Scuba Detecting Alone

QMaze

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Aug 3, 2015
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ScubaDetector

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Mar 1, 2016
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Port Huron MI
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Minelab E-Trac with Sun Ray Probe
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No muck, all sand. We THINK he went over his head in a trough between sand bars and drowned then the waves pushed him shallower. Nobody will ever know. He lost his long handled scoop that day and I couldn't go back to retrieve it and see where he might have drowned. Somebody found it I am sure.
 

Irishgoldhound

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Jul 15, 2013
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Wow so sad. Even when we are in the midst of natures pristine and beauty, there is risk for injury or death and seldom do we assess or even see the danger. Be safe out there!
 

Sir Gala Clad

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Jul 9, 2012
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Scuba Detector - Sadly, it is easy to drown if you step/get into water that is too deep , since it is difficult to swim with clothes on such as (hoody, shirt, pants, shoes etc ). I found it almost impossible to thread water while holding on too metal detector and scoop. As this equipment is very expensive and difficult to recover it most likely be jettisoned as a last resort, most likely after being exhausted.

When you loose your long handeled scoop, you have lost your abillity to push your self back to shore.
Worse, if you are wearing waders, and they fill with water, you are a goner - unless you have flotation.

As your friend was detecting in unprotected waters, any of all of the above could of happened: he could of had the wind knocked out of him by being smacked by a wave, hit by flailing equipment or sucked out further by a a rip tide or strong current.

Another possibility which I have added as it could save someones life is that your friend could of drowned in shallow water. If he thought that he was in too deep, he would expend all off his effort on trying to keep above water rather than on standing up. It is a matter of one's senses being fooled and panic setting in. I personally saved a person who had fallen off a fishing pier from drowning by yelling him to stand up, you can walk to shore.



I have practiced getting out of water that is too deep in protected lagoons, using the extra long handled scoop I carry as a safegaurd plus towing a float with sifting screen for additional safety. Before each practice session, I let the life gaurds know that I would be purposely doing this, so they would not be alarmed.

Even in a protected lagoon, I found it challanging to push back to shallower water with a long handle scoop as there was still was some currenty and I would twist/float off at an angle rather than straight back as desired.

If I was not towing an innertube for screening and flotation, I would definitely wear flotation - my preference being a vest with a tube which I can inflate and deflate by mouth, with CO, Cartridges which will the vest almost instantly when the handle are pulled when it is necessary to inflate faster. I purposely avoid safety device that inflate automatically, as to much flotation can be dangerous. If you are not able to control your boyancy, you can be sucked out to sea and never return, or wedged under a log by the current in a river, or not able to get out of an underwater cave as you are stuck at the top of the cave and the cave entrance/exit is much deeper.

I
No muck, all sand. We THINK he went over his head in a trough between sand bars and drowned then the waves pushed him shallower. Nobody will ever know. He lost his long handled scoop that day and I couldn't go back to retrieve it and see where he might have drowned. Somebody found it I am sure.
 

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mnruxpin

Sr. Member
May 20, 2013
349
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No muck, all sand. We THINK he went over his head in a trough between sand bars and drowned then the waves pushed him shallower. Nobody will ever know. He lost his long handled scoop that day and I couldn't go back to retrieve it and see where he might have drowned. Somebody found it I am sure.

super wierd case, he was strugglin and yellin for help too. just crazy. and yea if you could have found his metal scoop you would have know the exact spot it started, my experience is when you drop them they dont move, like a rock, well except in rough surf of course
 

Sir Gala Clad

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I gave Jason a like on his well stated reply.
Think about it , individuals that would do this are not only reckless , they are a danger to everything in the water: swimmers, other wild life in the water (including endangered/protected species). flora and fauna It is the boat drivers who should be banned from the water, fined, and lincenses/permits taken away not their probable victims.

Yet what does those who make the rules do, they give those at risk tickets for not having a flag on towed float which to the uniformed and above clueless resembles a rondevou flag (dah). It is my strong opinion that individuals who come up with such laws and restrictions came up even shorter in the Darvanian Gene pool, have a hidden agenda or are beyond stupid - for which there is no hope.

Any fines recieved should be sensationalized and questioned as practices will not go away until above concern(s) are voiced.


If you ever spend any time diving in lakes, you learn that dive flag is more danger than safety! Best option is to take it into the water, anchor it, then go do your dive. Too many idiots have no clue what the flag means and will motor right up to it, try to pull it up, drop fishing lines next to them. Many times the flag is omitted compleately. I'll take a lake patrol ticket over dragging a float/flag around while I dive.
 

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ScubaDetector

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Port Huron MI
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I dive in the most dangerous navigable waterway in the USA. We are supposed to put dive flags out where we go in and where we come out. In is fine, Out impossible. You have absolutely no idea how far down the river the current will take you. Here BOATS have the right away. I am not talking little boats either. I am talking 1000' long ones. They go right over top of you. You NEVER surface out in the middle. You go in at the seawall and better make sure you have enough air to come out at the seawall. This is a picture of me just going in along the seawall. If you notice, I never wear fins. I sometimes walk along the bottom letting the current push me while looking for old bottles and two pound fishing sinkers. You can sell the sinkers all day long for 1.50 each. I also find lots of lures.


