My 1 year totals from Okinawa

[Bobbypins]

Let me start off by saying that I came to Okinawa last year and have never beach hunted before. I did a lot of reading online, LOTS of learning before I even got my first detecting time in. It was a beast to learn, and I quickly found out that the beaches in the US are NOT the same as the ones here. That's good, and also bad at the same time. Every area has it's own set of issues to overcome, and Okinawa is no different.

I kept a log book for the entire year. In the beginning it wasn't that good, but I got better and more detailed as time went on. I did get the high points, and that's what I'm sharing today.

I don't spend my finds normally. I like to see the pile grow and grow, but my wife has been known to dip into my 'treasure box' a time or two so she could go to the vegetable mart up the road. Not a big deal, but understand that my totals aren't reflected 100% in the photos. Now that the year is up and I have an excellent baseline for this next year, I'll cash it all in and convert it to USD. I told my wife that all this money I find is for a vacation in Mexico when my contract here is up. Once she found that out, she stopped robbing my coins..... LOL

So here's how the log book says I did:

I went on 84 hunts this year. My worst day was 0 yen, and my best day was 7,526 yen ($100) along with plenty of silver and a 18k gold ring. That was a good day.

In 84 hunts, I logged in 164,933 yen... and at todays yen rate of 75:1 that works out to be $2,199. The numbers break down to be an average of 1,963 yen per hunt ($26)

I found 8 gold rings (5 are 18k and 3 are 14k)
I also found a total of 6 Platinum rings ( I sold my first one for $340) The other 5 are pictured below

I found 12 oz of misc silver jewelry. But it's interesting to note that I sold 5 oz in August ($200), and since that time I have acquired an additional 7 oz in just the last 2 months! I'm going to take that as my skill level is improving.

My averages also tell me that I find a gold or platinum ring every 6 hunts.

So without draggind out this too much longer, here's the pictures of the cleaned coins that I've been saving all year long specifically for THIS post. I hope you enjoy it as much as I've enjoyed finding them.

 

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[Bobbypins]

I lost a pretty heavy sterling silver bracelet on Okinawa in a field at Camp Shields in 1974...if ya find somethin like that ....just sayin

If you can tell me where to look, I'll go give it a try...

 

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[Bobbypins]

That money sure looks good, when piled up like that! I have the same problem as you had, the wife dips into it, when she goes to the local 7/11. I also had to promiss a trip, when the vase is full. What do the locals think of your detecting, do they usually ask what your looking for, or just look? Our locals, (Thailand) will follow for a while, before asking, "what u looking?". There are many Thai detectorest at the beach, sometimes 10, on a good tide, but the locals never ask them anything, only me or any other European. Now lots of Russian tourist, and they ask even more questions, but I try just to look away when I see them coming, since the low tide doesn't wait for a lot of questions!

Your totals are much higher than mine, but I'm still learning my new Excal. One problem is that the Thai Baht is not worth so much, so even with a lot of targets, its a good day, if I can manage $5, plus a ring or two, usually junk. I know there is a lot of gold out there, but it will take time to learn the signals, and the beaches are FULL of pull tabs and alu screw caps.

Thanks for showing, and keep swinging

I don't normally get out during the day. I find that the Japenese are very curious and do ask a lot of questions... but I don't speak Japanese and most times they don't speak English. So it turns into a game of charades. Most are friendly... but they seem to put us detectorists into the same group of people as the homeless can-collecting crowd. That's fine with me as long as it keeps them at a distance. Like you said... the low tide doesn't wait for you to answer questions.

Most days I prefer to hunt in the middle of the night so I don't run into people. Sometimes there's people out on the beach, but given the late hour and darkness, they just stay away and watch from a distance. I'm cool with that.

Get to learn that Excal and she'll pay off. It took me a while to learn this hard fact.... You can't control what your coil will find...but you CAN control how fast you get that target out of the ground. Get profecient at that, and you'll fill up your goody bag a lot faster and increase your odds of finding that gold.

Best of luck

 

[Pipster]

slamming totals B

 

[MarkTwa8n]

Congrats on your first year. I still remember the first time we went out.... 21st century beach in Nago. You didn't have a detector yet, but were content to dig my finds for me. We have both come a long way since then. Let's hope this year is even better.

 

[surfnturf]

Your coin total is incredible!! Thanks for sharing your stats and finds! Hope you have a productive year ahead!!


SnT

 

[Terry Soloman]

Blown away man.. I am so blown away! Congratulations!!!!

 

[Desertvet]

Dang, I sure wish I would've gotten stationed over there in Okinawa during my 20 years in the Air Force! Congrats on all the neat finds!

 

[gravediggermax-vabeachva]

that's it

i will sell my new condo in chicago and the 5 i just bought in florida and see you wed.

wow

nice work.....N I C E................