r/metaldetecting • u/smallthieve • Feb 24 '25
Other “I swear it’s down here!”
Not sure if this fits for the subreddit, but my mom and I thought it was funny. We were talking about my lame machine giving a bunch of false positives and causing me to dig a bunch of holes. Came across this one and my mom said “they must have had an even worse model!”
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u/kbphoto Feb 24 '25
There's a bottle cap in there somewhere for you!
Your mom sounds a lot like mine....hilarious.
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u/smallthieve Feb 24 '25
She's been fun to have around on these trips. On one adventure I hit some metal construction underneath some sand and her "We hit land!" made me crack up.
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u/SWEET_JESUS_NIPPLES Feb 27 '25
Really random that reddit decided to recommend me this post 2 days later, but I'm a Santa Cruz native and local underground plumber, if Im not mistaken you may have been detecting the 20" cast iron water pipe that runs through that area, it's no longer in use but when Neptune's kingdom was a large indoor public swimming pool that pipe was used to fill up the pool by pumping in seawater from underneath the boardwalk. I believe it runs underground right where she was digging, lol.
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u/someone_i_guess111 Feb 25 '25
my mom is always making jokes about romans leaving beer cans for us to dig up
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u/Iamkillboy Feb 24 '25
One time when I first started detecting, I had a ring on my finger and gloves on my hands and I kept picking up dirt chunks and checking them and thinking there was something there.
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u/Gster7 Feb 24 '25
I have done this also, more than once, just that used to my ring being on and forget to take it off
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u/Do-you-see-it-now Feb 24 '25
Do not go any deeper. People die like that all the time when the sand collapses.
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u/seraflm Feb 24 '25
New fear unlocked
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u/ongoldenwaves Feb 25 '25 edited Feb 25 '25
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u/GlenR73 Feb 25 '25
That's terrible!
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u/ongoldenwaves Feb 25 '25
Yes, sadly her brother sort of caused it when he climbed up the side to lift sand out. People don't know. Her parents were right there.
People also leave behind vulnerabilities in the sand which can swallow or trip up other people. Frankly this is asinine and dangerous and the mods should take it down. I made a separate post about guidelines for digging on the beach and staying safe and the mods took it down.
Downvote OP's post.-9
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u/whim_sea Feb 24 '25
Wait, what?
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u/BaronCapdeville Feb 24 '25
Look up safety regulations for digging below waist deep. It’s more involved than most people realize, and shockingly easy to die, even with a lot of your body still above ground.
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u/ongoldenwaves Feb 25 '25
yep. This is an incredibly irresponsible thing for the mods to leave up. Super dangerous.
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u/Opening-Cricket6011 Feb 24 '25
A kid died in my hometown last year because her and her brother were digging a hole on the beach, she was laying in the hole, he climbed out and the sand collapsed onto her.
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u/disastronaut Feb 24 '25 edited Feb 25 '25
It's true, just last summer my 2 friends dug a hole just for fun and I hopped in, sat, and told them to bury me. Just my head was out. I couldn't move at all. The sun was setting fast and every shovel out sand slid back in. I couldn't feel my legs. Darker and darker. Eventually they were able to get me out by digging near me. It was pitch black out when we left.
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u/wisequote Feb 25 '25
Can you imagine the horror of high tide arriving if you were near water? Nightmare material.
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u/disastronaut Feb 25 '25
Absolutely was on my mind! To the south the atlantic tide was coming in and The Beach I was an outer Beach where campers sometimes drive. So the "pathway", if there was one(2 jeeps passed us), was maybe 20 feet from where my head was.
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u/Rhesusmonkeydave Feb 25 '25
That just means when you come back there will be jewelry and stuff there
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u/BecauseNiceMatters Feb 26 '25
For clarity this is not a hole she dug, but one she found. She got in the hole for the joke, She says so in her caption.
