Stories about when people ask for help recovering things.

My dive buddy agrees to search a half a tank (and then we could go bottle dive for one and a half more). The two fisherman pick us up at a dock and come to a consensus as to where the rod met it's watery resting place. We begin our search. Right away, there is a problem. In the intervening time since my last effort, there has been an algae bloom. A little hard to describe, but it is like floating cottony green clouds that are big and obnoxious. If you swim into one, you see nothing. If you try to brush it away, your hand just goes right through it. It is soft squishy with no substance. I tried to pull a big glob out of the water at the surface and a thin layer of slippery slime covered my fingers. Uh oh.

We continued to search anyway. The two fisherman realized that nothing was happening fast, so they went off to fish. They said they'd be close enough to see us so that we could signal them if we needed to. Tom and I searched and searched. Conditions were not ideal but I was convinced that if anyone could find it, we would. Unfortunately, we weren't. Eventually, we were forced to realize that if we couldn't get it in all that time, it may be unrecoverable. We were getting ready to give it up in a few minutes so that we could still search for bottles. Then at the bottom, I saw a tiny bit of a purple-ish color. Not what I had been seeing. I checked to find out if it was a wrapper or garbage or what. As I grabbed it, I saw the rubbery stringy hair-like substance that lures have (especially spin baits). And, the lure is attached to a line which is attached to a pole. A LaCroix pole! I found it. I went over and told my buddy to stop looking, I had it. Then I waved it around in the air above the water to signal them.

The rod was completely buried in a very fine sediment making it virtually invisible. Amazingly, it had tiny zebra mussels on it already and it wasn't down there more than a few weeks. The owner tried a cast and it worked perfectly like it had never been submerged.

We climbed aboard and he took us off to the spot where we wanted to bottle dive. We each found some old glass including hutches, but nothing major came out besides the pole. We switched tanks and clipped the extras on our floats. When we finished, we swam back to the dock where we started across a big bay.

I am not too excited about this recovery attempt but not everything goes the way you hope.

The bait shop near where we often launch our boat lost a new motor when it literally fell off a rental in the middle of the lake. Not a deep spot. Maybe 6 or 7 feet. Presumably, the new motor was not mounted correctly, but maybe we could find and salvage it.

When it fell off, the people in the boat alertly set an anchor. That should have put us right where it fell off. However, the bait shop didn't want their customer stranded so, they picked them up and gave them a new boat. To keep tabs on the motor's location, they tied an anchor to a life-jacket to mark the spot and put it in place. What could go wrong?

I'll tell you. A good Samaritan recognized that this life jacket belonged to the bait shop. They would return it. When they plucked it out, it seemed strange that it was tied to an anchor. Oh well, they returned it anyway. Now the only thing precisely marking the location was gone. Uh oh.

Could we find it? Well, we really wanted to. The owner of Smokey's bait shop was a very nice man. He had always been great to us. He also tried to encourage kids to fish and helped link kids with sheriffs to go out on fishing adventures. We really wanted to help.

When we got out there we realized this was a bad weedy area. If the heavy motor sank beneath the mat of weeds, it would not be easy to find. Plus, one shoreline that was used as a landmark was a mile away. The other at least a quarter of a mile. In other words, we could be hundreds and hundreds of feet off in any direction. That is a gigantic search field. But the motor was big. Maybe we'd see it right away and find it easily? Nope. Three guys spent our entire tanks looking. We did not find it. It was really a shame. But as I noted at the beginning, you just don't win them all.

I am out diving one sunny afternoon out away from shore. I surfaced and someone is out at the edge of their pier waving their arms around trying to get my attention. I briefly considered just ignoring this but I do want people to have a positive opinion about divers. The day that no diving signs go up, is the day my hobby gets restricted. For example, there is a police boat on a lake that I go to. He pulled over by us as we were suiting up one day and asked if we wanted them to hang around and make sure no one goes to close to our flags. A kind offer that was well intentioned. I said "No, thank you". The reason is that when some boater who lives on the lake comes too close, the police are likely to stop them and they may potentially get a ticket. That is going to frustrate them and give them the impression that divers stink. (We literally do sometimes when going in muddy conditions). Anyway, I'd rather dive safely, protect myself, than have the legitimate landowners fined on their own lake.

So, I swam over to the pier of the man flagging me down. He says that he lost a nice anchor right out there. Could I find it? Can you be more precise? He points out over the water waving his arm right and left. How far out? Just where you were before. Where I came from was 250 feet away.

