What can you find at Wabasso FL: Wabasso Beach, 1715 Fleet coin beach?

Spanish silver reales, gold escudos, ship spikes, musket balls, pottery sherds, modern coins and jewelry

Florida

Wabasso FL

Q: Is it legal to collect at Wabasso FL: Wabasso Beach, 1715 Fleet coin beach?

Restricted. Public beach detecting above the mean high water line is tolerated; the 1715 Fleet wreck sites offshore are leased to Queens Jewels LLC under state admiralty rights, so nothing below the water line, no digging in dunes, and Sebastian Inlet State Park beaches have their own rules

Wabasso Beach, 1715 Fleet coin beach

Tidal foreshore Source-confirmed findsRestricted

Save spot Explore on map →

What you could find

Reported finds from this shoreline.

Coins and tokens

Gold

Nails and fittings

Also reported: musket balls, pottery sherds.

Photos via Wikimedia Commons: West Yorkshire Archaeology Advisory Service, Amy Downes, (CC BY-SA 2.0), BLM Alaska (Public domain), North Lincolnshire Museum, Martin Foreman, (CC BY 2.0).

Why this spot

1715 Spanish Plate Fleet wrecked on the reefs off Sebastian in a hurricane; silver and gold coins erode out of the beach face.

WPTV, Feb 2020: Jonah Martinez and friends detected 22 silver 1715 Fleet coins at Wabasso Beach; he says the best hunting is during severe weather, hurricanes and cold fronts that erode the beachView source →

Before you go

Hazards noted for this site.

Post-storm scarped beachRip currents, heavy competition from organized detecting groups

Plan your visit

Setting

Tidal foreshore

Collecting guidance

Restricted

Public beach detecting above the mean high water line is tolerated; the 1715 Fleet wreck sites offshore are leased to Queens Jewels LLC under state admiralty rights, so nothing below the water line, no digging in dunes, and Sebastian Inlet State Park beaches have their own rules

Review local rules on the map ↗

Best time to go

Hurricane season (Aug to Nov) and winter cold-front nor'easters; detect right after erosion events when the beach has lost sand and the old shell layer is exposed

Check tides

Foot traffic

Heavy

Dozens of detectorists work the Treasure Coast after every storm; the WPTV story describes a group hunting together

Mudlark Pro