Sunken Treasure

For me the best has been the occasional penny or quarter... Although, when I was a kid we used to belong to a summer swim club, they would have an annual cookout. One of the games for the kids was that they would throw a ton of coins into the pool and we would dive for them. Mostly pennies, but a good share of other coins. They broke it up by age group so that the big kids didn't muscle all the loot from the little kids. And in each age group there was one silver dollar added to the stash. That was the grand prize. And another game was to dump a couple hundred little goldfish (yes, live, swimming fish) into the pool and we would catch and take them home. They even had de-chlorination drops available for us to put into the cups and tupperwares we had for the transport home. I never forgot those days. So recently when my group at work had a little summer cookout at someone's pool, I brought about $10 in mixed change for the kids to dive for. Yes, there is a special charm to finding sunken treasure.

Once when I lived in DC, I was running by a monument that I didn't know about. I ran over to it to see what it was. It was a tribute to those who died from DC during the Civil War. I found a $100.00. About three months later, I ran by it and found a $20.00. then about opne year later I ran by and found 2 $50.00. to any one in DC, go by the monument, there should be a large cache thare by now.

Recently I noticed a piece of rope probably 8 inches long with two lead washers affixed to the end on the lap lane, near the end of the lap. I picked it up, examined it and then threw it to the wall figuring it was some unknown and possibly important/mystical pool maintenance device. As it turns out it was a little gizmo a fellow lap swimmer used to calculate how far along he was in his workout. I guess he would incrementally move it down the lane line for each 100 or so. I apologized profusely. That was my blunder.

Originally posted by Leonard Jansen Why you'd wear jewelry into a pool is a mystery to me, but it takes all kinds. Anyone else ever find anything interesting? -LBJ You don't realize pierced earrings are in your ears. Now clip on earrings are another story. Our school system takes some of our handicapped classes once a week to the pool for swim lessons. One of the teachers lost her wedding set... not just the engagement ring that had a huge rock and a couple of baggets, not just the wedding band that had about 4 more rocks on it, but both! When I heard about it that afternoon, I went straight to the pool after work and pretended to be max the pool vaccuum. I didn't find it, nor did anyone else who admitted it. I see earrings, barrets, braids/plats weaves, toys, bandaids, fins, goggles on the bottom of the pool all the time. The strangest thing I ever found was a cuff link! Now explain that one.

Lots of bandaids... Yuck. I found a marble once. Always finding change, caps, goggles, swimsuits, shampoo, and swim pass cards in the locker room. (shrug)

1) Once I was asked to retrieve a set of dentures someone had managed to drop. 2) I vaguely recall once having found and retrieved either a $20 or a $50 bill but I don't recall if it was from a pool bottom or a lake bottom or whatever. I also don't know why the paper sank but it did.

I'm not sure if this counts, but once while snorkeling from a resort dive boat in Bermuda, I found a 3/4 carat diamond on a gold chain. It was in about 20 feet of water, on a sandy bottom. For some reason, I saw a glimmer on the bottom and swam to it. No one on the boat owned it, so I kept it to give to my (then-girlfriend, now) wife. She took one look at it, said "It's a flawed stone", and wouldn't wear it. I guess it proves the adage, "You get what you pay for".

I saw a giant wadded up ball of hair once! (though I didn't pick it up)

Originally posted by jswim I saw a giant wadded up ball of hair once! (though I didn't pick it up) I got assaulted by one of those things recently. Got all hung up on my goggles. It might have had some imbedded phlegm in it holding it together as well. It was quite unsettling.

Once I found a diamond lost from a wedding ring. One of the younger masters ladies was crying about the diamond being lost in the pool (25 meters) so in I went. Took about 15 minutes fortunately it was in her lane, but less than 5 feet from the bottom suction. I also found a ladies ruby at the same pool, after she asked everyone to help find it.