July 22, 2019

Not knowing how a splendid Nantucket Island vacation was to come to a memorable end Dave and his wife boarded the Hi-speed ferry headed to Hyannis. It seems the weather was bad and many of the passengers were not sea worthy or had not taken their Dramamine to combat motion sickness, heck it is only a short hour ride how bad could it be? It turned out to be one of the longest hours of the vacation. More long hours were still ahead of them that they had not imagined.

Check-in and the accommodations at one of the Cape’s renowned B&Bs promised better times were on the horizon. But that is where they stayed, on the horizon for the next 20 hours, beyond the murky water in the seaweed filled swimming area. Trying their darnedest to make the best of the rough waters and accompanying seaweed, into the high surf they went. Unfortunately that is where Dave’s wedding band decided to spend the night under the watchful eyes of King Neptune and Davey Jones.

A late night E-mail was answered at 2am with a promises I would be ready to search the area at 10:30am or before. Time flies fast when you are having fun and I showed up two hours early. I knew I was in trouble when I saw the dark expanse of seaweed. It looked like it was covering the area that Dave’s wife had marked on a map for the area to search. The best I could do was search the edges of the mass as it was moved by the tide, it was just too thick to swing my detector through. What to do…search outside of the seaweed – for three hours while the tide moved the seaweed away is just what I did.

It was time for Dave and his wife to head home trying to beat the mass exodus from the Cape that happens during the summer months. Three times I was told they were leaving. But, so I was told later, my searching was just too mesmerizing for them to leave. On the third notification I told Dave, not to worry, I would mail the ring to him. However, should I find it within another 15-30 minutes I would call him so he could turn around, come back and pick the ring up before leaving the Cape. He left and in five minutes the ring was in my scoop. I ran to get my cell phone while sunbathers cheered me on. Well, to cut this short, Dave and his wife were still watching from inside the breakfast room. Pictures, hugs and thanks took some time, hopefully not so much as to slow the return trip home caused by heavy vacation traffic. I am sure they would not mind a travel delay after what they had been through and the outcome of my search and the return of Dave’s ring.