Seeker Surfin' with Ed Donovan

As SUMMER approaches our thoughts turn to the beaches along DE and MD, possibly VA and other states. Beach hunting and water hunting can be profitable. Aren’t beach hunting and water hunting the same? Answer: No.

Beach hunting is done in dry sand and occasionally the shallow water (1 to 2 feet), with a detector that does not need to be waterproof but the coil should be. The scoop is for dry sand and a wet suit is not needed. Water hunting is done in the water up to chest deep with a waterproof detector, water scoop, sand/diving shoes and possibly a wet suit, even though you do not go under water. Water hunting can also be done while diving but it’s not a requirement. To see tips on both go to

http://gometaldetecting.com/index.shtml

For beach hunting try

http://gometaldetecting.com/tips-beach.htm

For water hunting try this link

http://gometaldetecting.com/tips-water-hunting.htm

Either type of detecting will be help by knowledge of tides. Tides are based on a lunar day (24 hours and 50 minutes). Low tides and high tides are 12 hours and 25 minutes apart and to go from low to high or high to low takes 6 hours and 12.5 minutes. If your chart shows height, the lower or more negative the number the lower the low tide will be, exposing more ocean bottom so you can go further out. See this link for an in-depth look at tides.

http://oceanservice.noaa.gov/education/kits/tides/welcome.html

To find current tide predictions try

http://co-ops.nos.noaa.gov/tides08/

then click on your state to the left. I like these charts because they are for one area and you do not have to add or subtract to get the tide. A note: the tides for Rehoboth and Ocean City (inlet) are about 15 minutes or less apart. So if you get a chart for one it will apply to the other. Happy hunting!

Back to Main Page