Things you've found under water

[Groundhog246]

Was there any word in the local news of anyone missing from a boating accident? This seems like it would be creepy that it didn't make the news if people are missing.

Shouldn't have been any loss of life from loosing a shaft. On my boat, I have the necessary equipment to not loose the boat either. Even if it was a 2" or 3" shaft, it would take long enough to fill the boat that you could don lifejackets and radio a distress call.

 

[Spamsonite]

I've found... 2 nazi boots out of the U-85... and an urn of ashes from a child (which were left where they were found)...

Where did you get ahold of the Kriegsmarine boots from the U-85? Surely you didn't loot artifacts from a war grave? That's an international crime, and morally equivalent to disturbing and robbing a gravesite in any above-water cemetery. If that's how you got them, that is.

I guess leaving the urn underwater was the right thing to do, but aren't the ashes supposed to be dumped out of the urn and scattered, not just heaved unopened into the drink with a plop and a splash? It kind of defeats the idea of having your body become one with the ocean, as those urns are hermetically sealed. I wonder if someone had been planning to spread them, but had trouble opening the lid and accidentally dropped in the whole thing? From my experiences, the urns are opened, the ashes spread, and the empty (or mostly empty) urn then graces a mantle or bookshelf someplace in the survivor's home.

 

[Iruka]

Found something kind of odd today....I was snorkelling/diving a few hundred yards offshore to find and attach a marker buoy to an Amtrak (WW2 landing craft) because we have a charter coming in later this month & they want to dive it. Anyhow, I saw something large, round & black on the bottom. Dropped down to see what it was, hoping it was a cannonball, as some ships have gone down hundreds of years ago around here...some heavily laden with gold & silver I've heard. Turned out to be a bowling ball.....with some sea urchins living in the finger holes.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

Shouldn't have been any loss of life from loosing a shaft. On my boat, I have the necessary equipment to not loose the boat either. Even if it was a 2" or 3" shaft, it would take long enough to fill the boat that you could don lifejackets and radio a distress call.

In Roatan I don't think they know about life jackets. After our dive boat briefing I asked about the location of life jackets on the boat (since it wasn't mentioned in the briefing) ... and the boat captain looked at me kind've puzzled and said "use your BCD".

And I don't think the majority of the local boats have a radio either. I asked the DM what might have happened to the crew of that boat. He said "swim to shore" ... it was only about a mile or so.

As for news, I wouldn't know ... when on vacation I don't look at news.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[CelticRavenVA]

Found my first last week in Grace Cay in Turks and Cacios on a night dive. We were coming up to do our safety stop, and right under the boat (attached to the mooring line) was an empty Hinekin bottle. Surge was pretty bad that night while picking it up, my hand got pushed into coral head and still isn't healed.... Least it isn't oozing anymore....

 

[Firebrand]

Hey, I know how that feels! I once scrapped up my leg pretty badly on fire coral going after a lobster. That really sucked!

 

[lobbolt]

a tire, some food in a plastic bag, various forms of garbage, most of which i cleaned up.

 

[Puck]

Drugs! On my very first ocean dive, we were in the Bahamas (Nassau with Scuba Centre). Lots of sharks to look at, we had a few minutes to look at a newly submerged airplane, and of course all the fish and coral you could shake a stick at. Sensory overload for a newbee like me. Then we followed the group along a short ledge to a level area, still watching sharks and now I finally notice some of the fish and wishing I had taken up diving years ago, when I spy a large brick-sized bundle just below me. Looks like someting tightly wrapped in celeophane, just like one of those bicks of narcotics they cut open on TV when they bust into the smugglers boat! Ok, I'm newly certified and afraid to touch anything less the scuba police take away my c-card, so I get the DMs attention and my buddy and I point to it, proud as can be of our great find (reward perhaps?). The DM shakes his head and holds his left had in a fist in front of his face, while making a cranking motion with his right and panning left to right. Oh, that's right, he mentioned during the dive breifing that they were filming a movie from the next boat, which was going to move some of the sharks from the "pit" to our dive site...

 

[toodive4]

Well, where to start? I have found many things. Things include fishing weights and lures, flashlights, cameras, a weightbelt, a spear pole, and lots of other stuff, but the best story I can tell is this one... Once while diving off the coast of Ocean City MD, I noticed a fishing rod and reel on the bottom in about 110 feet of water. As I swam towards it, it seemed to be moving away from me in short spurts of a few feet at a time... mind you there were no fishing boats in the area on this day... so it must have been in a the water for at least a couple of days. Eventually I caught up to it and to my surprise found that it looked fairly new... there was only the slightest degree of rusting on the reel and the line was still off into the blue. Suddenly I felt a tug - and I realized there must be a fish on the other end somewhere off in the blue. I began reeling in the line and much to my surprise I found a large Sea Bass on the other end - struggling but still alive... It was also about this time that I realized I had no idea where I had gone... and which direction back to the boat was... I took out my knife and set the fish free... he seemed to be doing fine as I swam away... I reeled in the line and began an ascent holding the rod and reel and praying that I was in a somewhat reasonable vicintity to my boat. I surfaced to find I was about 50 yards from the boat and the surface conditions were not the best (about a 6 foot swell.) I had no belief the boat could see me and I was struggling to keep eyes on the boat. I decided the rod was not worth keeping and would be a pain to try to do compass navigation back to the boat while holding onto the rod. I decided to drop it back to the depths with the hope that some other person may one day strike gold... I'm not sure if anyone believed my story or not... but it doesn't matter... I know I saved a Sea Bass and that's all that matters to me...

 

[coralcuts]

Just got back from anacapa on the spectre and found 3"sculpture of a scorpion in about35 ft of water.i couldn't find the thread where the creator posted wanting replies on if it still there.Well it is and is in good shape. Susan