Hi all:
This is Dave from Orlando, Florida. Got bit and started detecting yesterday, and started a mission journal today. I wrote a preface to start the journal as follows:
Bit by the Gold Bug 2006
Since the stock market crash of 2001, I have developed an interest in both investing in and trading Gold mining stocks, with some reasonable success, while as of this writing the recovery of losses from the crash is a long way off if ever at all, I continue to follow the Miners with Gold Corp, (ticker GG) being one of my current favorites to trade.
More interestingly however I have developed an interest in Gold prospecting and treasure hunting, which is the purpose of this ledger.
While planning a trip to the southern Appalachian mountains this fall 2006, we wound up finding a nice little cabin near Suches, and Blue Ridge, Georgia and decided to rent it for a week from a couple who lives in Tampa, Florida. Our week was from 10/1/06 to 10/7/06.
During internet research about the area, my main interest was in finding places to fish the trout streams in the area, but in doing this research, I also came across the fact that this area was the region of the first gold rush during the 1800s in America. During part of our stay, we visited Dahlonega, Ga., which is the center of the gold mining region in the state and a tour of the Gold Museum in Dahlonega was all it took to pique my interest. While my focus was still on trout fishing and locating water falls and antique shops with my wife, One late afternoon, I took a pizza pan out from the cupboard and strolled down to the Toccoa River just below our cabin and tried some panning at the rivers edge. To my surprise, I panned out 3 small gold flakes in just a few minutes before dusk fell. While this was the extent of my prospecting on the trip, I continued to research this hobby upon returning home to Orlando.
This in turn resulted in also coming across websites about Floridas treasure and gold coasts and metal detecting. While I always knew about the gold and treasure coasts here, I never really sparked an interest in searching for treasure or panning for gold. In any case now it seems interesting.
So a visit to Kelico (spelling??) a large metal detecting distributor here in Winter Springs, Florida, where a salesman spent an hour with me talking about metal detecting and showing me models, got me wanting one of the darn things, but man are even decent ones expensive!
Back home I went, and on to Ebay I searched, and sure enough after unsuccessful bids on a half dozen units, I won a bid on a used Minelab Sovereign XS 2a Pro on October 30, 2006 for about $330 including shipping,. The new version of this unit with the digital readout accessory sells for over $800.00.
It arrived at my door on November 2. I was a bit disappointed as I discovered the unit mounting bracket was cracked and the wiring connection to the unit had a loose wire hanging out of it. Not one to give up, I took it over to my neighbor Richard?s house (he has tools for everything) and asked him to solder the loose wire back into the connector which I had taken apart for inspection, which he did. Later that evening, with a piece of scrap black plastic and some JB Weld epoxy adhesive, I repaired the cracked unit bracket.
That night I went out and got a garden spade, a bait net for sifting, and some spare batteries for the detector.
The following morning I was out the door and on my way to Fort Pierce to metal detect on my first section of 1715 galleon fleet treasure coast beach.
The rest is history as they say and so I started this ledger journal to chronicle my future metal detecting and gold prospecting trips, for what I don?t know.>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
While I did not find any Spanish treasure, I got a chance to see if this used Minelab detector would work. Here is a pic of 4hours of novice detecting.
I added this thread so newbies could introduce themselves and tell us how they got interested in the hobby....................
This is Dave from Orlando, Florida. Got bit and started detecting yesterday, and started a mission journal today. I wrote a preface to start the journal as follows:
Bit by the Gold Bug 2006
Since the stock market crash of 2001, I have developed an interest in both investing in and trading Gold mining stocks, with some reasonable success, while as of this writing the recovery of losses from the crash is a long way off if ever at all, I continue to follow the Miners with Gold Corp, (ticker GG) being one of my current favorites to trade.
More interestingly however I have developed an interest in Gold prospecting and treasure hunting, which is the purpose of this ledger.
While planning a trip to the southern Appalachian mountains this fall 2006, we wound up finding a nice little cabin near Suches, and Blue Ridge, Georgia and decided to rent it for a week from a couple who lives in Tampa, Florida. Our week was from 10/1/06 to 10/7/06.
During internet research about the area, my main interest was in finding places to fish the trout streams in the area, but in doing this research, I also came across the fact that this area was the region of the first gold rush during the 1800s in America. During part of our stay, we visited Dahlonega, Ga., which is the center of the gold mining region in the state and a tour of the Gold Museum in Dahlonega was all it took to pique my interest. While my focus was still on trout fishing and locating water falls and antique shops with my wife, One late afternoon, I took a pizza pan out from the cupboard and strolled down to the Toccoa River just below our cabin and tried some panning at the rivers edge. To my surprise, I panned out 3 small gold flakes in just a few minutes before dusk fell. While this was the extent of my prospecting on the trip, I continued to research this hobby upon returning home to Orlando.
This in turn resulted in also coming across websites about Floridas treasure and gold coasts and metal detecting. While I always knew about the gold and treasure coasts here, I never really sparked an interest in searching for treasure or panning for gold. In any case now it seems interesting.
So a visit to Kelico (spelling??) a large metal detecting distributor here in Winter Springs, Florida, where a salesman spent an hour with me talking about metal detecting and showing me models, got me wanting one of the darn things, but man are even decent ones expensive!
Back home I went, and on to Ebay I searched, and sure enough after unsuccessful bids on a half dozen units, I won a bid on a used Minelab Sovereign XS 2a Pro on October 30, 2006 for about $330 including shipping,. The new version of this unit with the digital readout accessory sells for over $800.00.
It arrived at my door on November 2. I was a bit disappointed as I discovered the unit mounting bracket was cracked and the wiring connection to the unit had a loose wire hanging out of it. Not one to give up, I took it over to my neighbor Richard?s house (he has tools for everything) and asked him to solder the loose wire back into the connector which I had taken apart for inspection, which he did. Later that evening, with a piece of scrap black plastic and some JB Weld epoxy adhesive, I repaired the cracked unit bracket.
That night I went out and got a garden spade, a bait net for sifting, and some spare batteries for the detector.
The following morning I was out the door and on my way to Fort Pierce to metal detect on my first section of 1715 galleon fleet treasure coast beach.
The rest is history as they say and so I started this ledger journal to chronicle my future metal detecting and gold prospecting trips, for what I don?t know.>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
While I did not find any Spanish treasure, I got a chance to see if this used Minelab detector would work. Here is a pic of 4hours of novice detecting.
I added this thread so newbies could introduce themselves and tell us how they got interested in the hobby....................
