reading that M6 actually does pretty well on salt beaches. Has a "beach mode" with the ground balancing that actually works. I guess I'll find out. Just going to have to research the best coil to use. Now have stock and a 5.3 Eclipse that I love.

I hope to hear from someone that has done this before off of a cruise, where to go, how to get there, local rules, etc.

 

[ToastedWheatie]

Decided to pick up a used DetectorPro Headhunter Wader. Going next week.
Since there is so little posted here about this subject, I'll update upon return.
Second stop is actualy cruise line owned island (Little Stirrup Cay / Coco Cay). 2- 5 ships per day stop there (that's several thousand people), on island only mile long.
Workers ferried on and off each day. I'm thinking no locals or resort guest to hit it regularly. Searching metal detector and cruise forums, I find almost nothing about detecting the island.
Maybe thats a good thing. Into the water I go. Wish me luck!

 

[LootHunter]

I took my Excal to the Bahamas last year. My hotel was right next to a beach that was a Cruise excursion. There were plenty of targets, not many in the dry sand though. I did run into a local hunter who was very nice. Compared to So Cal, I would say it is hunted far less. I dug a lot of coins and three pieces of jewelry, had a great time!

 

[rickv14623]

Keep us updated!

 

[ToastedWheatie]

Well, got home yesterday with as much as I left with. Murphy Law was in FULL effect this trip.

Not a big cruise ship fan, but I convinced myself to go after allowing myself to purchase a HeadHunter Wader specifically for this. The trip was to be three days in Clearwater with family, then a 5 night cruise to the Bahamas. One of the stops was to be Little Stirrup Cay (AKA Coco Cay), owned by a cruise line. No locals living on the island, no overnight guests. Googling and searching forums provided little info from guys detecting this spot. So I figure it doesn't get hit often, and certainly not everywhere.
Worth the shot, making it worth the trip.
I figure I can practice some on the beach of Clearwater, as I have no salt water experience, and the machine is not PI. The first stop on the cruise is Nassau, home of Atlantis Resorts. Maybe get lucky there, as well as some more practice. Then on to the main spot, that little island that gets three or more cruise ships a day there (thousands of people) and minimal detecting. Getting more excited by the day....

We started on Thursday the 21st. Flying out at 7:30pm. The plane was delayed until 8:30. Boarded at 8:15, and the wife has a claustriphobic induced panic attack as soon as she sits in her seat. We were off the plane by 8:20.

We don't live far from the airport, so we were back home by 9:15. Grabbed some pillows and blankets from the house, gassed up the car, and we were on the road driving by 10pm. New York to Florida. Gonna make this work.
Somewhere around Maryland, I realized I left my scoop along side the garage. Damn.
Then I remembered Kellyco is in Orlando! Maybe I can salvage this trip.
We drive straight through, except for a two hour nap somewhere. I can't let the wife know why, but I need to make it to Orlando before 6pm on Friday.
With some luck and no traffic, we made it to Kellyco 45 minutes before closing ( wish I had more time. Soooo many display machines. Finally could have tried out a bunch!). One scoop left that matches what I need (price, breaks down, size). Woo Hoo. It's all coming together.

Now, you remember that cold front that came through the U.S. last week? It made it to norther Florida that day.
The days in Cleawater were cold (high of 60), windy, with rough surf.
Couldn't get the hang of the machine in the surf. Figured out how to reduce and 'read" the salt mineralization chatter, so something productive came out of it. But the waves kept moving me, and/or any targets. Maybe I need more practice. I'll get it in Nassau.

Ship left out of Jacksonville 3 or 4 hours late, as it arrived late because of rough seas. Sat around outside in shorts and Tshirts in the wind and 55 degree weather. But still psyched about that island, so all is good.

Day three on the ship. Still haven't seen the sun. Kids are motion sick, and no one goes outside on the decks. Waterslide still hasn't opened, as well as all activities up top. But I brought on my own Bacardi and Capt. Morgan, so I can endure.
Off the ship to go to the beach near Atlantis. Catch a ride there (note to others: Take the $4 cab ride. As soon as you get off the dock there is a $4 ferry option. Takes 45 min. and leaves you with a 1 mile walk. I learned the hard way. Stick with the cab!)
As I arrived on Paradise Island, and had to walk to the beach,the rains came. With welt inducing hail. At least there was a Dunkin Doughts nearby to wait out the storm.

At the beach, I notice rough surf, but at least I'm there!

Made it to the beach about an hour and a half after I left the ship.
The surf here was also more than I can handle. I could stand in chest deep water, only 4 or 5 feet from the breaker and shin deep water. Don't know the air temp, but the water was warmer. That cold front pushed all the way down here!

