Posted by john on December 17, 2001 at 19:44:31:
In Reply to: John's Blackwater adventure posted by John on December 17, 2001 at 17:47:30:
If I had been reluctant before, now I had to go down. I signaled Abe, checked my mark and sank feet first to gage the depth and bottom. At two feet all visibility disappeared, and I mean ALL. I couldn't see my hands, I couldn't see my feet, I couldn't see the surface. As soon as my feet touched soft bottom I sprang upward, trying desperately not to disturb the bottom any more than necessary and hoping that I hadn't just mashed the ring into the detritus. I knew it was no good, but I had to try. So I took another breath and piked down with arms outstretched in fists, nerves cued for the slightest vibration, should it be sticks, rocks, animals, or bottom. I never hit the bottom that time. No sooner had my feet slipped below the surface than I was in absolute dark, it was no use. I turned up and blew out my snorkel. Abe asked me what happened. I told him. He suggested that we go get a dive light and come back. I thought it was sketchy, especially since bottoms shift constantly. Not to mention the odds of finding the exact spot that a 2mm thick white gold band had hit the bottom in a 9 foot deep and 20 foot wide creek with Black water and unknown bottom conditions was astronomical. Not to mention the flow rate, the erratic way a ring plummets, and any flukes such as an animal ingesting the glittering thing, my feet pushing it under, and the like. Even if we did, find the right area later, who knows what could have changed by that point. I told him I thought it was just lost. But he insisted we give it a shot. Then he asked me how much it was worth, I estimated and then said, "but that doesn't matter, it's my wedding ring." He stared at me a second and said," lets go get a light." I agreed and we set off to find a dive shop nearby.
The first store we tried was Sport's Authority. And I was a sight walking in there in my shiny blue board shorts, soaking t-shirt, tangled hair, and sockless black italian dress shoes. No matter, I was on a mission. The sport's counter told us they no longer sold dive equipment but referred us to a dive shop across the street. I didn't even know it was there, but we found it. The owner was sympathetic and showed us his stock. Ranging in price from $80- $200. Of course we needed the big one. We debated trying to justify the purchase on a government account, and returning it after use. Then the owner mentioned that they rent them as well. We jumped on that, but the rentals were the low power kind and held weak batteries. So we went back to buying a midsize on Abe's personal account, which he would then donate to the county and take out in trade. The owner's wife suggested a metal detector, but that wouldn't help if we couldn't see it, so Abe tried to bargain. "Too bad you can't just rent us one of those new ones. I mean we only need it for an hour. I'll give you a $50 deposit." I held up my ringless left hand and the owner relented. "I've got my private one that I usually don't rent out. I'll let you rent that if you have it back by closing." We jumped on it and beat it out of the shop for $8 a day. An hour later, after a quick stop for new batteries, which proved fruitless since they insisted on having the actual tax-exempt certificate to use the govt. account, we arrived at the site again.
This time Abe got smart and tied a role of pink twine to the flashlight in case I dropped that too. I slid into the water at the same point, this time missing the root and dropping over my head. Wow, what a steep bank. Then I swam out and grabbed the light which Abe dangled from above. The batteries were none too strong and only gave me a faint shaft of light in the blackness. Still I had to try. I gauged my position according to the bridge and dove with the light full out in front of me. To my relief when I hit the bottom the light provided a two-foot diameter of dimly-lit bottom within which to search. Fortunately again, the floor of the creek was relatively smooth, although thick with detritus. I searched out one full breath and headed for air. "No luck," I said, "but I can see a small circle." Abe acknowledged and guided me to where he thought I was before. I dove again this time searching toward the middle of the creek. It continued to drop off. How deep was this thing! Still no sign. I surfaced again, more confident in my diving now, but even less confindent in finding the ring. I owed it one more try before giving up. We'd gone to so much trouble. As I breathed in, a wordless prayer slid from my mind asking for help to find this symbol of my wonderful marriage, and gift from my beautiful wife. I piked again, further back, unconsciously employing the search and rescue techniques learned in lifeguard training on this much more minute target. As I scanned the bottom I took a chance and laid my head as close to the bottom as I could. Arching my back hard to keep my position, I scanned the light along the bottom almost horizontal, hoping to use the maximum projection of light in search instead of wasting it on the light-absorbing bottom. Just then I caught a glimpse of something that stood out against the muted black and brown of the bottom. My heart jumped but I refocused quickly knowing that if my eyes lost sight of the object I would never find it again. I crept forward slowly being very careful not to stir the leaf and bark that littered the floor. There in front of my eyes was a three millimeter long arc of white protruding from what could easily be several feet of unconsolidated organic soup that would scatter at the slightest brush. I poised the light on the object and carefully slid my free hand forward in the light. Coming from above in the slowest fashion, I picked the tiny speck out of the litter. And there in front of my in the dim yellow light was my very own white gold wedding band. I wasted no time but crammed it down on my index finger and blasted to the surface with my hand extended full above me. As I broke the surface Abe asked if I got it and I whooped my triumph. He cheered with me and we both breathed a sigh of relief.
But I wasn't done yet. I moved the ring to my left thumb, forcing it past the knuckle where it was secure. Then I had to untangle myself from the immense slack that Abe had left me in the pink tether. Apparently my circular treading had wrapped it around my leg repeatedly. I shook it free. Abe directed me and I dove again, now very confident that no unseen snags or creatures lay on the bottom. This time I found both a concrete block and a long PVC pole. I couldn't lift the block easily, So I grabbed the pole and heaved it upward. Abe grabbed the end and supported me as I hung below and again detangled my leg. By the time I had wrestled myself free I noticed that I was now incredibly comfortable in this black water. I made one more dive and found the big cinder block that had been filled with concrete. I pulled at the stone, but it didn't move. So i drove my feet into the muck and heaved. It slid free and I kicked as hard as I could for the surface. In freshwater, I am nearly neutral in buoyancy, adding the weight of the brick far surpassed the lift in my lungs and I realized that I was going to have to muscle it to the surface. Using every ounce of my strength I broke the top and heaved the block as high as I could toward the bank. It splashed only it's own length from where it had left my hand and I gasped for breath. If you've ever worked without breathing you know that such force exerted creates alot of pressure on your effectively sealed lungs. Because you can't exhale as you would on land. Not to mention that leverage is nothing when there is no solid place to brace. Thus 20 pounds may as well be 200. Either way I was exhausted. As I panted Abe reluctantly told me that I had found the less important of two stones. I groaned and turned down to look for the one that held the mount. Using the pole as a guide I went down searching along toward the bottom until I ran into a tree limb. Realizing that I was exhausted and that the likely location of the flat stone was under that spider of twigs I headed for the surface and told Abe he was out of luck. I offered to make one more dive, but he was more than ready to give it up himself as we had now been at this task for around 3 hours, including 3 trips across the pothole ridden road, and we had found the important part. I gladly climbed out, pausing only to pray a deeply felt thank you out loud right there on the bank, and we went to return the light.
I walked in sloshing in my dive boots, which I thought looked less strange than the italian shoes. The owner's wife asked me if we found it and I proudly displayed my left hand with the thin gold band surrounding the third finger. She smiled and I thanked her, knowing that she, like most people, would never know just how difficult, providential, and impressive this adventure had truly been.