Nostalgia In The Home Beach

[Skull diver]

After some time, we all have a spot that unlike others, we know like the back of our hand, that spot where more than others we had satisfaction and even lessons.

It is the spot closest to home, the one you reach with little effort and know with your eyes closed.

Well, two days ago I met a diver friend in town struggling with his hooka and having to take advantage of the few days of 0 energy for the last sessions of the year, yesterday I brought a cylinder with me so I could give him air and a few hours on the bottom.

The wonder?

Entering the water together in the home spot and in the slime that makes the water murky discovering that some god has ripped out tons of sand without anyone noticing yet.

I start breathing at an accelerated pace, but I don't care because there is a compressor on the surface and for the next 4 hours I won't dare move away from the pit.

I discover with little surprise that the holiday season has already brought the need for another 2kg of ballast to stay down on the bottom....

I can hardly believe it at moments, and although I have moved hundreds of boulders and searched meter by meter in over 15 years at this place, for the umpteenth time Mother Nature surprises me with a new combination of red clay, fine crushed stone, black sand, then orange, shells of all kinds, and large boulders on top of the cake with seaweed topping deposited between the cracks...

The scenery tells of a bad current that has dug down to the mother layer as never before, in addition to old waves of a power rare in these parts.

But the seaweed reminds me of the late recognition of the closing party.

I start with the smile of a child at Christmas and listen confidently for the presence of iron, then silver, coarse aluminum, and dig up nothing but distinct mids...

Bang, a reddish snake at least 20 years old appears....

I am sure I am in the oldest section, the most ravaged by dozens of other hunters, and I am struck with nostalgia.

I may have seen 20 more of the same shape, but I haven't dug any in forever....

At that point, already happy to have caught a piece just where I least expected it, I insist and move a good 100 meters away catching sight of another really huge pit.

It's been almost three hours and I'm starting to stand on the bottom almost belly down.The wetsuit has soaked through to the cells closest to the skin and the temperature has dropped considerably.

You can tell by the loss of interest and control that you are about to get hypothermia....

Just before the headache, determined to resurface and already blessed with gold in my glove, another indisputable signal in the 40s stops me....

Bang again...

Thin, barely bigger than my little finger and as beautiful as ever, comes a second ring from another time....

There is no way to explain, on balance I don't get to 4 grams total, but the place, the history and memories I have among these rocks, are back together after too long.

I leave the beach struggling to get out among dozens of meters of seaweed, dirty and breaded like a schnitzel...I turn around and say, "You got me again..."

 

 

[Valens Legacy]

Thanks for the wonderful write up and I also believe there is a special place that everyone has to go to.

I like the creeks and lakes near me, along with a few farms that I haven't finished yet.

Good luck in the new year and stay safe out there.

[Sinclair]

Congrats, nice write up and the rings really look special.

Happy New Year!

[F350Platinum]

Great story and beautiful gold, Skull Diver. 👍 The way you wrote that speaks well of your passion for the craft, I often envy the people with SCUBA experience, it's probably something I'll never do but wish I could.

I'd say that diving probably brings the most return, the investment and risk are great. Seems you had a great year. 👏 Best of luck to you in the coming one.

[rvpopeye]

Searching the bottom of a cold running creek with frozen fingers , dive gloves on my mind. 

So , the guy at the dive shop told me to stay warm my gloves had to be so tight I couldn't move my fingers ! Well duh , but.......

How will I pick anything up ? I took the XL's , they'll still be warmer than the rubber coated cloth gloves I wear digging    and added a pair of socks for the green boots too. 

 Being almost next door to Goodwill at mom's last summer I stopped in and 2 sets of neo ~5mm bib bottoms and jackets hanging out with the winter coats , both for less than the new  gloves ! One fits good  , the other a bit big. They're in the overhead .

Hey 350 , what size are ya ?    Never say never .

[CPT_GhostLight]

Great story and great finds, Skull diver, well done again! 😎