SurfCutter
New member
One of the problems we tried to solve was what about the loot in the deeper water .... Well Richard's answer to this was to get a hookah rig, a small gas engine driven air pump on a float. The fist place we tested this new piece of equipment was the beaches at Missisquoi Bay.
It was later in the season and the beaches were not as crowded when we rolled in , paid from parking for the day and started to lug our equipment to the water. At this time I had been scuba diving for a couple of seasons back home and was very comfortable under water and the conditions that could be expected , basically very low or no visibility.
The hookah rig used common garden hoe for the air lines, two lines to be exact ,at 100' in length and the standard warning not to dive below thirty feet. We found it was not enough air line in that I was larger that Richard in build it was he that suffered until he explained what was happening .
Richard with his ,luck , skill, or sixth sense , call it what you will would just get a good hit and the target half dug when I in my zeal for gold would be at the full distance of my hose and and His a total of 200' and I would just keep going . Poor Richard would be dragged off his target backward and no amount of kicking would get him stopped until I did . This happened a couple of time when he finally chased me down and explained what was happening , from then on we took more care as to what the other was doing .
Missisquoi Bay waters were very clear and the bottom with yards of soft deep sand we had lucked out in that the water was low and we found an area the we felt might be the maximum swimming areas depth , this ended at the start of a weed bed . It was very different to swim along and pick up paper money off the bottom at the edge of the weeds between the two of us we got enough to buy gas and fill the tank up . what was really nice was the number of targets and to see just how deep they were in the sand, most were only a couple of inches at this depth due to the reduced wave action and foot traffic. What was really nice was to swim alone and find the targets , in most cases gold rings just laying on top of the sand in plain sight one of my heavies rings was found this way an 18K band from the early 1920's . we used the rig for two seasons before Richard got an offer to sell it for more than he paid for it and he sold it . In the two seasons he used it we found it to be most useful . One beach in particular it was just what was needed , it was a small beach on the St Lawrence that went back to the early 1930's . Richard called it the skinny dipping beach from the fist time he and buddy hunted the beach it was being used and they had to hang back until all parties could pass politely by . this beach had sand in the first few yards out in to the water only to slowly give way to a flat rock bottom with creaks through it and out in deeper water small stones . Well we had gotten good target hits but could not get them with the scoops , diving with the hookah rig solved this and we cleaned up with many rings and silver from the war years .
Swim suits look just as good below the water as they do above if not better ....I say no more ...
It was later in the season and the beaches were not as crowded when we rolled in , paid from parking for the day and started to lug our equipment to the water. At this time I had been scuba diving for a couple of seasons back home and was very comfortable under water and the conditions that could be expected , basically very low or no visibility.
The hookah rig used common garden hoe for the air lines, two lines to be exact ,at 100' in length and the standard warning not to dive below thirty feet. We found it was not enough air line in that I was larger that Richard in build it was he that suffered until he explained what was happening .
Richard with his ,luck , skill, or sixth sense , call it what you will would just get a good hit and the target half dug when I in my zeal for gold would be at the full distance of my hose and and His a total of 200' and I would just keep going . Poor Richard would be dragged off his target backward and no amount of kicking would get him stopped until I did . This happened a couple of time when he finally chased me down and explained what was happening , from then on we took more care as to what the other was doing .
Missisquoi Bay waters were very clear and the bottom with yards of soft deep sand we had lucked out in that the water was low and we found an area the we felt might be the maximum swimming areas depth , this ended at the start of a weed bed . It was very different to swim along and pick up paper money off the bottom at the edge of the weeds between the two of us we got enough to buy gas and fill the tank up . what was really nice was the number of targets and to see just how deep they were in the sand, most were only a couple of inches at this depth due to the reduced wave action and foot traffic. What was really nice was to swim alone and find the targets , in most cases gold rings just laying on top of the sand in plain sight one of my heavies rings was found this way an 18K band from the early 1920's . we used the rig for two seasons before Richard got an offer to sell it for more than he paid for it and he sold it . In the two seasons he used it we found it to be most useful . One beach in particular it was just what was needed , it was a small beach on the St Lawrence that went back to the early 1930's . Richard called it the skinny dipping beach from the fist time he and buddy hunted the beach it was being used and they had to hang back until all parties could pass politely by . this beach had sand in the first few yards out in to the water only to slowly give way to a flat rock bottom with creaks through it and out in deeper water small stones . Well we had gotten good target hits but could not get them with the scoops , diving with the hookah rig solved this and we cleaned up with many rings and silver from the war years .
Swim suits look just as good below the water as they do above if not better ....I say no more ...
