The Treasure Vault Opens Again
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If you hunt the surf then you know how bad it can get sometimes and how you feel that you are in a big slump. Thirty days ago we had Spring begin and with it a very high and rough surf caused by the Equinox that piled up the sea water until it overflowed and raged like that for a full month. It was not only like that but at the same time the water temperature was in the mid to high sixties which was not very inviting but still, there are always some brave souls that will go swimming even in the cold water. When you try to swim or just hold your own waist deep with three foot waves threatening your foothold the sea can just tear your jewelry and watches away from you in a minute.
I have worked the beaches all winter and have cleaned up everything that I could find and I have looked hard. Now only the new items that are lost this Spring are in the water but I am glad to see something showing up in the scoop. This morning before the sun came up over the horizon I marched down the beach with all my surf gear and I guess people are getting used to me. I don't even get a second look with the exception of a couple of old ladies that really wanted to see what I was doing but didn't have the courage to come and ask me. The water level was low and the sea was smooth and calm. I disturbed the resting seagulls as I entered the water. Like always when the sea is calm I just had to go out in the very deep water to just see if a surfer or some guy had swam way out to loose his gold but not a signal! The sun was just coming up over the horizon and it was very pretty when I just gave up the deep water and started back for the shallower water.
I remembered that for the last month that we had abnormally high tides and the sea water had pushed up to the seawall so that anyone swimming would not go out very deep as they struggled with the surf. I began to work the shallower water and I got a tone that generally means that I have to dig one more pulltab at a foot deep and sure enough pulltab it was! Only a couple of steps and there is that old pulltab signal again and I sigh and resign myself to a day of pulltabs and an extended slump. I dug a basket full of sand and washed it down in the scoop and when I got to the bottom the early golden light of dawn shone brilliantly on the pretty gold ring at the bottom of the scoop. I eagerly pulled it out and slowly turned it around to see if it had stones and sure enough a beautiful emerald and good sized too. It has so many points and cuts that it must be an expensive stone and the gold ring, It's 14 Karat Gold and pretty! I can feel the slump is leaving now as I return to the water with a renewed energy. I probably only walked a dozen feet more and I got another signal but a coin signal and large. I immediately thought (wrist watch)! and I wasn't to be disappointed as usual but it turned out to be a very nice Italian watch and it was running and keeping the correct time. It was a Sergio Valente mans watch and now my pulse was a little faster. I dropped it into the pouch and turned to hunt some more and BINGO a coin tone and a large one too. This one I figured was the metal band for the watch that was missing but as it came out of the water I was surprised to see a brass Zippo lighter and it was engraved also. About that time the slump was only history and I was back and having fun again.
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I often feel the conflict of wanting to hunt one area because I "feel" as though something will be there but when I take time and analyze the surf and figure out just where the treasure will be found today I will leave the place that I wanted to hunt and as soon as I start working the place where I figure that the goodies should be I very often start finding something. I have this feeling I suppose, because I am short and most of the time I can't get out into the deep water where I figure that the big gold rings are. So I want to get way out there everytime I go and able to work farther out but seldom do I find much there. Only a few weeks back I had worked every square inch of a large beach as far out as it was possible for me to work and didn't find gold but a guy with a borrowed pulse detector just marched beyond where I hunted and BINGO a large gold mans ring. Ohhhhh that burned me up! Drat! Now I know better than that and I am happy for him and I will chalk it up to beginners luck but I don't think I can easily forget about it. If you have never tried water hunting let me tell you that there is nothing quite like washing the sand out of your scoop to see the pretty yellow gold laying there. It is really addictive to the water hunters and once you find gold you are really hooked for good. Ahhh! Life is good!