A sterling silver men's ring at the bottom of Blue Grotto.
Actually, she was having ear clearing issues, and pointed it out with her light. I nabbed it from the bottom, had it sized for my hand (what, you thought I'd let her have it?) and had it engraved with the place and date.
The ring probably cost $20 in the mall, but I spent $60 engraving and sizing it.
I told myself that I'd wear it a while and then give it to her to wear on a necklace as if we were a couple of high school kids.
But it's still on my finger... :lol:
Together, we've found a few anchors... I sold one, which paid for one of the dives. It was pretty sizable... Worth $100 or so with the line attached...
We regularly dive for megladon teeth... I found a partial which was pretty large. It's with my "undersea collection" at my home.
I pulled a 12" conch shell from a lagoon in the Bahamas... I donated that to the University. The inside of that thing was beautifully pearled.
One of our dive sites regularly has sand dollars that are the size of dinner plates... Probably close to 8" in diameter or so...
I've got several bottles from the 1800's, and many soft drink bottles from the '40's and '50's (the old-style Pepsi bottles, and lots of Nehi bottles). I've even got a partial of a "cobalt blue" bottle, common during the Revolutionary War for a particular type of drink... Like Coca-Cola, it was said to have medicinal qualities, and an intact specimen can fetch upwards of $15k in certain museums.
I have a friend who pulled a Confederate sabre... The type of "sword" worn by Confederate officers... From the murky depths of the local waters.
Right up the river from my home is a tractor that my great-great grandfather drove off the bank... It's the old steel-wheeled type, which ran on steam. It was "one of them newfangled contraptions" that wasn't worth taking off the island when he moved across the river more than 100 years ago.
But the very coolest thing I've ever found in these waters, I found when I was about 11 years old... I was cruisin' around in my Pop's jonboat, when I saw what I thought was a soccer ball washed up on an eroding shoreline. I ran by boat up on the muddy bank, reached out and grabbed the ball. Not until I turned it over did I realize it was a human skull. When you're 11, you're not sure whether to crap your pants or think that this is the coolest thing you've ever seen in your whole life.
The eroding shoreline had washed through a grave, exposing everything. I told my Pop, and he exhumed the bones and donated them to the local University's historical society. It was established that the grave was that of a child slave... Which my grandmother's great grandfather had "employed" on his plantation. The child likely was buried with great sorrow, and we said a little prayer for him/her.
Today those bones sit in a glass case and are on display at a local home here in the Lowcountry... The owner is possibly the most reknowned artifact diver in South Carolina.
Sadly, the coffin was destroyed by advancing waters. There was never a grave marker or any sort of belongings in or around the coffin.
Interestingly, that same piece of property which had the grave on it has been seawalled, and now is selling for more than $3 million. It's less than two acres. I wonder if the term, "used to be a cemetery" is in that brochure.
This year I'd like to hunt for a reputed "lost U-boat" off the coast... And maybe the lost wreckage from a friend's father's F4 Phantom jet that took his life two decades ago.