Ring Daddy #108 and #109......Brrrrrrrrrr!!!!

Yeah buddy, it was cold!! I checked the temperature before I got into my wetsuit. 28 degrees with a NW wind. Man, I am tired of living in a wetsuit. I will be neoprene man until May of next year. I've got a Farmer john (7 mm) and a Shorty (7 mm). I've also got neoprene gloves and boots...and it takes a while to put all this stuff on. I feel like its Halloween every day.

This morning I tried a new spot...brand new...never detected this stretch of beach. My other choices had been pretty lame for the last couple of days and I needed to change things up.

Low tide was 6:02 and I was on the beach at 6:05. The eastern sky had a tint of light to it. The Atlantic Ocean looks like a large lake with such small waves. I wade into the surf and on about the third swing I get a target. I can't see what I have in the scoop and walk it up to the shore and dump. A quarter. My right hand is aching from the cold. I swing for fifteen or twenty minutes before I get another quarter. Then I get a pin of some kind.

Five pelicans fly overhead in the darkness.

I hear a siren on Kings Hwy. and hope that they are not coming to rescue me again.

I step on a flounder or skate with my left foot and he bangs into my right leg trying to escape.

Man, my hand is cold. I move down the beach to the next little depression. A guy bundled to the max shakes his head as he walks by. It is close to sunrise. I get a small signal. Two scoops later it is sounding interesting. The third scoop has the target. The sun breaks the ocean line. I move the shells around and see Ring Daddy #108.

Suddenly, I don't feel nearly as cold. I continue to grid the surf area. Already I feel warmer from the sunshine on my black wetsuit. A few more targets and I venture a bit further out. Another sweet sounding signal. One scoop and I am looking at diamonds!!!! The ring is turned upright and the diamonds are all aglitter. OMG!!

Now the cold has no meaning. I am doing the ring dance in my head.

The low tide is gone and yet I hate giving up. I dig an electric box and call it quits. 8:30 when I get to the car.

This has to be the least amount of targets per gold ring that I have ever gotten. Two quarters...no other coins.

Yesterday, I hunted the 14th Street Pier area. They are in the middle of dredging that section. There were hundreds of conch and snail shells scattered on the beach. I love the snail shells. Everytime I see one I am transported millions of light years away or looking through the Hubble Telescope at a new swirling galaxy.

I went to McDonalds to celebrate. You know where I will be tomorrow morning!!