I don't know if it was my inexperience, or it really is difficult in those conditions. But it didn't matter, because after 10 minutes the arm strap came off my handle. It just came unstuck from the metal. I tried another half hour but with the added restistance of the water, and it not being strapped to the forearm, my wrist became fatigued. Any repeatable hits that I had I couldn't relocate after being tossed around.
So I just hit the dry sand for an hour or so. Nothing. Nada. Not even a bottle top. This must get gone over pretty well.

But that's OK. I now some experience with the salt, am comfortable with the machine, and that island I've been looking forward to has a lot of protected coves.


Day 4, still no sun or outdoor activities.
Up at 6am (no drinking the night before, plan on a full 8 hours of swinging that day), as the tenders are to deliver us to that island starting at 7:30 am. Early coffee and breakfast, and then the announcement:
" We are sorry to inform you that because of rough weather, the tenders cannot safely transport you to the island. We will be redirecting to Freeport."

WT*?

Ugh.

So we get to Freeport at noon, and I'm calmed down a bit, determined to "make lemonade" out of this.

Off the ship, find a map, talk to a few taxi drivers, 10 of us to a public beach (at $7 per, each way). Still windy, and not warm. But the surf here is manageable. Put my machine together, calibrate it to the salt, grab my scoop.... where's my scoop? You know, that one I went out of my way to get at Kellyco?
Take a look at my first pic. The one I took with my equipment in front of an Atalntis sign. My scoop was left there. In that position.
I was so peeved about that strap, I never thought to pack the scoop after I broke down the machine into the duffle bag. I'm such an idiot.

So, in the calmer surf, I devise a way to dig a hole and seperate the target with my foot. Each hit would take me three or four minutes. Working in hip deep water still had every third wave coming chest deep, so bending over to find target with my fingers was time consuming.
Oh, did I mention that although the shipped docked at this place at 12, and wasn't leaving 'til 8pm, the taxis do the last pick up at 4pm. So we only had a few hours on the beach.
I was able to do my part in eliminateing that beach of some garbage, but that's it. Here's some:


So, after driving 2500 miles round trip ( and the plane tix were not refundable), LOTS of money spent, sick kids (youngest got fever on day four after motion sickness cleared up), hours and hours of research, that was the result of the trip.
But the time spent with family made it all worth it. Sort of........

 

[Fletch88]

Coco Loco Mon? Mine was a little better experience, but not a fan of cruises anymore. It's like being in a herd of cattle and too touristy for me. I did manage a gold earring and was so glad I packed my shorty wetsuit, as I would have froze my tail off. I'm going to fly from now own and dive / detect instead of wasting all that time cruising over feeling seasick ( we all had prescription patches on too) $6.75 quarters $2.30 dimes 8 Lincoln's 1 1957 Wheatie 1 Speedway Token 1 pile of Zincolns 1 gold earring 1 silver angel pendant

 

[ToastedWheatie]

Coco Loco Mon? Mine was a little better experience, but not a fan of cruises anymore. It's like being in a herd of cattle and too touristy for me. I did manage a gold earring and was so glad I packed my shorty wetsuit, as I would have froze my tail off. I'm going to fly from now own and dive / detect instead of wasting all that time cruising over feeling seasick ( we all had prescription patches on too) $6.75 quarters $2.30 dimes 8 Lincoln's 1 1957 Wheatie 1 Speedway Token 1 pile of Zincolns 1 gold earring 1 silver angel pendant

When and where was this?

 

[cudamark]

Tidajo, I don't know whether to laugh or cry! Better luck next trip!

 

[Fletch88]

Tidajo, only $1.94 of the clad came from cococay, the rest came from east coast beach north of Canaveral. Took updated photo of just Bahamas finds. I did learn that a scoop is useless there as it's mostly rocks. I didn't hunt up in sandy shallow areas where the younger kids were playing. I assembled my detector and want out to 3-6' of water where I wouldn't draw much attention. Next time I will dive with a pry tool for rocks in deeper area. Had a good time snorkeling and detecting anyway.

 

[ToastedWheatie]

@ Fltech: When were you at Coco Cay?

 

[Fletch88]

@ Fltech: When were you at Coco Cay?

Sunday 12-1-2013.

 

[scaupus]

Ya, it would be tough to get into water detecting on a few days vacation on a cruise ship, with inadequate equipment, in the winter on the Atlantic Ocean. I would have predicted pretty much exactly what happened.

 

[ToastedWheatie]

@Fletch- i was scheduled for 11/29. Two days before you. A bit calmer for you.

@ scaupus: I guess I should have asked you first. I guess I should never try anything in this hobby without top of the line equipment?

But I know this time of year is a hit and miss. But your prediction wouldn't be right every time.
Below was the endof my week, from someone else perspective. The day I was down there, pic one. The day i was gone, pic two. I know this was Lauderdale, but same area.

http://www.treasurenet.com/forums/beach-shallow-water/388514-what-difference-few-days-make.html