Reflections on a Six Day Metal Detecting Hunt

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By admin

Published: July 12, 2010

I just spent six days metal detecting at Jomtien Beach, Thailand and here are some of my thoughts.

Initially, I planned on posting daily but my finds were not that spectacular.  I then decided to just do a summary post and talk about the whole trip.

I have only been to Jomtien a couple of times and those trips were mostly pub crawls at some of the beer bars.  So, I really didn’t know what to expect other than I hoped it would be tamer than Pattaya.

I stayed at a hotel off of Jomtien Beach Road on Soi 4 – easy walking distance to the beach.  I hunted daily from 0500-0800 and again from about 1100 until 1300.  So, I definitely got a workout.

i managed to meet up with a couple of expats that live nearby so that was nice to meet some other Farangs (foreigners) that share the same addiction – metal detecting.

I also met a few local Thai detectorists that worked the wet sand and shallow water early in the morning.  They all seemed to have hip mounted detectors and all swung their shafts and coils the same way – like a pendulum – missing a lot of ground.  The ones that I did meet and talk to were very friendly and we shared stories and information.  No worry that we were infringing on their territory.

Jomtien Beach, along with Pattaya Beach, has a bad reputation with a high crime rate – mostly the locals taking advantage of drunken Farangs.  But, I was pleasantly surprised my first morning to see that the beach and the water are completely lit up.  There was no need for a headlamp and i could easily see when I was a couple hundred feet out in the water.  This is a great deterrent to crime and really helpful to metal detectorists hunting in the dark.

Unfortunately, I did not strike gold or silver – just a lot of coins and some junk jewelry.  Picked up lots of trash and hauled it back to the room to dispose of.  The Thai’s always ask me why I take the trash with me and then thank me for helping keep the beach clean.  But, I have yet to see a Thai detectorist pick up his or her trash. It only makes sense – keep the beach clean and not having to dig the same junk targets daily.

My wife has reminded me numerous times how expensive this is getting to be when I want to beach hunt.  My airfare was 6,350 Baht, hotel 6,200, car ride 3,000, and daily expenses 7,000 baht.  This works out to about 22,500 Thai baht which is about $700 US dollars.

This could easily be justified if I would find a piece or two of gold – but all I found is in the following pictures – 436 Baht and some junk jewelry.

Here is a video of one of the days at Jomtien Beach.

Tagged with: baht, beach, excalibur, jewlery, jomtien, metal detecting, minelab, pattaya, thailand, water

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