Tides, Currents And Rings..

[Erik Oostra]

I recently had a callout from a young English backpacker who'd lost four silver rings at Florence Bay.. She said they weren't very expensive but held a lot of sentimental value.. She'd send me a video of the exact spot she'd lost them, so it was easy to pinpoint where she'd been sunbaking.. She'd taken off her rings and put them on a towel before she went for a skinny-dip, when she got out she shook the sand off her towel and the rings went flying.. She'd spend about an hour trying to find them but no luck.. Then she called her hero.. 

Sadly, it was a very long week later before her hero finally worked up the courage to undertake the horrific trek to Florence Bay.. Young luscious backpacker babes might bounce up and down those huge hills (cliffs) like gazelles, but old and cranky ring recovery dudes find it hard going even on their best days..

Even so, along the way I kept thinking this would be an easy job.. I knew exactly where the rings were and if they'd moved much during the tides then they could only have made their way further into the bay.. I was confident because unlike many other bays on the island, Florence Bay is nearly enclosed so I wouldn't have to worry about the targets being carried along the beach by currents as well as down into the bay by tides.. 

Turned out I was dead wrong.. Enclosed bays can also have currents along the shore, in this case they'd spread the rings far and wide along the beach.. This presented her hero with a much larger area to search, it took nearly two hours to find 3 out of 4 rings.. I guess the forth ring is in the drink somewhere.. Moral of story: No recovery job is easy.. and take along shore currents into account as well as tides, even when the bay is enclosed.. 

The first picture shows Florence Bay.. The second picture shows the beach with the red circle marking where she'd lost her rings and the red arrow showing my wishful thinking.. The yellow circles show where I found her rings.. She was very happy, she didn't expect to see any of them again.. She made a substantial cash donation to the 'Save the Ring Recovery Dude' fund.. 😁

[rvpopeye]

The pic looks like the tide must have been left to right across those two points and the beach was an eddy currents playground ..

You did tell Miss Gazelle that you probably could have found all 4 if they had been on YOUR  beach !  Right ?😉 

[Erik Oostra]

25 minutes ago, rvpopeye said:

You did tell Miss Gazelle that you probably could have found all 4 if they had been on YOUR  beach !

I hear ya rvpopeye, if those rings had been on my beach they'd only be a two minute walk away.. for this job I had to endure a five minute drive and twenty minute walk! 

[CPT_GhostLight]

Well good on you, Erik, for making the making the max effort and rescuing 3 of the lost rings for the damsel in distress! Just more good Karma in the bank! Well done! 😎

[Skull diver]

Three out of four found again is an outstanding achievement!

I hold the reverse record in finding any other piece I am not looking for on specific directions from the unfortunate.

Almost no one has a clear idea of where and when they lose the stuff.And when you get specific instructions, it remains to be seen if it's not what they believe to be real and what happened on the beach immediately afterward.

[Valens Legacy]

Great saves for the lady by a person that knows the area. I'm sure that when you go back there and do another search you will find the 4th ring. It could have went into the tree line or to the side of where you were searching because when you shake something from a towel they can go anywhere.

Good luck and stay safe.

[Erik Oostra]

19 hours ago, Skull diver said:

Almost no one has a clear idea of where and when they lose the stuff. And when you get specific instructions, it remains to be seen if it's not what they believe to be real and what happened on the beach immediately afterward.

Yeah spot on Skull Diver, some people truly believe they lost their ring in one spot only for it to turn up somewhere completely different.. I had one man who swore he'd lost his ring on the beach, he even marked out where he'd been playing with his kids and where they'd been sitting.. I looked everywhere but couldn't find it.. When I walked back to the carparking area behind the dunes I saw his ring on the path, I'd walked straight over it on the way to the beach (and so had the man and his family and a whole load of other people).. 

But sometimes you get lucky, like this backpacker girl.. She lost her rings when she shook her towel and then took a video of where she was sitting.. The spot was easy to find but what threw me was how far the tides and current had moved the rings along the beach.. I often get people who take off their jewellery before going swimming.. They put their stuff in amongst clothing or on a towel and when they get back they unthinkingly grab their clothes or shake the towel and stuff gets lost in the soft sand.. Also sunnies, phones and car keys/fobs..

I'm lucky that people often send me holiday pictures showing the palm tree they were sitting under.. Individual trees at different bays have become good markers to work out where to start searching.. The same goes for big boulders, they also feature in pictures of where people were sitting or swimming and are also good markers.. 

15 hours ago, Valens Legacy said:

It could have went into the tree line or to the side of where you were searching because when you shake something from a towel they can go anywhere.

Yeah, I thought the same when I got home.. At the time I was more worried about that the hightides had washed over where she'd been sitting and how far the rings had gone into the drink.. I'll hoof it back there next week and have a looksee amongst the trees.. This bay and two others have become isolated since the 4x4 track got washed out in flooding a few years ago.. National Parks has put locked gates at the top of the track and only bushwalkers can get to these bays now.. I don't mind walking down that track early in the morning when it's still cool, it's the coming back up in the heat and humidity that are hard work..     

[Skull diver]

8 hours ago, Erik Oostra said:

I'm lucky that people often send me holiday pictures showing the palm tree they were sitting under.

Exactly.
When you have at least one landmark, you can dissect an area and eventually go back after you have ruled it out.
Although I only hunt in the water and years ago I left an army of other hunters on the shore to do pro bono retrievals, at least three times I ran in the middle of summer, with the beach full of people, carrying a harness, 15lt tank and a couple of detectors.

To do what?

Ask the lifeguard for assistance and keep people away from the spot that was described to me, find a bottom chock-full of aluminum and fresh drops of any kind less than metal, come out about three hours later with a host of onlookers waiting for a result and say...Nothing, I found nothing sorry.

At that point it is a matter of explaining a reality that people do not understand.

No one likes to trip over rocks while trying to get into the water for a swim, so clear waters and a soft bottom for walking are chosen.

Too bad time runs fast and any piece disappears swallowed up in the blink of an eye, assuming you are in the exact spot.

Even a current on flat clay can do crazy things without the water appearing choppy on the surface.

So I stopped with on-call retrievals.They think I'm putting something in my pocket by not paying myself, but on the contrary I'm losing time, diesel, air and maybe someone thinks I'm keeping their stuff for myself!

In Europe there is just no culture of paying back an effort.Sad.