Treasure hunting

[Dave-a-roni]

I have a question for everybody. Has anyone ever found any jewelry while snorkeling? Or, lost any?
I was in a discussion with one of the Park Rangers at the parks office one day, my wife was terrified of losing her wedding ring while snorkeling, and the Ranger said that there are a lot of reports of women losing there wedding rings every year while on their honymoon.

I wonder what do you do if you find one? I mean, I would feel bad keeping it and cashing it in, but I wonder if there is an honest "lost and found" for diamond rings!? Hmmm...

[California Girl]

That's a great question! Here's what I'd do:

I'd report to the Park Dept. that I'd found a ring and ask if anyone had reported losing one. If not, then I'd leave my name & phone number so if someone reported it later, they could get a hold of me. I would not turn it in to a "lost & found." If someone did, indeed, try to claim the ring, I would have them describe it to me and if it sounded pretty correct, I'd ask if they had a picture of it (most newlyweds usually take a "rings" picture, right?) If the picture matched they get the ring. If they have no pictures of it, I'd make sure they described it perfectly. If so, they get the ring.

I would keep it for a year for anyone to make a claim for it. After the year with no claims, I'd either sell it or have it re-made into something I designed myself.

[liamsaunt]

I've found stuff underwater while snorkeling on St. John. A full set of keys (why ???) at Waterlemon. A dive watch at Scott Beach at Caneel Bay. No diamonds though!

I think the key to your conversation with the ranger is "honeymoon." In other words, the rings are probably new and so not properly fitted, and if they are even a teensy bit loose on land you can lose them easily while swimming because your fingers shrink after being in the water for a while.

I once lost a gold necklace while snorkeling in Bermuda. I realized it right away, and we went back, where we thought it would/should be, but could not find it. We did find lots of golf balls from the mid-ocean reef club, which we dove down and collected for fun. Amazingly no one claimed them.

[mrsb]

Hey Dave and all others worried about losing their rings. Here is what I do: I take it off, put it in one of those dry boxes and then I got an inflatable vest (cause I am not a good swimmer or floater) with a zip mesh pocket in front. I put the dry box in the vest pocket and zip it. This way my ring is always with me but not in danger of being lost. You don't have to inflate the vest but it is nice to have that zip pocket.

[Bug]

Two years ago I lost a diamond earring right on the shorline of Salomon. My snorkel mask pulled it out of my ear. We searched for a little and finally gave up.

Even though I've donated to the ocean it has never given me any treasure back. Not yet anyway

XOXO
Bug

[Dave-a-roni]

California Girl,
Yeah, that's a good idea, we have a picture of my wifes ring because we had someone we knew make it cheaper than in the store (with a better diamond).

Liamsaunt,
You found keys?! What the h--l? How bizarre, I hope they weren't keys to someones moterboat

Because of Liamsaunts treasure (keys), I want to extend this thread to this question:

This is little more interesting I think. Has anyone found any foreign object(s) on the sea floor while snorkeling ?

[StJohnRuth]

Ron found a twenty dollar bill offshore on the ocean floor out by the moored boats at Honeymoon once.
-Ruth

[nothintolose]

Other than the diaper and tampon I found at Francis (no lie) and did NOT touch, SO found a loop earring with what looks like diamonds on it. We asked around but no one was missing one. It looked like it had been there a while. I think he still has it where he has some other junk he's found on trips (did I mention he is a pack rat???)

nothintolose

[mrsb]

CG, sorry to parrot part of your post. I was just reading this thread again. I sit there and read the posts then I post and I end up repeating the above phrases. I really need that vacation, my brain is going.




Oh, nothintolose, if I found that stuff in the water, that would be the end of swimming there for the day- ewww!

[AquaGirl]

A number of years ago, we were enjoying a nice beach on Tobago. A guy came and asked if he could borrow one of our masks to look for his ring. They were newlyweds and the ring had come off in the water. We lent them the mask, but then my husband felt sorry for them, so he joined them in the water with his mask to help them look for it. The bottom was sandy and the water was really clear, but it sure seemed hopeless to find a tiny thing like a ring. But...my husband saw something glinting in the sun, and sure enough, it was the ring. Really made that couple's day. In our 20+ years of snorkeling, we have never found any good stuff, other than that ring.

[nothintolose]

mrsb - it left a sour taste on us for Francis and didn't return there for two trips...oh, and we quickly snorkeled far away from the area where they were (both near the beach).

nothintolose

[liamsaunt]

Urgh, speaking of gross things...one time we were snorkeling at an unnamed St. Thomas beach and found all kinds of gross stuff...tampons, toliet paper rolls, etc. It was really ooky. We found out later that the source was some kind of pipe leak and it was corrected right after we had visited.

John also "found" a heineken bottle at Francis. Well, he found it by watching some stupid guy drink it while in the water, then duck underwater to dump the bottle on the sand. He got out of the water and John swam over to get the bottle and throw it out. What a jerk that guy was!

By far the best thing I've ever found snorkeling was John's wallet! He had one of those water wallets velcroed into his swimsuit, and the pocket came open somehow. Not only did the wallet come out of his pocket, the wallet itself opened up! I was swimming along and suddenly noticed money floating by. I was thinking "what the heck!" until the actual wallet floated by! Thankfully all was recovered safely, though the dollars were certainly soggy! We bought an otter box for the next trip.

[California Girl]

mrsb - did you parrot me? I don't see it, but I wouldn't care if you did

Does that make me an official Parrothead now?

[mrsb]

Well, kind of when I repeated the here's what I do thing. I do that often unintentionally, take part of what someone says and repeat with what I am saying, don't know why Must be too much work and not enough rum!