- Oct 6, 2009
- 1,212
- 2
- Detector(s) used
- MXT 300/Excal II/Surf Dual Field
- Primary Interest:
- All Treasure Hunting
Met up with Bran (Godisnum1) over at St. Pete to hunt a "sure thing" spot I have been wanting to hit for a long time... Used to be THE party spot in that area...
Paddled out to the area in my canoe and man was it ever blowing! The water was too rough to do any hunting there, so we just hit the dry land. Found a fair amount of clad, and a lot of junk (what is wrong with people nowadays?) but Bran did find a nice Gerber Multi-tool.... Had one heck of a paddle back, fighting not only the wind and waves, but also a very strong tidal current.
Got back to the other side and Bran had had enough, and although I was really tired, I had this urge to detect the beach for a while. Wasnt 20 min into the hunt when a man approached me and asked me if I would be willing to help him find his wedding band for $20... I told him I would be happy to help him out, but he didnt need to pay me..
He took me to the area he thought the ring had been lost, and I scoured the area thoroughly, only finding more junk and a couple of dimes. Every time he saw me scoop, his face showed anticipation, then disappointment when no ring appeared... I apologized, explaining that the Excal was new to me and my confidence in using it wasnt the best yet... I felt so bad for the guy, he was really upset about the loss.... Seems he had taken it off, then set it on the blanket they were using... I approached his wife and asked her if she had just picked up the blanket, or had shaken it.. She stated she had shaken it to get the sand off. With the wind whipping at a good 20 mph, I then asked her which way she was facing when she shook the blanket, and she told me she had her back to the wind... A-ha! I figured that with her "snapping" the blanket, and the strong wind, the ring probably went a lot further than they thought. I started searching again, about 30 ft downwind of where they were pretty sure the blanket had been lying. About 5 minutes into that area, I heard a nice solid low tone on the Excal and dug a good scoop... Whatever was there was still in the sand... Dug another scoop and the hole was clear... At this point the guy looked at me as I was shaking the scoop... I expected a nickel to appear, but sure enough there was a nice bright yellow flash in the sand... I gave him a thumbs up and he ran over to me like an Olympic sprinter.... Beautiful 18k/Platinum band!
His wife rushed over and they gave each other a big hug, then both of them hugged me.. They were on vacation from Nebraska and were going to fly home monday morning..
He insisted on giving me the $20 but I refused, telling him that the reward of finding it for him was enough.... He then said "my vacation would have been ruined if you hadnt of found that ring, you dont know how much it means to me" and also that he wouldnt be happy or "feel right" if I didnt accept it... Reluctantly, I accepted the $20....
His wife then asked me if she could take a picture of her husband and I with the found band... Sure I said...
He then put my email addy in his blackberry so he could send me the picture...
So a not so good day ended up being a great day after all... I can only imagine his heartbreak had I decided to just go home instead of continuing the hunt.... Isnt fate a strange thing?
Total clad for the day was $4.87 and also found a 1946 Wheatie that is in great shape...
I will post the picture when he sends it to me....
Paddled out to the area in my canoe and man was it ever blowing! The water was too rough to do any hunting there, so we just hit the dry land. Found a fair amount of clad, and a lot of junk (what is wrong with people nowadays?) but Bran did find a nice Gerber Multi-tool.... Had one heck of a paddle back, fighting not only the wind and waves, but also a very strong tidal current.
Got back to the other side and Bran had had enough, and although I was really tired, I had this urge to detect the beach for a while. Wasnt 20 min into the hunt when a man approached me and asked me if I would be willing to help him find his wedding band for $20... I told him I would be happy to help him out, but he didnt need to pay me..
He took me to the area he thought the ring had been lost, and I scoured the area thoroughly, only finding more junk and a couple of dimes. Every time he saw me scoop, his face showed anticipation, then disappointment when no ring appeared... I apologized, explaining that the Excal was new to me and my confidence in using it wasnt the best yet... I felt so bad for the guy, he was really upset about the loss.... Seems he had taken it off, then set it on the blanket they were using... I approached his wife and asked her if she had just picked up the blanket, or had shaken it.. She stated she had shaken it to get the sand off. With the wind whipping at a good 20 mph, I then asked her which way she was facing when she shook the blanket, and she told me she had her back to the wind... A-ha! I figured that with her "snapping" the blanket, and the strong wind, the ring probably went a lot further than they thought. I started searching again, about 30 ft downwind of where they were pretty sure the blanket had been lying. About 5 minutes into that area, I heard a nice solid low tone on the Excal and dug a good scoop... Whatever was there was still in the sand... Dug another scoop and the hole was clear... At this point the guy looked at me as I was shaking the scoop... I expected a nickel to appear, but sure enough there was a nice bright yellow flash in the sand... I gave him a thumbs up and he ran over to me like an Olympic sprinter.... Beautiful 18k/Platinum band!
His wife rushed over and they gave each other a big hug, then both of them hugged me.. They were on vacation from Nebraska and were going to fly home monday morning..
He insisted on giving me the $20 but I refused, telling him that the reward of finding it for him was enough.... He then said "my vacation would have been ruined if you hadnt of found that ring, you dont know how much it means to me" and also that he wouldnt be happy or "feel right" if I didnt accept it... Reluctantly, I accepted the $20....
His wife then asked me if she could take a picture of her husband and I with the found band... Sure I said...
He then put my email addy in his blackberry so he could send me the picture...
So a not so good day ended up being a great day after all... I can only imagine his heartbreak had I decided to just go home instead of continuing the hunt.... Isnt fate a strange thing?
Total clad for the day was $4.87 and also found a 1946 Wheatie that is in great shape...
I will post the picture when he sends it to me....
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Sounds like it was very rewarding,
