Yellow,yellow,yelow

Last week I followed up with a lost ring from CL. It was a small 14k men's band lost on one of the broader beaches here in Charleston. It was truly a needle in a haystack. The owners wife replies to my offer to help with one of the most detailed directions I've yet to receive. I ususally get the "It's over there between this imaginary point I am vaguely waving at and this other point my limp wrist is flailing at."

I arrive at the location, get my bearing and start swinging. Three hours of sand fall through the glass with nothing shiny popping up in the scoop. I conclude that either someone has nabbed it, her location is off or I am off. I pack it in and head for the hill. I e-mail the lady and let her know that I've searched but did not find it. Before I send off the e-mail, I think to ask one more question. I ask her if where the ring was lost in the tidal pool, was the small sandbar in the bottom of it any where near. She said yes and we narrow it down further. Two days go by before I can return to the spot. I find my new marks but the water is still in the tidal pool making it difficult to find the small sandbar. Two blue crabs object to my presence but scurry away after being prodded by the search coil. The water slowly drains away as I keep working the area and listening to the silent Dual Field headphones. It takes two hours before enough water falls away so that I can find my point of referrence. Once I find the point I needed, it was only a matter of time. So I thought. I thought that I was going to be a super hero and walk straight to it. Nope. It still took thirty minutes for the DF to signal back at me and when it did, I could only say "There you are." I scoop and sift and there it is all bright and shiny...the bottom of my empty SS scoop. What? I thought this was it, super hero, I can go home, roses and champagne for me but instead the scoop was empty. I thought "great, another small piece of trash." I rescan the hole...beep beep...I scoop and sift again. "There you are!"



I sent that exact pic to the wife in an e-mail. I wrote "I think this belongs to you."

Her reply...
A few days before this I went in search of a lost earring. It was a massive diamond set in platinum. And it was lost on one of the outer islands here. umm...yeah, it's not an easy one to get to. But the guy has a 35' boat with two 225's on the back. So we scoot on out to the island. As we are riding out to the island, a massive thunderstorm is speeding our way. We were hoping it would veer north of us but it steadily marched towards us. We're at least a mile off the coast and about 10 miles up the Intracoastal waterway with no shelter in sight. No matter, I have to make the best of it while I can because it's too late now.

I think to myself, "Did I update my will?"

The skies darken and the storm edges over head and darkens the sun. Lightning cracks and ripples above. The DF begins to tell me it's scared as it crackles at me through the headphones with each lightening bolt. The rain begins to fall but my head stays down and I keep swinging. The lightening strikes are getting closer but are staying near the shore. That's safe enough, right? It's like being inside the exhibit with the lion on the other side of the small pond.

"When was the last time I told my mom I love her?"
"She doesn't even know I'm out here."
"Put your shoulders up and go out like a man, you pansy!"

Fifteen minutes of those resounding thoughts tremble through my head as rain drops pelt my face.

The storm turns north as we had hoped and the sun began to bake down again. We search what amounts to about an acre of beach and only found trash from their kids, tent stakes that didn't go back with the tent, a bobby pin and $.28. I was bummed that the earring wasn't found because it was his 1st anniversary gift to her.

It also made me question my searching skills. I overlapped every swing and made a super tight grid as well. I know it isn't there where we looked but it nags at me that it is or could be and I missed it.

The next day I go back out to the beach so I can feel better about myself and it worked. I had a good silver day. I found the beautiful earring and the bracelet thing that isn't quite a bracelet. I don't know how it goes together exactly but it does somehow. In each heart is three chips that are either CZ, crystal or diamonds. They are the snap fit type so I'm going to guess it may be diamond chips. That's what I want to think anyway. The Amethyst/crystal chip ring is from Avon. The shank is bent fairly sharply so I must have hit it with the scoop.






And the last yellow came today and is quite large. I was out at first light to look for a dropped engagement ring. I sure am glad that I was there before the grave robbers showed up. The owner had posted a map that gave away the specific location. And as I thought would happen, looters arrived at dead low tide. It's unfortunate for them that myself and the Dual Field had already been all over the area. I never saw them dig one single target as they traced my EXACT foot steps and grid pattern. I LOL'd at them silently with disgust as I watched from the water.

Well anyway, I scooped up this nice 14k ring ten minutes into the hunt. The rest of the hunt did not go so well though. The bottom at that spot of the beach is smooth as silk with a current that was ripping through yesterday and still today. It was so damned difficult to walk in the water let alone move the coil. Every swing felt as though the shaft would snap in half.

I think the ring is a gonner. The dropped area is small but because of the current, I searched a very broad area hoping to snag it somewhere. I called it quits after 4 hours and having searched the area twice myself and also watching the other yahoo's search my footsteps.

The ring sitting on top is the ring from the top. It's size 10, fits me nicely. It almost fits through the ring I found this morning.

7.6 grams 14k