Okay. This is a relatively small object. Visibility was one to three feet. Even if it was not buried, I'd have to swim right on it to find it. The odds seemed astronomical. Nonetheless, I said I would try. My plan was to look for 5 to 10 minutes and then go back to bottle diving.

What he neglected to tell me was that he had at least a hundred feet of line on it. A hundred feet of line is way easier to cross. On my first pass, two minutes in, I found the line. I pulled on one end, nothing. Pulled the other direction and there was an anchor attached. It was one of those type that have a curved bottom with what looks like arrow heads for points, then a shaft going up with a crossbar sideways to the curved bottom. It was nice.

I swam it back in and the gent came running down from his house. He was so excited. He handed me a twenty dollar bill. I thought that this was too much based on the amount of work it took to find it. He replied that this was super expensive and insisted that I keep it. I thanked him then gave him a another anchor I had found earlier as a back-up and a few common crowns.

Blob.... I don't dive anymore for health reasons. Still snorkel on occasion. Find plenty of things in shallower water that people toss or have fallen overboard. I've pretty much scoured the lake bottom where my cabin is at, plus many others. Fished up several angling devices, several good plough anchors, big 12V boat batteries, cell phones & pagers(pagers offer cash rewards if found), and all kinds of boating paraphernalia including outboards and one time a complete canoe.

I pick up bottles (and cans) all the time if only to clean the lake. Lots of beer bottles, not sure if that's a good thing. Some have been there a long time. I've only kept 3 bottles in all that time. All glass embossed in good shape(no chips or cracks), one a 6.5 oz green skirted bottle of Vess Dry, a K_untz beverage bottle and a 1967 Coca Cola bottle with the both English & French 'No deposit" "No return". Maybe because I'd never seen them before. I was 14 when the coca-cola bottle came out and I couldn't afford a pop in those days. I keep them on a bookshelf next to my computer so I see them almost every day.

The people here are very bottle knowledgeable from what I've been able to gather. If you find something unusual then allow these guys to give you some quick info on the find. Best of luck in your diving adventures.

Hey Knotta,
Thanks for your reply and well wishes. Sorry that you can't dive anymore. It will be a sad day for me when I have to hang it up because I love it. I have found some cool bottles in shallow water including hutches, milks, medicines and blob beers. So, keep your eyes peeled. From time to time I do some eco cleanup by clearing out trash but not too often. Years ago, I cleaned lots steel off the bottom. I was building a mound in the garage. When I tool it in, I got $8.95 for 895 pounds. That cured me. I always take lead out nowadays cause its not good for the lake but not so much steel.

Anyone ever ask you to help recover things when you were diving?

Anyone ever ask you to help recover things when you were diving?

Click to expand...

Helped recover a brand new 75 hp outboard that wasn't attached to a transom very well. Was in deep channel at the mouth of a Trent canal lock. Lots of traffic and deeper than expected, took more time than we figured. Only other time was when a neighbour asked if I'd look for his lost anchor. Never found it. Also have unplugged several pump intakes for cottages.

Amazing amount of the old stubby beer bottles still underwater. I also used to wonder how, on a rocky bottom, one can still find a 50+ year old bottle undamaged but it happens a lot. Most times on sand bottom you need good visibility because you may only see the neck of a bottle sticking up and when you reach down to pull it out, no surprise if that's all there is.

Snorkelling becoming a chore now. As I get older the wetsuit fits tighter, if you know what I mean. I always wear it to ward off the chills. I usually don't go any deeper than 20 feet if I have to hold my breath and dive to recover an object. Even then it would have to be worth the trouble. My wife gives me **** when I do that. Best of luck

Thanks again Knotta.
I almost always wear a wet suit. It feels really weird when your knees bump the bottom or weeds rub against your skin. Even the straps of your BC can give you trouble if it is right on your shoulders.

I have snorkelled deep before. We were in Cozmel in an area about 40 feet deep. We would hold our breath and swim to the bottom. (You need to know how to equalize or you shouldn't be trying this). Because of the great visibility, you could see the surface. It looked so far away that it would make me nervous. Then I would swim back up and as I surfaced, I would think that I could have stayed down longer. One of my dive buddies was flipping rocks, chasing octopi etc...

The 75 horse is a big object. I would get help from someone at the surface pulling on a line while I tried to carry it up. The only motor I have brought back up was done by lifting it along the bottom a few feet at a time until I got to shore.

Always enjoy reading your stories Bob. The river here is almost summer level low and about as clear as you'll see it right now. That's pretty unusual for this time of year.

Hey Brian. Thank you for your comments. The river sounds inviting but it's still way too cold for me. I need some toasty warm days to warm things up and that takes awhile...