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u/No-Bid2147 Feb 24 '25
Or when the unexploded torpedo from a WWII Uboat decides to unlive itself. But this hole also matches the footprint of a couple of chests of pirate loot. So as they say when metal detecting: dig it all and keep it to yourself…
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u/Dogsaregoodfolks Feb 24 '25
So aside from the danger of collapse, this beach used to have pilings that held a small railroad that took tourists sup and down the beach. The pilings are now all several feet under the sand but the metal nails in them give hunters fits
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u/artie_pdx Feb 25 '25
I haven’t heard the word “fits” used in this context for a very long time, but it’s truly spot on! 👏🏻
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u/No-Stop-1363 Feb 24 '25
Be careful sand hole collapsing kills people, hopefully you buried it back good so kids don’t fall in it
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u/squirrelchaser1 Feb 24 '25
I swear to god I'll think I'm right on top of it, dig, find nothing, then you use the pinpointer on the walls and its somehow a foot away.
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u/No-Bid2147 Feb 24 '25
That could have been one of those new metallic spy snake drones. Sneaky little bastards.
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u/Open-Preparation-268 Feb 24 '25
I dug up a box fan on a beach once. I didn’t have to go nearly that deep, but it was still quite the undertaking.
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u/smallthieve Feb 24 '25
To clarify, we covered up the hole as best we could before leaving, and this was the deepest it got. Thank you all for your advice and warnings! I never would have guessed it was so dangerous. :)
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u/ongoldenwaves Feb 25 '25
***As best we could***
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u/BecauseNiceMatters Feb 26 '25
They came across it this way, very responsible to give fixing it their best attempt
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u/Shadow_Shore Vanquish 440 & MI-6 Feb 24 '25
I have a detecting-gal that went out with me on it's first expedition. She didn't believe me when I told her that she was reading mineralized soil. I turned around for a while and when I noticed I had to stop her because she was already knee deep
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u/smallthieve Feb 24 '25
I get so scared about this! Or somehow getting a piece of tinfoil stuck to the end of my machine...
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u/Shadow_Shore Vanquish 440 & MI-6 Feb 25 '25
The best way to know if it's mineralization (in my limited experience) is because it usually gives a steady low tone. I tend to visit a certain spot with old ruins, and I already know that the ground reads a steady -9 on my Vanquish 440.
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u/Cheap_Frame_7636 Feb 25 '25
This reminds me of a couple years ago my bro had a beep under a fallen tree and it was on the lip of a colonial cellar hole. The beep was a solid 90s 4 way, which made he believe either copper/silver coin or ox knob. He yells over saying he’s giving up on it, and I come and take over and get over a foot down and still can’t find it. Finally I realize what was causing the beep, it was a small sign on the underside of the fallen tree, lol. Times like this you never forget.
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u/Bluefalcon325 Feb 24 '25
Out here having fun, at the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk!! BOARDWALK!!!!!
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u/GirlWithWolf Bad ndn Feb 24 '25
That’s just a cover. Someone has crossed her and that’s their future home.
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u/Blank_bill Feb 24 '25
When I first started I had no pinpointer and less experience. I had holes like that on my beach. I'd dig a hole wider than my coil and a few inches deep and end up with a 3x3 hole 2 feet deep and found a fanta can, or an anchor. And the ubiquitous nails.
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u/museabear Feb 24 '25
If you dig a hole more than 5 feet you have to put in shoring. I know it's sand but still please be careful out there.
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u/Super_Skunk1 Feb 24 '25
Hehe, a metal detector can't detect that deep, it's max half a meter or less than 2 feet.
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u/OCRJ41 Feb 24 '25
Won’t a fat piece of metal ping several feet down? I’ve found shrapnel, stove parts, etc at least 2 feet deep with an 11 inch coil
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u/Super_Skunk1 Feb 24 '25
Yeah it can depend on the detector, soil and target. The normal range is about what I said. I don't think the girl in the photo has the expensive kind.
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u/thenicestsavage Feb 24 '25
I usually found fence stakes that deep. Part of dune recovery efforts. That worked.
