I hunted last Saturday. It was 4 hours of basic futility with 40 cents and 2 toy cars. Not having been able to hunt the prior weekend at the official start of Spring Break, I was introduced to Miami Beach’s new campaign of thwarting the rowdiness of the undesirables – “Breaking Up With Spring Break” as they’re referring to it. Basically, they doubled parking prices and closed down targeted parking garages. LOTS of extra law enforcement from various local agencies. When I arrived at the beach, they had also closed my usual entry point. They had closed many entry points. I found it extremely annoying, but I went over a small section of wooden fencing that had been trampled, and then when I got to the end of the beach mat walkway, I had to duck under some yellow police tape. I felt like some kind of notorious criminal on the lam about to get taken to jail. 
So, I had a horrible 4-hour hunt, not seeing any other 
, and was vowing that I might not go back for the entirety of Spring Break. That vow lasted until the next day, when conditions were much better, and I really had no other beach I wanted to go to because of the tides. 
So that brings us to Sunday…
2 Apples & a Galaxy Save the Day! (Sunday, March 10th): I was off with Nu Blu before noon time. When I got to the beach entry point that I use, they had fixed the small wooden picket fence. I decided to be a law-abiding citizen, so I made the trek about 2 blocks down.
On this hunt, I went in the opposite direction of yesterday so I could cover new fertile grounds. Within 20 minutes I had dug 2 fresh drop junk rings. I thought this hunt would bode well for me. I would end up with a silver ring and another junk ring. But one of the stars of the show was the iPhone 14 Plus which came up nice and cleanly in 1 scoop of soft sand. (A lady saw me pluck that one with a shocked look on her face). Another good find was a Samsung Galaxy S20 I damaged in the recovery. It’s going to be interesting to see how that one does on eBay. The last star was the Apple Watch SE that I found at the end. The iPhone initially started charging and showed the logo but no longer. The Apple Watch is locked, was reset, but the battery doesn’t fully charge. I am sure all 3 of these will sell though so not a bad day at the office. This time I saw one 
out there working deeper water.
Merlin Magic Gets the 18K! (Thursday, March 14th): Low tide was just after 6pm and the beach cam showed good conditions. I took all my equipment to work and got the OK from the boss to leave just before dismissal. This time, I took Merlin as Nu Blu was having a battery contact issue that I noticed on Sunday. I hunted for 4.5 hours not noticing any otherout there. (I am sure Miami Beach’s shut down policy has kept them away). Just before the 2-hour mark, I came upon a small rocky patch next to the shore that gave up the 2 good sounding Argentinian coins. I was working that area really well, when I get another similar sounding highish tone. But this time there was a gold ring in the scoop! (No dinger yet). It looked good but I was a little suspect since I couldn’t see any markings. I would later take it out another 2X and was not convinced. I hunted for 4.5 hours before ending around 7pm. I noticed that the bigger 10x12” coil and regular thicker shaft on Merlin was about 20% more difficult to swing with the moderate current yesterday than Nu-Blu so I was little sorer than usual leaving the water. When I got to my car I got my jeweler’s loupe and I immediately went to the gold ring “18K” Thailand” and initials! 
It was now official!! At home, I weighed it and it was a sweet 4.4 grams. I have had a slow start as that is gold #3 for the year.
So, I had a horrible 4-hour hunt, not seeing any other , and was vowing that I might not go back for the entirety of Spring Break. That vow lasted until the next day, when conditions were much better, and I really had no other beach I wanted to go to because of the tides. So that brings us to Sunday…
2 Apples & a Galaxy Save the Day! (Sunday, March 10th): I was off with Nu Blu before noon time. When I got to the beach entry point that I use, they had fixed the small wooden picket fence. I decided to be a law-abiding citizen, so I made the trek about 2 blocks down.
On this hunt, I went in the opposite direction of yesterday so I could cover new fertile grounds. Within 20 minutes I had dug 2 fresh drop junk rings. I thought this hunt would bode well for me. I would end up with a silver ring and another junk ring. But one of the stars of the show was the iPhone 14 Plus which came up nice and cleanly in 1 scoop of soft sand. (A lady saw me pluck that one with a shocked look on her face). Another good find was a Samsung Galaxy S20 I damaged in the recovery. It’s going to be interesting to see how that one does on eBay. The last star was the Apple Watch SE that I found at the end. The iPhone initially started charging and showed the logo but no longer. The Apple Watch is locked, was reset, but the battery doesn’t fully charge. I am sure all 3 of these will sell though so not a bad day at the office. This time I saw one out there working deeper water.Merlin Magic Gets the 18K! (Thursday, March 14th): Low tide was just after 6pm and the beach cam showed good conditions. I took all my equipment to work and got the OK from the boss to leave just before dismissal. This time, I took Merlin as Nu Blu was having a battery contact issue that I noticed on Sunday. I hunted for 4.5 hours not noticing any other
out there. (I am sure Miami Beach’s shut down policy has kept them away). Just before the 2-hour mark, I came upon a small rocky patch next to the shore that gave up the 2 good sounding Argentinian coins. I was working that area really well, when I get another similar sounding highish tone. But this time there was a gold ring in the scoop! (No dinger yet). It looked good but I was a little suspect since I couldn’t see any markings. I would later take it out another 2X and was not convinced. I hunted for 4.5 hours before ending around 7pm. I noticed that the bigger 10x12” coil and regular thicker shaft on Merlin was about 20% more difficult to swing with the moderate current yesterday than Nu-Blu so I was little sorer than usual leaving the water. When I got to my car I got my jeweler’s loupe and I immediately went to the gold ring “18K” Thailand” and initials! It was now official!! At home, I weighed it and it was a sweet 4.4 grams. I have had a slow start as that is gold #3 for the year.
