So it's Saturday, and there's nothing going on, so I wander down to my LDS. Spend a couple of hours just shooting the breeze and we decide we're all hungry, so I decide to go to Sonic and pick us all up some lunch.
Well, the three of us are sitting in the classroom eating when a customer comes in. The manager gets up to wait on them while me and the owner continue to eat. We hear them ask to speak to the owner, so when he goes up front, I tag along.
It seems they are looking for a diver. Somebody broke into one of their houses, stole a bunch of stuff and when then something happened and the thieves dumped it into the canal. Would anyone be interested in diving to look for it?
Suddenly, all eyes ended up on me. The guys didnt know much about the conditions, but said the police were there now and some items had been recovered. There were still several things missing tho.
A couple of quick phone calls turned up zero dive buddies. But I agreed to go follow the guys and take a look and see what I could do. So I follow them out there and we park on the levee.
Two cops are still out there, one of them on shore, the other in a little canoe type boat. They are probing the water and using magnets and grappling hooks to try to find the lost items. They are down by a little bridge where the road goes over the canal. There are 3 huge square cement pipe that carry the water under the road, and they are fairly sure that none of the items could have crossed that point.
The water has a pretty decent flow to it, and looks about the color of coffee with a lot of creamer. Probing further I find out exactly what we are looking for.
Seems a couple of kids broke into several houses and stole about a half dozen guns. All but one has already been recovered by the police. The kids had been apprehended and showed them where they tossed the stuff, and 5 of the guns had been found within a 30' radius of that spot. There was still one missing.
They had also tossed a pillowcase containing a nintendo, several games for it, a stack of CD's and several pieces of jewelry, including several that belonged to the guys wife. She was pretty sick about the whole thing, and that was what they really wanted me to find.
At this point, I was more concerned about the gun, but thought that would be the easiest to find since it likely sank near the rest of the ones that were found.
The first thing I decided to do was make a sweep starting downstream and working against the current for the pillowcase. I took a tow strap made of 2" webbing and we stretched it across the canal and weighted it in the middle. We then walked along the bank upstream, dragging the strap, hoping to snag the pillowcase in it. I figured if nothing else, it would give me some idea of how many obstructions I would have to deal with once I got in the water.
After covering the most likely stretch of canal turned up nothing, I decided to gear up and get in. My plan was to anchor off and do an expanding search for the gun and see what I turned up.
Once I got in the water, I found that the area by the bank wasn't that deep. I could kneel on the bottom and still keep my head above water. So I just kinda crawled around like this feeling around for a while. After covering the near bank, I worked out to the middle, then all the way to the far bank. By now I had determined that the canal wasn't that deep and I took my gear off and left it on the bank.
I kept working my way downstream going back and forth between the banks finding an assortment of sticks, beer bottles, bricks, and almuminum cans. But no gun.
After I had worked my way well past the point where the last gun had been had been found by the police, the victims were starting to feel a little dissapointed.
Then I found a CD spindle with 10 CD-R's on it. Ruh Roh! That was supposedly in the bag...
A little further downriver I found a nintendo cartridge. Then another. And another. And another. Then a few more CD's. 5 games in all, and a dozen CD's. But still no bag and no gun.
Now they were really concerned, because if the bag had opened and spilled all of this other stuff, chances were that the rings were gone as well.
After several more minutes of searching, it seemed like they were ready to call it quits. They were concerned about me being in the cold water for so long and the chances of finding the jewelry seemed to be diminishing.
My feeling around also told me that there were numerous pits and holes in the canal bottom, and it would be easy to overlook any number of small little hiding places, and in some spots the canal was signifcantly deeper as we moved downstream.
Then my leg bumped into something. I froze for a second, then reached down and felt something floating. Feeling around it, I guessed it was the controller for the nintendo. Carefully following the cord, I felt something soft, like bag. Then I could feel something hard in the bag, like the nintendo itself.
Hardly daring to hope, I signalled them to stand on the bank to give me reference points. Then I went back and got my dive gear. It was a little deeper at this point and I couldnt feel the whole bag. I could have made a grab at it, but was afraid of getting the wrong end and dumping out anything that might still be in it.
A couple of minutes later I am suited up and drifting downstream. Carefully feeling around I locate the controller again, then descend to the bottom. The cold water fogs my mask up instantly but the visibility is only about 2" anyway. The slightest movement stirs the bottom up and visibility drops to zero for about 30 seconds until the current carries it away.
I work slowly, tucking both controllers back into the bag, then finding all of the edges an holding them up as I close the bag. Once I am sure nothing is going to spill out, I twist the bag shut and surface.
Holding the bag out, the guy on the bank takes it from me. It's full of water and heavy, and he lays it on a flat spot on the bank and opens it up while I take my gear off.
First out is the nintendo. Then several more of the games, a couple of soggy books. And finally, in the very bottom in a little ziploc baggie is the jewelry... Their son's class ring, one belonging to the husband, and several belonging to his wife, including one treasured ring that was irreplaceable.
I searched a little more for the last gun, but was unable to find it. I was somewhat comforted when he told me it was an antique gun that was unloaded and in non-working condition. I had been afraid that some kid might find it some day and get hurt.
I may go back another day and search again for it, but the jewelry was what they really wanted back. And I must admit, they paid me handsomely for it.
I wasn't planning to take anything if I hadnt found anything. And since I didnt find the gun too, when they asked how much they owed me, I told them to just pay me what they felt it was worth. They said it was worth a lot, and obviously it was.