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u/TwoDudesAtPPC Feb 25 '25
Dude I love this. How is the boardwalk for detecting? Fantastic poses. A+
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u/smallthieve Feb 25 '25
Amazing! It’s so cool seeing everyone else and their beach hobbies— taking dogs out, volleyball, meditating :)
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u/Low-Classroom8184 Feb 25 '25
If this is where I think it is, is the sign for the Dangerous Otter that steaks surfboards still there
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u/Exotic_Combination12 Feb 25 '25
I made the mistake of wearing steel toed bootz one time. I dug so many unnecessary holes until I figured out it was my bootz lol I felt stupid .
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u/Nervous-Focus3382 Feb 25 '25
Aww, you’re in my hometown! Miss seeing the boardwalk. Have you found any good stuff there?
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u/TheGoldMonkey Feb 25 '25
I once got a very large, strong reading on my uncle’s KMart special machine. I dug a hole, and once it was about 3 feet deep it was wide enough for me to discover a rusted barrel hoop, about 3” underground. I was digging right down through the center of it.
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u/Suberdave0130 Feb 25 '25
I, with the help from about 7 kids, dug down about 5 feet. I was in Hawaii. It was a very large mmm maybe a generator or something, not sure if it was military, probably not. Needless to say we left it there, couldn’t bring it home.
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u/kriticalj Feb 24 '25
And this is why detectorists get banned from places. Jesus Christ at what point are you still like "this is cool, no one will mind this car sized hole?'
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u/Agillian_01 Feb 24 '25
This is the exact thing that happens when German tourists visit Dutch beaches.. I always wonder what they are looking for down there.
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u/Wetworth Feb 25 '25
I did something like that at a beach.
It was a giant I beam that anchored a children's playground.
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u/Ok-Delivery216 Feb 25 '25
This is where those fiberglass sticks with the heavy T handles come in handy. You can poke around deep. We use them to find pipes and septic tank lids.
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u/IdBuyThat-4aDollar Feb 25 '25
I don't know. Maybe it's vampire gold 😉 they've been known to roam around those parts.
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u/kevinoes327 Feb 25 '25
Lol, THIS is why getting a pin pointer is absolutely essential to keep sane in this hobby. Before the pointer I would abandon half my holes because I never found the target. Very frustrating when the target is probably a penny.
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u/iEatRocksAndSoShudU Feb 25 '25
Done this a couple of times, one time it was a sign post (hurricane damage)
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u/Zealousideal-Gap-291 Feb 25 '25
Be careful digging holes that don't have proper wall supports and such. A little girl dug a deep hole in the sand recently and got swallowed up and died.
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u/AtopMountEmotion Feb 25 '25
Gunnery Sergeant is VERY disappointed in your fighting position, troop.
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u/Hedgewizard1958 Feb 26 '25
Dug a hole almost like that on the beach. Steel reinforced concrete pipe...
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u/Apart_Connection1121 Feb 26 '25
Anyone ever end up finding that hella expensive designer bag put out by I forget who but it was like verrrrry expensive. In socal I think Newport
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u/PlaceNo4544 Feb 27 '25
It is shored up though so I should be good? Looking for gold 16" deep after first six ft of sand it was all clay till gravel at depth... Did find gold though... So there's that.
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u/SufficientVoice5554 Mar 02 '25
i dug 3 feet deep for and old heeeeavy trailer hitch in a public park lol
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u/Public_Classic_438 Feb 25 '25
Just as a safety tip, it is not recommended to dig in sand deep deeper than the shortest person’s knees. The sand can collapse and literally kill you.
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u/GlenR73 Feb 25 '25
I'm confused. You want the mods to take down what seems to be good information from this sub that you yourself also tried to make aware on another sub, which was removed as well? What am I missing? Also, I don't see the point in downvoting good info.
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u/Busy_Marionberry1536 Feb 25 '25
Not very smart is what that is. Who doesn’t know that sand is notoriously unstable and to dig a hole that deep and to get in it is dangerous? Be careful and don’t do this at home children.
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u/trundyl Feb 24 '25
I once dug on a hole. Was hotting a piece of metal stuck into my shoe.