Coolest/Most Unique "Finds" While Diving?

[bakodiver391]

I found a coke bottle from a WW2 Japanese -held island. The bottle is about 7/8 normal size and has only a single Kanji symbol on the bottom. My historian buddy says the Japanese captured a bottling plant in Indonesia and bottled soy sauce there, so maybe that is the source. Cool history behind this little bottle.

 

[Wobbegong_th]

About 20yrs. ago, me & my (now) wife dived on a small island near Pattaya, Thailand. The spot was quite popular with group tours for snorkle & seawalking.

We dived at about 8-10m depth, passing under a group of 'splasher' on the surface. My wife found a Saiko Digital Watch on the sand, like it was just dropped a few moments ago. Not even particles on top.

So, we pick the watch, tried to get attention from those 'surface splasher' but no response. She just put it in her BCD pocket and kind of forgot about it in the next dive. So the watch went for 4 dives over that weekend. (first dive was when we found it, second that afternoon, third the next morning, fourth next afternoon - some of these dive was down to about 20m). Not until the following weekend when we clean out gear that we realized that we still have the watch.

My wife keep using that watch for almost 8 years afterward.

 

[Dan G]

Found this fishing weight on the deck on The Spiegel Grove, Key Largo a few years back.

 

[GF99/99]

Its all about the popular Cenotes where everyone jumps off into the water. Those simple smart watch bands like to pop off when people's arms hit the water.

All in one day:

 

[SouthernSharktoothDiver]

So, me and my cousin like to dive for sharks teeth and other fossils. His first time out, on the second dive of the day, in August of this year, he lost his goodie bag (actually my bag that I was lending him). He was really bummed out and we called it a day pretty disappointed.

Flash forward to our latest dive, two weeks ago today. Second dive of the day, we're freezing half to death, the current's ripping, and we're maybe 50 yards further downriver than normal, guess what I find? That same bag, teeth still in it and everything, even about four months later.

Would you believe that mooch of a cousin of mine actually wanted the teeth that were in it? (I'm being sarcastic, but I did let him have the teeth.)

 

[BuoyantSea]

On a dive trip to Anguilla, the conditions were right for us to dive El Buen Consejo (The Good Counsel)https://www.aahsanguilla.com/uploads/7/3/7/1/7371196/el_conjo.pdf
The divemaster/ shop owner was busy with some "new" students, none of whom had more than a handful of dives. Our instructions were to stay close, as they'd seen an extremely large tiger shark in the channel on the last visit a few days before.

The wreck of El Buen Consejo is classified as a living museum, which means that nothing can be removed. Any artifact that is handled, must be returned to where it came from under penalty of law. In the predive briefing, we were told that any violations were subject to an automatic 10 years in prison AND $100,000 U.S. fine...they aren't playing. We were subject to search when we returned to the dock. Understood.

So, we got in the water and the first thing you see are two fluke anchors with the eyes pointing toward the wreck. The bottom was littered with cannons, pewter plates, ballast stones, encrusted cannonballs, encrusted copper pins (used to nail the hull together). There's also glass buttons, wads of pitch that helped glue the hull to keep it watertight, broken china, and even pewter utensils. We also found brass religious medallions that the monks were trading the natives for their gold & silver (what a deal, right?) I was amazed and blown away at the same time. My wife, however, considers shipwrecks human garbage and she has zero interest in them. She got bored quickly and was prompting me to go find some fun fish/critters. We found a peacock flounder and went to get a closer look. The flounder wasn't having any part of that, so it swam up off the bottom and headed towards deeper water. I spotted it again, but as soon as the flounder saw us, it took off again and gave us the slip. We were now slightly over the edge of the channel which we were supposed to avoid. We turned and started back up to the shallower flat. Something in the reef caught my eye. It looked like a couple of brass candlesticks encrusted in the reef, they were covered with a light whispy coating of green algae. I moved closer and rubbed at the algae, which went away immediately. Instead of candlesticks, I realized they were stacks of gold coins(!!!). I tried to lift them or turn them to get them out of the reef concretion. They wouldn't budge, but I could tell there were more stacked behind the two stacks showing. I banged on my tank with my knife handle in a frenzy to get my wife's attention. She appeared over the lip of the reef and with an exasperated look, she turned her palms up signaling "WHAT?". I motioned for here to come see and again, she signalled "What?". All I could think to do was rub my fingertips together like "money!", but she didn't get it. As I tried to chip the concretion away with the handle of me knife, she saw the gold. Her eyes got huge, then she held up an index finger and shook it back and forth, like "No,no,no". About that time, the divemaster popped over the lip of the channel, asking if we were OK. He'd heard the frenzied banging and feared the worst. After I confirmed that we were o.k., I motioned for him to come see what I'd found with the rubbing fingertips move. His eyes almost popped out of his head when he saw the stacked gold coins. I got the same "No,no,no" finger wag from him too. He looked hesitantly towards the blue water and motioned for us to follow him back up to the shallows. When we got to the boat, he told me not to mention it to the others and that he'd report to the authorities. The thought of a $100,000 fine and 10 years in the hole kept going through my mind. Whatever, I knew it was off limits to me, though I was thrilled with my find.

The next year, I went online looking for that dive shop and it was no longer in operation. I couldn't find any current information about the shop owner either. I don't know if he went back, collected the gold, took the money and ran, or if the hurricane that hit after our visit ran him out of business.

Even though I don't have anything to show for it, those gold coins were the coolest find of my dive career, so far.

Jim

 

[DANDM]

A fresh unbroken chicken egg on a muck dive.

With the price of eggs these days, it's probably more expensive than anything else being posted on this thread.

 

[Pressurehead]

A fresh unbroken chicken egg on a muck dive.

Now that is what I call 'Free range'.

 

[wetb4igetinthewater]

Chunk of rusted out metal from the Mentor, a brig that sank in 1802 carrying antiquities stolen from Greece. What it will be after all the corrosion is removed, who knows?

 

[Scuba_Jenny]

A fresh unbroken chicken egg on a muck dive.

With the price of eggs these days, it's probably more expensive than anything else being posted on this thread.

I was at Blue Heron Bridge and found this paper roll. Like butcher paper, rolled up to about the size of a rolled up t shirt. I started unrolling it, and a dollar bill floated out.. Before I could grab my camera and take a photo, a chicken head floats past! Continue unrolling and there were (dried) beans. I still have the dollar bill. Not sure what to do with it.