Metal Detector - Anyone got/use one?

That's the best part, Fannie - the beaches at Cape San Blas are dog friendly. There's only a couple of counties in Florida that have dog-friendly beaches and this is one. Jake and Elwood make new friends every year - one year a lady had a 10 month old Burnese Mountain dog that had a lot of energy. Jake and Elwood would wear him out every day - that lady didn't want us to leave! It's so much fun watching them run up and down the beach. The sand there is really white and every year when we get there the dogs run to the beach and take a bite of sand, then realize it's not snow....

 

We like St Andrews State Park and the Mexico Beach area. Not so crowded and also white sandy beaches.
We always heard how great Daytoa Beach was. It doesn't compare to the Panhandle areas.
We've seen a lot people using metal detectors along the beaches.The sand, sea, and suntan lotion make jewelry disappear.

 

Dogs are fun aren't they?

 

I drive through Mexico Beach and have chartered a fishing boat from there. I've been up and down Florida coasts and I really like Cape San Blas. Great fishing - last year I hooked a 6' blacktip shark from a Kayak, about 250 yards offshore. I'm guessing about 6' based on the size of my 8' kayak. Got the shark alongside my kayak and cut the line. Fun and scary. The shark pulled me for quite a while - this year I bought a sea anchor (looks like a mini-parachute) that opens in the water and creates drag to slow you down.

 

We've stayed a lot at the El Govenor hotel and El Govenor RV park across the street. They also own the smaller motel to the east of the hotel. Only crowded holidays.
Love the sometimes isolated beaches farther east.
There's no way I'm going fishing for 6' fish in an 8' boat!
We've seen a lot of metal detectives along that beach.
Almost bought five acres just north of there til the hurricanes scared us away.

 

I found a Youtube channel recently set up by a guy in Europe who uses his metal detector regularly. Many of his videos resulted in him bringing home a lot of WWII small arms and other pretty cool stuff.

Interestingly enough, that led me to this video as an interesting reminder to be careful with what you find!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I_slKnuV0ys

 

That old dynamite would sweat out pure nitro, that could have been much worse, he was lucky it was wrapped so throughly in paper.

 

Yikes! I've been doing a lot of reading/viewing videos and there are some dangers that I hadn't thought about. The other thing I've found interesting is that there is a Code of Ethics shared by most hobbyists; it's about leaving things as good or better than you found them, i.e., take all trash that you find with you and dispose of it properly, don't mess up the land, respect cultural antiquities, etc. good stuff

I wanted to get out today but it's been cold, kind of sleeting/raining off and on; tomorrow is supposed to be in the 60's!

 

It's funny, when he was going at that case with the screw driver I was tninking hope there's nothing dangerous in that case. And I would have had that think outdoors to start with...scary stuff!

 

Years ago a friend of my Grandmother was selling up, and we bought an old tool chest from her. Inside were 4 WW I vintage 50 cal sniper bullets! They were loose in the box. After calling the police, we wrapped them in cotton wool, and the police came and collected them. A little bit scary, that, since they had been in a damp cellar for 60-odd years.

 

Sadly many people leave places littered and messy. We've always taken out whatever we bring in and usually more. Florida has gotten as bad as other states since we've moved here. It's sad.
Also when metal detecting and digging, Fill in the holes when finished. Many places don't legally allow removing things or at least digging to get to them.
It's even sometimes illegal to metal detect or dig on beaches.
I remember people having special small diggers with a long handle to remove the top soil and cover the hole back in.

 

Heres a short interview, about metal detecting, with the late father of a couple buddies of mine. It shows a few of his metal detecting finds.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zV6qu7FIF2Y

 

Not sure what danger would be posed by the .50BMG rounds. Is there something I missed regarding WWI vintage smokeless powder?

mike

 

The problem was the conditions under which they were stored.