Treasures on the beach
I had the opportunity to visit the Ocean Springs/Gulfport/Biloxi area this past weekend, and of course I took along my metal detector. I was struck by the absence of new construction along the coast line in Ocean Springs - see the attached photo. The houses several hundred yards from the beaches are almost back to normal - painted, flowers in the yards, new roofs, etc. - but along Hwy 90 there is very little new construction. I was also struck by the number of pull tabs in the sandy beaches. I hunted quite a while, dug probably 25 pull tabs for every coin, and the coins were either clads or very corroded pennies. Then I came across a fellow detecting the housesites along 90, and I stopped to talk with him. He indicated that the hunting was better before Katrina - large amounts of metal debris littered the lots, making detecting very difficult. I hunted a housesite for a while, dug a few coins, but, alas, the plastic scoop I’d brought along for beach combing was quite insufficient for digging holes in St. Augustine-covered yards. I finally gave up after digging enough coins to pay for the set of batteries I’d used up.