Yesterday, the calmer winds that we’ve had for a few days ended and they started coming stronger and onshore which roughened the surf. Low tide was around 4pm and I wanted to out so I did. When I got to the beach and saw the surf I said “Oh well, let’s just see what happens and give it a go”. Normally, I would’ve turned around and headed back to the car and gone to a different beach. I was out just over 2 hours before low tide and it was a rough going. I was slapped in the face and slammed on the side of the head many times over the 4 hours that I hunted. (Especially when I took my eyes off the ocean to survey some inappropriate bathing suits ). In the 1st hour I came across an area that the greenies started flowing and what I thought was a junk ring. I worked that area over and over and picked up what maybe the deepest sinker I’ve ever retrieved. I was now really hopeful that the yellow would appear! As I hunted, I saw a female pirate working the wet sand and near shore and passed another pirate working the same line from the shore I was working. About 2 hours into the hunt I got to my target area. Again, the greenies showed up! Knowing the area I was in I was highly confident that if I worked it well I would leave with a score. The problem was that the tide was coming in and the surf was getting rougher. It was getting extremely difficult to stay in that area and work the targets. I saw 2 other pirates nearby. I finally couldn’t do the “detecting ballet” anymore and had to come in. The other 2 pirates came in as well and we met up and chatted. One of the other pirates had scored, but what really intrigued me is that the other pirate told me about a guy that had an epic hunt where we were yesterday under much calmer conditions. That area was now unworkable so I spent the last hour of the hunt working my way back. That’s when the interesting copper ring with a picture of a knight on it and Portuguese writing showed up. Today, I took out my finds, since I got home at night yesterday, and was surprised to find that my “junk” ring is marked “STERLING”. Pretty cool and I think that may be my 1st ring marked as such ever. No yellow yesterday but I learned I could still manage to hunt in rougher conditions and still enjoy myself. The silver ring and $6.23 for a heavily hunted South Beach hunt is not too shabby either!