It seems Josh has recently been the only SouthFla pirate posting any gold on here. Well, it hasn’t been for a lack of trying from me! I last found gold over a month ago on May 25th and had 9 fruitless hunts until today. Conditions have been mainly great as far surf conditions but that has also been a result from winds that have led to sanded-in conditions that haven’t been conducive to targets. It has also been extremely hot and humid. We have had many hot record tying or breaking days for over 2 weeks as our normal cooling afternoon thunderstorms have been infrequent. Today, I headed out for a sunrise hunt to plan around the 9:40am low tide. Very early in the hunt I hit my 1st ring and I thought it might be white gold but the weight bothered me. I took it out to examine a few times throughout my 5 hour hunt and at one point I was able to discern some type of hallmark which I was happy about. (It wasn’t until I got to my car that I read “Titanium” ).
I thought conditions were much better than last week but still not excellent. During my hunt, I saw 2 other pirates. At one point, we all tried at to help a guy that had lost his keys. His search area for the keys was pretty big and after 20 minutes of trying I moved on. At about the 3.5 hour mark in my hunt, I was offshore on the edge of a sandbar when I got a tone and switched over from AM to discriminate. It was a scratchy mid-tone. What’s funny is that about 4 feet from my target I saw the telltale long drag mark of one of the other 2 pirate’s scoop along the bottom. I actually thought “Wouldn’t it be hilarious if I come up with a gold here”. After a couple of scoops the target seemed to disappear. I went around and scooped a couple of times more and nothing. I refused to give up and I think it was on the 5th or 6th deep scoop that I bring up and look in and . I then started laughing. I laughed that I was about to give up and that it was about 4 feet from another pirate’s grasp. At home, there is no “K” mark but acid testing easily held 10K, 14K, and 18K held for quite a bit so I’m betting it’s around there. One of the other rings that I thought was junk I acid tested after cleaning and its silver. I am glad my slump is done for now.
I thought conditions were much better than last week but still not excellent. During my hunt, I saw 2 other pirates. At one point, we all tried at to help a guy that had lost his keys. His search area for the keys was pretty big and after 20 minutes of trying I moved on. At about the 3.5 hour mark in my hunt, I was offshore on the edge of a sandbar when I got a tone and switched over from AM to discriminate. It was a scratchy mid-tone. What’s funny is that about 4 feet from my target I saw the telltale long drag mark of one of the other 2 pirate’s scoop along the bottom. I actually thought “Wouldn’t it be hilarious if I come up with a gold here”. After a couple of scoops the target seemed to disappear. I went around and scooped a couple of times more and nothing. I refused to give up and I think it was on the 5th or 6th deep scoop that I bring up and look in and . I then started laughing. I laughed that I was about to give up and that it was about 4 feet from another pirate’s grasp. At home, there is no “K” mark but acid testing easily held 10K, 14K, and 18K held for quite a bit so I’m betting it’s around there. One of the other rings that I thought was junk I acid tested after cleaning and its silver. I am glad my slump is done for now.