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Water hunting can be one of the more dangerous aspects of this
great hobby. In addition to the natural occurring hazards, we must
deal with man made hazards, and those we cause ourselves through oversight,
haste, and our own stupidity. The natural hazards include all the
little and big critters that roam and live in God's big blue
oceans. These include the tiny little sea creatures that are known
in some areas as sea lice, on up to large sharks. Many of these
hazardous creatures are all but invisible to the naked eye, such
as the sea lice that will inflict nasty little burns on your skin
that will drive you nuts.
Sharks are territorial as well as curious
creatures that have been known to strike divers and waders without
provocation, though they are usually just curious, and bite out of
the mistaken idea that you might make a good snack. In some cases
it is a territorial thing. They have a sense of territory, and
they don't like anyone invading there space. About a week ago I
had a small sand shark follow me around the whole time I was
hunting in about chest deep water. He wasn't very large, maybe two
and a half feet long, but even so, he could have inflicted some serious
bites on me had he a mind to. Mostly he was trying to snag one of
the many little fish that follow me around and swarm around my
feet, eating microscopic organisms that are stirred up in the
sand.
There are many different types of jelly fish. Some
are down right deadly. The pretty blue ones that you see floating
in the water like a balloon and have long tentacles up to six feet
long trailing in the water are some of the most dangerous, and are
commonly called Portuguese man of wars. Simply brushing against
one of these tentacles can cause severe burns and irritation to
your skin, and getting caught up in a bunch of them has been known
to be deadly. Meat tenderizer rubbed into the area is one of the
best ways to relieve the pain from these critters, but ammonia and
as a last resort, urine will bring some relief also. One problem
with the man of war is the fact that the tentacles are often cut
into little pieces by boat props, jet skis, and rough seas. Even
these detached pieces can cause burning and irritation to you
skin, and touching them after they are dead and laying on the
beach can cause injury. They should be avoided at all cost, and
carry a small jar of meat tenderizer in your kit bag just in case,
you will be glad you did.
Man made hazards are probably more of a
problem than the critters in the water. During WWII many coastal
areas were used for gunnery and bombing practice, but even more so
here along the gulf coast of Florida. Finding a 50 cal. or 30 cal
live shell in your scoop can give you a thrill that you really don't
need. After one particular storm a few years ago, these shells
were showing up in mass quantity up and
down the coast. There were so many that explosive ordinance units
from the navy had set up collection points were they gathered
those that were found along the shore alone, never mind those that
came out of the water from detectorist.
One of my duties in the navy was searching for and
recovering rockets and missiles that fell off of f-15
aircraft during high "G" turns during take offs. Magnetometers
were dragged along behind a small craft to locate them, and then
they had to be pulled from the mud, often over five feet deep. To
say the least, finding something like this would give you a rush,
and maybe a bang. Other man made debris that
won't give you the same bang, but can cause injury and bodily harm
run the gauntlet from half broken bottles that cut you wide and
deep, to items sucked out to sea from hurricanes. The last big
hurricane to hit here destroyed over 1500 water front homes and
condos. Storm surge sucked everything from
plumbing to appliances out as it went through, and then came back
out of these structures, and carried them out to sea.
Rusty rebar, large glass pieces, wire, and furniture are still
found in the water. My last find in this
category was a freezer unit just six inches under the sand.
---OO OsGone@aol.com
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