3 Rings To Start The Week..

[blackjack]

On 6/10/2023 at 6:50 AM, Erik Oostra said:

I looked up the ring's number and it turns out to be white gold.. It was made by a jeweller in Tasmania..  

Get's my goat that Tasmanians lose their rings in Queensland, they never seem to lose any down here ! Experience and persistence pays off, great work Erik. Watch out for those crocs.

[Erik Oostra]

On 6/13/2023 at 1:15 PM, blackjack said:

Watch out for those crocs.

In the news this morning: ‘It’s bloody dangerous’: north Queenslanders grow salty over rapidly increasing crocodile population.. https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/jun/16/north-queenslanders-grow-salty-over-rapidly-increasing-crocodile-population

[blackjack]

Hey Erik, yes it was a throw away line, but I do understand and my comment wasn't just tongue in cheek, I know that you really do have to watch out for the crocs. It's not just age and living in a colder climate that's seen me sell my surfboard, white pointers scare the daylights out of me, I'm just glad I got my surfing done when I was in W.A. and I was younger, shark attacks were rare back then all I worried about at Uluwatu was getting sunburnt. I just checked the webcam, it looks pretty nice right now, 4' and glassy, but 50+ surfers in the water, no wonder the grommets hate us old guys !

[Erik Oostra]

13 hours ago, blackjack said:

I know that you really do have to watch out for the crocs. It's not just age and living in a colder climate that's seen me sell my surfboard, white pointers scare the daylights out of me

The news article just reminded me of what you said about watching out for crocks.. 🙂 They turn up along the Townsville coast more often than the island, but the ones on the island tend to stick around for a while.. Parks moved a large male from Horseshoe Bay and released it about 200 kms down the coast, within 3 days it was back again.. I never saw it when detecting along that beach, but I'll bet it saw me.. One side of the bay is perfect crock country with mangroves and a tidal creek.. 

Another one to watch when scuba detecting is tiger and bull sharks, they scare the daylights out of me.. Because of the mangroves and dredging to keep Townsville Port open the water around the island is usually very murky.. A long time ago I worked here as a scuba instructor and always cringed at how little people could see when learning to dive, not even their hands in front of their face.. The opposite of what they thought a tropical sea would look like.. These days I scuba detect when the visibility is good enough to see them coming, at least to give myself half a chance.. That's how my thinking goes.. 😁 

I suppose that no matter where you detect there's always some beast wanting to eat you, including ticks and mozzies..  

 

[Erik Oostra]

Here's another article (2015): 'Townsville is shark capital of Queensland' .. It also mentions Alma Bay on Magnetic Island, my home bay.. Keep in mind this is only the number of sharks caught on drumlines along beaches..

https://www.townsvillebulletin.com.au/news/townsville/townsville-is-shark-capital-of-queensland/news-story/8d4d68e9228fc4a01388f59b4ebf8c23?fbclid=IwAR1Bg6H8KqiFThvgUd0wVYUkqSXBZobA9drkGqPq0eKHPpiOxcK7eC3VK60

[blackjack]

Erik, no amount of treasure would get me too far from the beach up your way. I still dive for abs and crays but my rule is not to go deeper than I can stand up ! It's a cruel irony that the warmer the water gets the more dangerous it becomes. The inverse proportion rule at play again.

[Kaolin washer]

kig aks,