Treasure Hunting at the BeachAlmost everybody who visits the beach is a treasure hunter. Beachcombing, an activity that anybody can enjoy, includes everything from picking up pretty shells to metal detecting for artifacts that have washed up from shipwrecks. Without a doubt, there are more people who arrive home a Gulf Shores beach vacation with something that they found on the beach, than not. The most popular treasures to take home are seashells, for two reasons - they are beautiful and easy to find. Driftwood, fossils, coral, starfish, and sand dollars are other treasures of nature than wash up on the beaches.   If you are visiting the beach with your children, why not make your shell collecting a learning opportunity? After you've had time to rest up from your vacation, buy a shell identification book or find a good seashell website. Your child will be amazed at the animals that once lived in those shells and might develop an interest that will last into adulthood. Some shell collectors become very good at finding shells and take it to the next level, building life-time collections worth thousands of dollars. Sea glass is a beach treasure that I had not heard of until recently. Sea glass are glass objects that have somehow ended up in the seas - bottles, windows, dishes, marbles etc. All that glass is just litter; that is, until it has been in the sea long enough to get tossed and turned enough to be considered sea glass.  I was so intrigued by this beach treasure that I tracked down an expert sea glass hunter and collector for an interview. The Alabama Gulf Coast beaches are among the most litter free in the world, but there are still places to find sea glass near Gulf Shores. Metal detecting has grown more popular at the beach over the last decade. Metal detectors have become less expensive and easier to use. Most who use detectors are looking for lost change and jewelry - and there's always plenty of it on popular beaches. Coins are lost on the public beaches every day during peak seasons and warm weather weekends. Many beach tourists would be astounded to know what the odds are that they will not return with all the jewelry they arrived with. Expensive jewelry ends up in the sand and in the water all the time. One day we were on the beach and someone approached us almost screaming, "Got a metal detector!" Often we see groups of people combing the sand after almost everyone has left for the day. If they don't find it, a metal detector probably will. Those coins can add up quickly at a popular beach, so treasure hunting at the beach can be profitable. Some treasure hunters are after genuine artifacts that are several hundred years old. Finding relics from shipwrecks and early coastal settlements takes more practice and effort, but finding a coin, piece of jewelry, an old key, or another relic from the past is exciting and could be worth a lot of money. European explorers roamed the area as far back as the 1500's, so it is certainly there to be found. Whatever the treasure you are after, make sure that you are aware of all of the laws pertaining to treasure hunting on the Alabama Gulf Coast. Collectors are prohibited from taking some treasures from government land, including state parks. If you've found a promising place to hunt for treasure on private property, ask for permission first.
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