The bent scoop

Not every day on the beach is a great day. Beach days are always better than office days. Heck, the dentist chair is better than an office day if I recall correctly. At least in the dentist chair there was Nitrous Oxide to take the pain away…

The surf God is presently angry on the west side of Florida. I know, all you guy’s who live in big water land are looking at my huge surf photos and calling me a sissy. Yeah, well… I’m rubber, your glue-

The Gulf of Mexico has been known to look like a lake on many days. We usually have a very gentle breeze in the morning coming from the east this time of the year. That means flat calm water, which is nice and clear. We usually don’t have the vegetation washed up on the beach either.

It’s easy to tell when the wind and surf is up. The folks with the windsurfing boards show up and appear to be having a great time. I’ve got to keep an eye out for them to keep from getting my head ran over. Sometimes in the surf I’m shoulder deep and just have my head bobbing up.

When the water is clear I’ve seen Manatee’s swim by, dolphins, and even a shark or two. Sting rays are here most of the time, but the coil of the detector usually runs them off before I step on one. Which, by the way, I’ve done in the past.

I was walking in the surf one time and had my foot yanked out from under me. I tumbled into the water as it was only in knee deep. It took about sixty seconds for the intense pain to begin. It felt like someone had made a slit up my leg with a razor knife and poured a salty lighter fluid solution into the gaping wound and subsequently lighting it afire.

It truly made me, a grown man, cry like a baby.

I suffered like a baby for the next hour until I was in the ER at the local beach hospital. The first thing they did was fill a janitors mop bucket (after removing the dirty mop, it is a hospital after all) and with steaming hot water. My foot was shoved into the water and the most amazing thing happened…

Within thirty seconds I felt the intense burning of the sting ray poison subside. The pain vanished as my foot began to boil like a stunned lobster. A red foot was worth the lack of pain.

I stopped crying.

The lesson here…

1. Find the hottest water you can. Get it from a coffee pot, the exhaust from the outboard engine, a nearby restaurant, anywhere. The hotter the better.

2. Soak foot.

3. Go to hospital.

4. It’s okay to cry.

Anyhow, I’ve spent time in southern California, and that water is ice cold all year. Big waves and gooey oil stuff in the sand. The Gulf however, is presently at 88 degrees and the sand is usually clean with a fine sugary texture. It’s a pure joy to hang out in the surf, usually. The water today is choppy, cloudy, and just a bit rough. I suppose we have to take the less than desirable on a rare occasion to truly appreciate the wonderful beach weather we have here most of the time.

I’ve decided to do a little more beach hunting to see what the tourists have deposited in the way of cash and treasures. I’ve managed to collect a few coins and highly valued pieces of scrap aluminum pull tabs when I bent the scoop.

My beach scoop is pretty strong, and should have withstood the massive waves I’m encountering this afternoon, but alas… all is not well in paradise. I had dug it in to start scooping up treasure when a wave got me. Yep, one of those massively HUGE west coast Florida waves. Well, that put an end to the scoop. It bent and is no longer a working beach scoop; it’s simply a hunk of pipe with a basket on the end.

I’m not sure if I’ll be able to get this one fixed or not. It may be time to stimulate the economy and buy a new one. In any event, I lost the treasure I was digging. I’m positive that last target was the 3ct. diamond ring I’ve been searching for.

I’ll just have to keep coming to the beach and searching, over and over and over again. Agonizing… but someone has to do it.

It may as well be me.

Filed Under: Travels

Tags: beach • metal detecting • St. Pete Beach • travel and places