By Staff
waterhead.com
October 12, 2011

Waterheads can be young or old. They can be male or female, short or tall. Briefly, a waterhead is any person who loves the water. It can be as simple as dipping their feet into a cool running stream or splashing into a lake. For many water lovers though, nothing tops the ocean and beachcombing for buried treasures.

What is great about beach combing for buried treasures is that it can done wherever the ocean meets the shore. From mainland Florida to Oregon, to islands just off the coast, there are many places to enjoy the water and to look for treasures, with all kinds of unusual items lying on the beach just waiting to be picked up. Grab a container and go looking.

Begin your search by checking the tide tables. Typically a beach comber wants to be on the beach just as high tide is retreating, dropping items as the water recedes back into the ocean. Another good time is after a storm or a particularly strong tide and even low tide, when the water starts pushing items up the beach.

What are some of the items you can expect to find? The first item usually spotted is seaweed. This is found at the high water mark, among the first items left behind by the receding tide. You can sort through the seaweed, finding many different kinds and colors of grasses and algae, and maybe, just maybe, an antique coin or piece of jewelry. A common find in Florida is sargassum weed, easy to recognize because it has tiny air bladders.

It is fun to look for sea beans, fruits or seeds washed into the ocean from the tropics, and to try and identify what they are and where they came from. An easy one to identify is a coconut. Yes, a coconut is a sea bean. Other sea beans with names such as sea purse, hamburger bean, starnut palm, and nickernuts are used by artists, who clean and polish them, to make beautiful jewelry.

Another usual find for beach combers is sea glass. Sea glass is a broken piece of glass that has been sanded by many years in the seawater and being tumbled along sandy bottoms or sandy beaches. They are smooth and beautiful and are also valued by artists for making jewelry since each piece is, by its nature, one of a kind.

Other commonly found items are sponges, sea pork, whips and squirts. Sponges are made up of the skeletons of tiny marine creatures and if you plan on using one in your bath, be sure to clean and dry it properly first. If you do not, you will soon find yourself with a very smelly bathroom. If you find soft coral with thin and fragile branches you are probably looking at a sea whip. When snorkeling or diving, waterheads can watch them gracefully waving in the current from from where they are anchored to the ocean floor. Typically a storm will cause them to break off the ocean floor and carry them to the beach.

Sea pork earned its name because it actually resembles salt pork. It can be found in many different colors and the ones found on a beach are typically the marine animal in its adult form. Sea squirts are a common find, brown and the size of a fist. Squeezing them will cause a stream of water to shoot out.

Finally, the most commonly collected items are shells. What is interesting is that not only will you not find two beaches, even nearby ones, with the same types of shells but even the same beach will offer up different shells from day to day. One day you might find pen shells and a week later on the same beach you might find cockleshells.

In Florida, some of the best shelling beaches are along the southwest coast of the state. Sanibel Island, just off the west coast, is a very famous shelling beach. Its location and position in the Gulf of Mexico makes Sanibel’s beach a perfect place for the water to drop its load of shells. You can find people looking for shells on Sanibel’s beaches all day long and even during the night (bring your flashlight!) depending on the tide tables. It is so common on Sanibel that the bent over position of shell seekers is called the ‘Sanibel Stoop.’ Along with Sanibel Island, some of the best shelling beaches in Florida can be found on Marco Island, Bonita Beach, Caladesi Island, Anna Maria Island and Honeymoon Islands.

In Oregon, October through April is the best time for beach combing for buried treasures. On Oregon beaches you’ll find agates, jaspers and driftwood along with seashells. Oregon beaches are known for the gem-like pieces that are just lying there, waiting for someone to pick them up. As in Florida, pick up a local tide book and ask around to give you an idea when is the best time of day to hit the beach and which beaches are the best for beach combing.

The Oregon shore is very different from the Florida shore. If you look under rocks, be sure to return the rock to its original position. Do not touch any of the animals that you might find along the beaches, particularly baby seals. A mother seal will abandon the baby if she smells human scent on it. Pay attention to your surroundings if you are working an isolated tide pool. You do not want to get stranded as the tide comes in. Be careful when you are working around large logs as they could be water saturated and heavy and could roll onto you. Stay off the steep cliffs. Keep an eye on the water so a stray wave does not knock you off your feet.

No matter where they are, waterheads often bring along a large garbage bag in addition to their treasure collecting bag. Be a true waterhead and help keep the waters and shoreline clean by collecting litter and disposing of it properly.