This is the river about a mile from my house.



It is 25' deep at the seawall and about 75' deep in the middle. Those are the boats that go over top of you. The current is 8 - 12 knots. It is considered a very advanced dive. Lots of bottles and artifacts can be found in it. I always dive it alone and don't babysit. I consider myself a very advanced diver and very skilled.

Fishermen use 25lb test line and two pound triangle sinkers to fish for walleye, trout and salmon here.



(Yes the fuses were turned into the police)

Anchors, old bottles, so much more is found on the bottom. I know where there is a bronze blade for a freighter that I can barely move. Maybe one day I will find a way to get it out of the water. I also know where some huge anchor chain is. I just don't know if I am up to getting it out of the water.
 

Sir Gala Clad

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I would say that's beyond hard core, more like extreme metal detecting.
Are you a Jules Verne fan (Voyage to the bottom of the Sea) or did you come up with "walking on the bottom - no fins", by yourself.
To bad you cann't send him a PM, would be a piece of cake retrieving that brass prop with his assistance or one of his crew.

On a more serious side, can those fuses (or whatever you call then) go blooie / be detonated by RFI?
If so, I wouldn't be me messing with them or carrying them anywhere near my body!

Sounds like you are making a killing on those two pound traingular lead sinker(s) at $1.50 each.
If business slow down, you can try selling then three for $5.00 or seven for $10.00.
Everyone loves a special, or get even more by bartering them in return for cold soda / beer, especially when the fish are running.

Thanx for the pictures, I suspect you don't have problem(s) with other detectorists cutting you off.
I would volunteer to help retrieve the brass prop, except a man has to know his limits - maybe if I was younger or in aother life, most likely not even then.
 

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ScubaDetector

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Mar 1, 2016
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Port Huron MI
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I would say that's beyond hard core, more like extreme metal detecting.
Are you a Jules Verne fan (Voyage to the bottom of the Sea) or did you come up with "walking on the bottom - no fins", by yourself.
To bad you cann't send him a PM, would be a piece of cake retrieving that brass prop with his assistance or one of his crew.

On a more serious side, can those fuses (or whatever you call then) go blooie / be detonated by RFI?
If so, I wouldn't be me messing with them or carrying them anywhere near my body!

Sounds like you are making a killing on those two pound traingular lead sinker(s) at $1.50 each.
If business slow down, you can try selling then three for $5.00 or seven for $10.00.
Everyone loves a special, or get even more by bartering them in return for cold soda / beer, especially when the fish are running.

Thanx for the pictures, I suspect you don't have problem(s) with other detectorists cutting you off.
I would volunteer to help retrieve the brass prop, except a man has to know his limits - maybe if I was younger or in aother life, most likely not even then.

I have never seen another diver without fins. I think I am the only crazy one! There is no detecting here. The current wouldn't let you if you wanted. Nor the trash on the bottom. You eyeball sinkers or parts of them. I can come up with over 100lbs of them sometimes. Actually I put them in a bucket and have fishermen help pull it up then I give a few away.

Those grenade fuses were for practice grenades. Very dangerous still. Only go off if you pull the pin. You could have made some serious explosives with them though. Business never gets slow with selling sinkers. They sell for over 5.00 each at the bait stores.

Not many divers up here most the time. Too advanced of a dive. There are a few shipwrecks out there. M. E. Tremble, sank in 1890. Ben Hurr, crane off the Sydney Smith, Fontana, and others. You can't go against the current out there. Only by the seawall. You really have to be comfortable and relaxed and know what you are doing. If you get pushed into a fisherman's lines, you have to cut them. There is no way to break that line and you don't want to be brought up! I have only had to do that once. You better give his lures and sinkers back and a few bonuses I feel.

Anyway, when those boats come by you hug the bottom and hold onto something till it is past. The throbbing of the engines and the shadows are enough to frighten you a little. However, you are safe on the bottom as long as you have air. This is the only place I don't suck my tanks absolutely dry.
 

ARC

Gold Member
Aug 19, 2014
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I rarely use fins...
Don't need them...

My "diving suit" on 90% of my dives consists of a pair of Board shorts... rarely anything more.
My gear consists of a weight belt with 2 dive knives... that's it.

In fact...
I own many full sets of dive gear... tons of masks and snorkels... But only one set of fins...
and all types and thicknesses of wet suits. from a thin suit to 3mm 7mm 9mm (rarely dive when its cold).
 

captbo

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Jan 1, 2015
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Calvert Co Md / Atlantic NC
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up here on the Chesapeake a dive flag means hey lets go see what they are doing,, I always have a guy topside
 

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