First Time on the Beach!

AlwaysBusyJ

Jr. Member
Feb 9, 2013
94
45
Washington State
Detector(s) used
Teknetics Delta 4000
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
So took my first trip detecting on the beach this morning. I did a little research before I left and found some areas I thought might be good to check out, I had decided to go to Ocean Shores on the Washington coast. I did what I always do before starting off and any adventure... I checked weather.com to make sure there were no surprises headed my way, and to my delight it was supposed to be almost 60 and mostly sunny on the beach! Great day to go detecting right?? Me and the wife get all the gear in the trunk, I order an extra large coffee and two hours later we arrived at our destination: Damon Point Park. At first I was surprised by how many people were already there. I mean I checked out the area on satellite map and there didn't look to be anything special there at all so I didn't know what all the fuss was about. I arm myself with the detector, my wife readies her camera, and we take off down the beach following a stream of people. We arrived just before low tide so there was plenty of exposed beach to search. Being new I wasn't really sure how my detector would handle on the wet sand, so I started off on the dry stuff and slowly worked my way down to the water. For the most part my machine seemed to do fairly well even right up to the water, but I was getting a few more false alarms and the water was really really cold, so I moved up out of the water a little ways.

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After walking for what seemed liked hours, we noticed a group of people near the vegetation line standing around and pointing at something. We found out why so many people came to this park, it's home to Snowy Owls!

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Trying to get a good picture of the owls kept my wife busy for hours while I was combing the beach. I was getting hit after hit but I must have accidentally pressed the "only search for rusty junk" button on my detector because that's all I was finding! Oh well, I was still happy to be finding anything at all, and the majority of the time I dug I actually came up with something rather than striking out completely, so I was happy digging my little holes. It took me a little while to figure out the answer to everything isn't always dig deeper, sometimes you just gotten widen the hole.

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After coming up with mostly rusty nails, one nickel, and a slightly sore back I decided to turn in, by this point we had wandered all the way to the end of the park. And now that we were two and a half miles from the car, we found out the weather man had made a mistake. He didn't mean to say 60 degrees, partly cloudy, with a 10% chance of rain... what he must have meant was extremely windy, bitter cold, and 100% chance of getting soaked. Because we got completely drenched three separate times before we managed to get back. Boy was my back sore and I was so thankful my detector only weighed two pounds, couldn't imagine lugging anything heavier than that around! Before we headed back home we decided to check down by Quinault casino since I had remembered seeing a beach access right next to the resort. I figured people winning money at the casino, getting drunk, stumbling around the beach were sure to lose things. As it turns out they lost plenty of things, gum wrappers, bottle caps, tin foil, and just about everything you can thing of besides anything I would actually want to keep! Well, that was it for me, the day was getting late and I was hungry. So we packed up and headed home. On the way back to the highway we passed a few deer, so we had to stop and take a few pictures. They were pretty big, and not shy at all!

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In the end I came home pretty much empty handed, but I managed to clear some pretty nasty rusted stuff that looked like it was designed to shred beach goers feet, so at least I did some good. Plus I got to see some pretty neat wildlife and I got plenty more exercise than I planned on getting this weekend, so all in all it was a good trip. I doubt I'll make it back to the beach any time soon but I learned a couple things so hopefully the next time I go I'll do a little better. And here's most of what I dug up:


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Mostly scrap, but this thing did look interesting, had a few numbers i could make out, but I'm guessing it just an old part off a boat or something.

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And then there was this, at first I thought it was fishing gear or something, but it looked a little too delicate

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And... my very first bottle cap! Surprised It's taken this long to find one... seems like everyone else has tons of em! I'll treasure it forever...

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And of course it's not until just now I find out there was a shipwreck at the park I was at... bah, now I'll have to go back and search more thoroughly! Anyway, that was my first experience detecting at the beach. Definitely not what I'm used to but it was a learning experience for sure. Hopefully just the first of many to come, but until I make it to the coast again it's back to digging at the local parks and forests.
 

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Welcome:occasion14: Very nice pictures:icon_thumright: congratulations:thumbsup:
 

1. Pix are GORGEOUS.

2. Writing is wonderful!

3. You two are lucky to have each other. You are both good sports!

4. Hang in there! Don't give up! You will be rewarded more and more as you go, even if it's only the air in your lungs and the beauty around you.

5. DEFINITELY troll this site. Read, read, read. LEARN from the old-timers here. I can't TELL you how much I have learned just browsing the forums here.

6. PLEASE POST AGAIN!
 

Great post! Just hang in there, keep swinging, and get a sand scoop!:icon_thumright:
 

Welcome ABJ, thanks for posting and hang in there, looks like ya did good for a first outting.
LOL! Made me laugh, detector set to "rusty old junk mode", LOL, don't cha hate when that happens!

That hypodermic needle looking thingy ya found, made me think of advice another water detector told me here in Florida.
Get your tetnus shot. You may be getting poked, jabbed, and cut with all kinda nasty metal stuffs. Oh yeah, and get a sand scoop too like Terry said.
LOVE the wildlife pics and look forward to your future postings as well.
 

That snowy owl is Awesome! And I hear that Vegas is going to start running odds against weatherman predictions. :laughing7:
 

Welcome to the forum, ABJ!:hello:

The photos are great! The finds are interesting!

I wish you the best out there.

Lorraine
 

Great story and Pictures....And good you share this time as a couple........:icon_thumright:

One thing, those NW beach's are tuff hunting, from what I remember the water temps never go above 60, could be wrong but I know they stay chilly, Good Luck with all....:thumbsup:
 

As you are discovering, metal detecting is as much about the experience as it is the finds. It is a wonderful excuse to load up the car and head off to an adventure. Finding good stuff is just a bonus.
 

You saw a Snowy Owl!!!!!! Best treasure is what Ma Nature gives us. Thanks for posting!
 

Great stuff your wrighting, pic. and attitude are great the treasures will come, like terry said invest in a good scoop it will save your back.
 

Great pictures......get yourself a sand scoop, it will save you a lot of time....and your back. Concentrate where people swim...good luck.
 

Great pictures......get yourself a sand scoop, it will save you a lot of time....and your back. Concentrate where people swim...good luck.
You don't don't swim there! water is at 46 degrees year around and murderus riptides.
 

hey loved your post! The only thing I have to say is the high temp yesterday as 47 degrees the weather man was way off.
 

Thanks for the replies everyone! Yes, weather guy was waay off! And I considered getting a sand scoop but most of the beaches in washington are rocky, and the ones that do have sand... it's usually really heavy and wet, so I wasn't sure how well a scoop would hold up. I bent my hand shovel nearly in half on just a few inches of sand. Anyone from Washington able to tell me if scoops work well, or if there is a good alternative?
 

Clam shovel works great for digging in the wet sand I plan on being on the north beach this week. Just don't have any clams with out a licence if carrying a clam shovel also I think a clam gun would work great to in the wet sand.
 

Thanks for the tip! I'll make sure to pick one up before my next beach trip, should save my back some wear and tear!
 

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