‘Treasure’ hunters are searching beaches for new and unique items unearthed by recent storms

Martin Jackson often goes on coastal scavenger hunts with fiance Kseniya Kozlovskaya in the hopes of finding “gems.”

Mostly those treasures take the form of sea glass, found lying along stretches of San Clemente and Dana Point.

But something caught his eye last Sunday: an arm sticking out of a pile of rocks and a small silver face looking up toward the sky. It was a small silver statue of a woman with small horn-like bumps on her head.

“I call her hell girl,” Kozlovskaya said with a chuckle. Perhaps, she added, she’s a sea goddess.

After Jackson posted an image on Facebook, commenters speculated the statue might have come from the collection once housed at Ernesto’s, an Italian restaurant nearby that was destroyed by a storm in 1983. Or maybe from a boat that capsized at North Beach a few months ago.

Whatever she is, wherever she came from, the statue is just one beach treasure unearthed in recent weeks with the run of strong storms that have chopped away at the sand, eroding layers buried for years, maybe decades.

Finding treasure

Treasure hunters, some armed with metal detectors and others using just their keen eyes, have been scouring the sand between storms, hoping to unearth unique keepsakes while spending a day at the beach.

Jackson started walking the beach regularly for rehabilitation after a skateboard injury broke his femur bone.

The longtime surfer grew up going to the beach, but never stopped to look down or around on his way in and out of the surf.

Since injuries now make it difficult to paddle out, he spends his time sifting through the sand and rocks, barefoot so he can connect with nature, he says.

On a recent day, he shows off his collection of colorful sea glass. The duo have plucked hundreds from the sand through the years.

The more typical colors, the greens and whites, are plentiful. The rarer glasses, like the deep reds, are bundled in little baggies.

One grayish-blue oval-shaped large piece of sea glass sits on Kozlovskaya’s ring finger, a custom engagement ring Jackson made with a piece of glass he found nearby.

“I’m picturing a thousand excited moments,” he said.

Kozlovskaya remembers the first time she found sea glass about two years ago in Malibu.

It wasn’t until the couple did some research that they realized the beauty and uniqueness of each piece. That each takes years — even decades — of tumbling in waves to form the perfectly rounded shapes.

“We give the ocean trash,” she said, “and it gives us back beautiful art.”

For Jackson, the draw is finding something that now has a second chance.

“Something that was once trash and useless is now being recognized,” he said.

Treasure hunter Chris Davies, of San Clemente, uses a metal detector to collect old copper pennies to make into bracelets.

But he recently found a Marine location phosphorus marker, a pyrotechnic device used to mark certain positions on the ocean surface, that washed up in San Clemente.

He called the police, who called out the bomb squad.

“We responded out and collected 3 of them just this past week,” the OC Sheriff’s bomb squad announced on its social media page. “If you encounter this type of marker, or any other beached military ordnance item, please do not pick them up or disturb them in any way.”

Lost and found

Jackson wants to start a “sea glass and trash” meet-up group to look for treasures while helping to clean up trash that washes onto beaches after storms.

After a storm that hit a few weeks ago, he found a kid’s wallet. Well, not a kid anymore, since the wallet was lost 8 years ago.

“He was like 17 and now he’s probably in college,” he said with a chuckle, noting that he tried to contact the owner via social media with no luck.

Not long ago Jackson found a big chunk of lava rock the size of a head. He wonders if it traveled all the way from Hawaii.

Jackson has one thing on the list he’d still like to find one day.

“I’m still waiting for the wad of cash,” he said with a smile.

Tips for treasure hunting

– Go at low tide and after the storms.

– Be fast if you see something, a wave can wash it away in a blink.

– You can sit and dig in one spot, or scan a select area before moving on to another section.

– Walk with the sun behind you.

– Don’t forget to take sea glass out of your pocket before doing laundry.