I'm glad I was able to help, and it didn't hurt my feelings any to take the check from them. I guess there is a lot to be said about being in the right place at the right time...
Well, the three of us are sitting in the classroom eating when a customer comes in. The manager gets up to wait on them while me and the owner continue to eat. We hear them ask to speak to the owner, so when he goes up front, I tag along.
It seems they are looking for a diver. Somebody broke into one of their houses, stole a bunch of stuff and when then something happened and the thieves dumped it into the canal. Would anyone be interested in diving to look for it?
Suddenly, all eyes ended up on me. The guys didnt know much about the conditions, but said the police were there now and some items had been recovered. There were still several things missing tho.
A couple of quick phone calls turned up zero dive buddies. But I agreed to go follow the guys and take a look and see what I could do. So I follow them out there and we park on the levee.
Two cops are still out there, one of them on shore, the other in a little canoe type boat. They are probing the water and using magnets and grappling hooks to try to find the lost items. They are down by a little bridge where the road goes over the canal. There are 3 huge square cement pipe that carry the water under the road, and they are fairly sure that none of the items could have crossed that point.
The water has a pretty decent flow to it, and looks about the color of coffee with a lot of creamer. Probing further I find out exactly what we are looking for.
Seems a couple of kids broke into several houses and stole about a half dozen guns. All but one has already been recovered by the police. The kids had been apprehended and showed them where they tossed the stuff, and 5 of the guns had been found within a 30' radius of that spot. There was still one missing.
They had also tossed a pillowcase containing a nintendo, several games for it, a stack of CD's and several pieces of jewelry, including several that belonged to the guys wife. She was pretty sick about the whole thing, and that was what they really wanted me to find.
At this point, I was more concerned about the gun, but thought that would be the easiest to find since it likely sank near the rest of the ones that were found.
The first thing I decided to do was make a sweep starting downstream and working against the current for the pillowcase. I took a tow strap made of 2" webbing and we stretched it across the canal and weighted it in the middle. We then walked along the bank upstream, dragging the strap, hoping to snag the pillowcase in it. I figured if nothing else, it would give me some idea of how many obstructions I would have to deal with once I got in the water.
After covering the most likely stretch of canal turned up nothing, I decided to gear up and get in. My plan was to anchor off and do an expanding search for the gun and see what I turned up.
Once I got in the water, I found that the area by the bank wasn't that deep. I could kneel on the bottom and still keep my head above water. So I just kinda crawled around like this feeling around for a while. After covering the near bank, I worked out to the middle, then all the way to the far bank. By now I had determined that the canal wasn't that deep and I took my gear off and left it on the bank.
I kept working my way downstream going back and forth between the banks finding an assortment of sticks, beer bottles, bricks, and almuminum cans. But no gun.
After I had worked my way well past the point where the last gun had been had been found by the police, the victims were starting to feel a little dissapointed.
Then I found a CD spindle with 10 CD-R's on it. Ruh Roh! That was supposedly in the bag...
A little further downriver I found a nintendo cartridge. Then another. And another. And another. Then a few more CD's. 5 games in all, and a dozen CD's. But still no bag and no gun.
Now they were really concerned, because if the bag had opened and spilled all of this other stuff, chances were that the rings were gone as well.
After several more minutes of searching, it seemed like they were ready to call it quits. They were concerned about me being in the cold water for so long and the chances of finding the jewelry seemed to be diminishing.
My feeling around also told me that there were numerous pits and holes in the canal bottom, and it would be easy to overlook any number of small little hiding places, and in some spots the canal was signifcantly deeper as we moved downstream.
Then my leg bumped into something. I froze for a second, then reached down and felt something floating. Feeling around it, I guessed it was the controller for the nintendo. Carefully following the cord, I felt something soft, like bag. Then I could feel something hard in the bag, like the nintendo itself.
Hardly daring to hope, I signalled them to stand on the bank to give me reference points. Then I went back and got my dive gear. It was a little deeper at this point and I couldnt feel the whole bag. I could have made a grab at it, but was afraid of getting the wrong end and dumping out anything that might still be in it.
A couple of minutes later I am suited up and drifting downstream. Carefully feeling around I locate the controller again, then descend to the bottom. The cold water fogs my mask up instantly but the visibility is only about 2" anyway. The slightest movement stirs the bottom up and visibility drops to zero for about 30 seconds until the current carries it away.
I work slowly, tucking both controllers back into the bag, then finding all of the edges an holding them up as I close the bag. Once I am sure nothing is going to spill out, I twist the bag shut and surface.
Holding the bag out, the guy on the bank takes it from me. It's full of water and heavy, and he lays it on a flat spot on the bank and opens it up while I take my gear off.
First out is the nintendo. Then several more of the games, a couple of soggy books. And finally, in the very bottom in a little ziploc baggie is the jewelry... Their son's class ring, one belonging to the husband, and several belonging to his wife, including one treasured ring that was irreplaceable.
I searched a little more for the last gun, but was unable to find it. I was somewhat comforted when he told me it was an antique gun that was unloaded and in non-working condition. I had been afraid that some kid might find it some day and get hurt.
I may go back another day and search again for it, but the jewelry was what they really wanted back. And I must admit, they paid me handsomely for it.
I wasn't planning to take anything if I hadnt found anything. And since I didnt find the gun too, when they asked how much they owed me, I told them to just pay me what they felt it was worth. They said it was worth a lot, and obviously it was.
I'm glad I was able to help, and it didn't hurt my feelings any to take the check from them. I guess there is a lot to be said about being in the right place at the right time...
