Several weeks ago I ran into a tourist pirate at Horseshoe Bay as I was exiting the beach after my spin. We got to chatting, as pirates will do and the next thing you know he mentions that the senior ladies that aquacize in the sheltered swimming hole had lost a wedding band. A 1961 vintage, 22k gold band had slipped off the finger of one of the elderly ladies a few days prior and they had asked the tourist pirate to try and find it but it was too deep for his land machine - he asked me to give it a go so of course I did. No Dice, the sand was in several feet thicker than normal and the ticket had sunk clean out of detector range.
We parted company and I promised to keep an eye on the area in question but there was little change in conditions for a while until a heavy blow hit Bermuda and stirred things up.
I hit the swimming hole a couple of weeks ago and chased some coins down to a good depth of around 2 feet and then I got a faint signal in the round tone range, I love that round tone because it is usually round as in a ring.
The tone was at the base of a large rock that is about ten feet from a suck hole tunnel that connects the ocean to the swimming area, a little dangerous if it is sucking hard as you can be pulled under if you are not careful. A young boy got too close to it a year ago and by the time people could get him out he had drowned.:sad: So with one eye on the suck hole and the other on my scoop I dug down and pushed the round tone around for a while. I had to keep kicking the sand back to get after the target as I was now over 3 feet deep and the sand kept pouring back into the crater I was creating. Finally I hit pay dirt and the target disappeared because it was in my scoop - it was a 22k yellow gold band inscribed with the date 1961.
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Now the hard part was to reconnect the ring with the elderly woman who had lost it, I have seen these ladies many times over the years as they strode back and forth through the waist deep water first thing in the morning - they are surf church regulars in their own way. I decided I would just come around early and find them but the high season is passed now in Bermuda so there aren't as many beach goers in the morning anymore. The few times I made it down to Horseshoe Bay early there were very few people around and none of the elderly ladies from the aquacize group, and that's when my Princess and I got blindsided.
Our 12 year old dog and close member of our family had a massive stroke and we thought she would die, but with meds and a lot of TLC she has managed to hang on - a little disoriented and wobbly on her feet but not in pain. I've been watching over her the past few weeks and I simply forgot about the ring and the return in the interim.
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Fortunately, I have a new pirate apprentice Lee and he ran into some of the aquacize ladies early in the morning this past weekend, he passed along my phone number as was my wish. Mrs. Ford called me up this morning and quoted the inscription inside the ring to me - I returned the ring to her this afternoon, she is so happy and I am too.
Just to see the look on her face when the ring she got married with 48 years ago, was placed back on her finger after being given up for lost - that was priceless.
I extracted my usual reward from her - a picture of the return and the promise that she will help someone else the first chance she gets - I feel I am well paid for my efforts.
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Cheers All,
BDA
We parted company and I promised to keep an eye on the area in question but there was little change in conditions for a while until a heavy blow hit Bermuda and stirred things up.I hit the swimming hole a couple of weeks ago and chased some coins down to a good depth of around 2 feet and then I got a faint signal in the round tone range, I love that round tone because it is usually round as in a ring.
The tone was at the base of a large rock that is about ten feet from a suck hole tunnel that connects the ocean to the swimming area, a little dangerous if it is sucking hard as you can be pulled under if you are not careful. A young boy got too close to it a year ago and by the time people could get him out he had drowned.:sad: So with one eye on the suck hole and the other on my scoop I dug down and pushed the round tone around for a while. I had to keep kicking the sand back to get after the target as I was now over 3 feet deep and the sand kept pouring back into the crater I was creating. Finally I hit pay dirt and the target disappeared because it was in my scoop - it was a 22k yellow gold band inscribed with the date 1961.[attachment 145808 IMGP0391-1.JPG]
Now the hard part was to reconnect the ring with the elderly woman who had lost it, I have seen these ladies many times over the years as they strode back and forth through the waist deep water first thing in the morning - they are surf church regulars in their own way.
I decided I would just come around early and find them but the high season is passed now in Bermuda so there aren't as many beach goers in the morning anymore. The few times I made it down to Horseshoe Bay early there were very few people around and none of the elderly ladies from the aquacize group, and that's when my Princess and I got blindsided. Our 12 year old dog and close member of our family had a massive stroke and we thought she would die, but with meds and a lot of TLC she has managed to hang on - a little disoriented and wobbly on her feet but not in pain. I've been watching over her the past few weeks and I simply forgot about the ring and the return in the interim.
[attachment 145809 P5240002-1.JPG]
Fortunately, I have a new pirate apprentice Lee and he ran into some of the aquacize ladies early in the morning this past weekend, he passed along my phone number as was my wish. Mrs. Ford called me up this morning and quoted the inscription inside the ring to me - I returned the ring to her this afternoon, she is so happy and I am too.
Just to see the look on her face when the ring she got married with 48 years ago, was placed back on her finger after being given up for lost - that was priceless. I extracted my usual reward from her - a picture of the return and the promise that she will help someone else the first chance she gets - I feel I am well paid for my efforts.
[attachment 145810 IMGP0444-1.JPG]
Cheers All,
BDA
