# Some dives from 2012



## blobbottlebob (Feb 27, 2013)

For whatever reason, I didn't post a lot of my dives last year. I suppose I was busy and never got around to it. Well, with the cold and snow I won't be diving much for awhile. But I have more time to talk about it now. Here's a shot of what I was doing when it was warm and I wasn't diving.


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## blobbottlebob (Feb 27, 2013)

My first tank was on March 20th, 2012. It seems strange to recall it, but we had an unusually warm spring. We had 8 days in March that were over 80 degrees last year (here). And March 20th was one of them. I knew the water would be cold so, I suited up in one of my warmest wet suits. As noted, it was a hot summer day weather-wise. I was so steamy suiting up that I couldn't wait to hit the water if only to cool off a bit. Once in, I realized that you have to be careful what you wish for. It was cold cold. Probably in the 30s (degree-wise). I tried to focus on finding stuff but I was really cold and it was restricting my mobility. I wanted to tuck my hands in and warm up. My hands got totally numb and I wound up quitting before I ran out of air. I found three bottles including a gettleman and a Graf weiss beer. But this experience kept me out of the water for another three weeks.


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## blobbottlebob (Feb 27, 2013)

Towards the end of May. I had an unusual call. A friend told me that someone he knew had lost a sailboat boom. It rolled off his boat while returning after a race. The big catch was that the lake was quite deep. The boom could be up in water over 100 feet deep. Would I help look for it?

 I can and have dove over 100 feet deep. While I am trained and capable of doing this, I don't like to dive to that depth - if avoidable. You have to watch your nitrogen levels much more carefully (to protect from the risk of the bends) and if anything goes wrong, you're a long way from the surface. Plus, I had almost no tanks in this lake, I don't know the visiblity, and the bottom could be murky. Having said all of that, I agreed to try.

 I made myself a float line about 100 foot long with a float (milk bottle) on one end and an anchor on the other. I carefully marked off increments on the rope from the anchor end so that I could tell from my line alone how deep I was. My plan was to swim in widening circles from the anchor so that I would have an efficient and thorough search grid.

 Once I got there, the gentleman who had lost the boom pointed out where he believed that he had lost it. We drove to a house where, luckily, he knew the owners. They agreed to allow me to dive right off their pier. He set me on a course and then tried to pre-pay me for finding it (before leaving). I told him that he could pay me AFTER I found it. He insisted that I take some money and that he would pay me the rest later. I thought that was very generous.

 He set me on a straight line from shore guessing that it was lost about 200 feet from shore. I suited up and started swimming out along the line he advised. Visibility was excellent - so, I was pleasantly surprised at that. While he seemed fairly confident where the boom was lost, I know from experience, that it's easy to guess wrong while looking in at shore. You can see landmarks from anywhere out away from shore. At forty eight feet, I swam right up to the boom laying sideways to the drop-off. Sweet! I'm glad I found it on my first pass because I would have gone significantly deeper before I turned around. I spent the rest of my tank checking out the fish and trying (in vain) to find some old bottles.


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## blobbottlebob (Feb 27, 2013)

More dives coming (but not tonight). Some with pics. Feel free to chime in with any imput at all. Thanks, Bob


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## tftfan (Feb 28, 2013)

Really like your posts ! Cant wait to see some bottles.  Had to give up the skiing, got too dangerous !


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## cacarpetbagger (Feb 28, 2013)

Hope it warms up for ya soon and you make some good finds.  I don't like cold water, that is some tough diving.


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## blobbottlebob (Feb 28, 2013)

Thanks for chiming in Tft and Cacarpet. I have never tried downhill skiing Tft. I don't know why, but I sure love hitting the water for a few laps around in the summer. Last year, I was wearing this pair of sunglasses while skiing that I had found diving. I figured that if I lost them, no biggie, I'd found them anyway. They were keeping the spray out of my eyes and I was enjoying that until I leaned down too far and hit the water with my shoulder. I wiped, skipped, and bounced. Never saw those glasses again.  And Cacarpet. The cold is brutal. Every year I have to force myself to wait for the water to warm up. And every year it takes one cold shock to make me wait some more.[]


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## TJSJHART (Feb 28, 2013)

I LOVE READING ALL THESE STORIES ABOUT FINDING BOTTLES AND THE GO  WITHS . THEN THERES THE ADVENTURES  OF THE UNKNOWN AND THE SURPRISE FINDS... THANKS . WATCH OUT FOR THOSE LAND SHARKS .[]


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## RICKJJ59W (Feb 28, 2013)

100 feet!  10 feet of water scares me Bob. I have a phobia of deep and rushing water. I was swept down a flooded creek as a kid. We always hung around by the water.One summer day a storm rolled in dumping a lot  of rain in a short period of time. The creeks where high and muddy afterwards.Flash floods are nasty especially when you are a 14 year old kid. They almost looked Colorado  river.  I was playing around tossing stuff in to watch it go down the rapids when I got knocked in by a floating log. I was drifting out of control for what seemed like miles. I got stuck on a bunch of debris scared out of my mind. Two guys pulled me out with a long pole,I think it was a tree pruner. 

 And That is why I hate water []


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## blobbottlebob (Feb 28, 2013)

Thanks TJS.

 Rick! I would be scared too. That's when you're really in trouble. When you are hung up on something but the current keeps rushing at you. It's hard to pull free and the water pulls you under. You were lucky. A diver that I kind-of know (but never met) once saved a child who had fallen into a river and was drifting off. He hadn't planned it. He was just diving in the area, saw the child and dragged him to shore. There was a write-up in the local paper and he was the hero for a day. Someone was definitely watching out for that kid!


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## blobbottlebob (Feb 28, 2013)

In terms of the deep and dark being terrifying. They really aren't. Once you're down there, you see a moonscape of murky mucky bottoms and the like. However, ther are obviouos inherent dangers and one should never attempt to dive with proper training.


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## bostaurus (Feb 28, 2013)

It seems that the winter snows are much worse up there than last year.  All my friends from Verona are complaining ...I just keep sending them pictures of the flowers that are blooming.  I am sure they will get back at me this summer when I am sweltering in the heat and humidity and they are enjoying a beautiful Wisconsin summer.


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## blobbottlebob (Feb 28, 2013)

Hey Melinda. Missed you at the bottle show this year. We haven't had THAT much snow here though. This last storm was rough because it was so heavy. It was just icy slop. Really hard on your back while shovelling.


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## southern Maine diver (Feb 28, 2013)

Hey Bob...

 Congrats on finding the boom.  I've done a lot of searches over the years and the famous last words I hear from a lot of people, " I know exactly where it is..."  right... The visibility I have up here is 8 to 10 feet at best!  Usually around 4 to 6 feet.  I've been diving since I was 12 years old... sure wish I had been picking up bottles at that age. 

 It takes a lot of practice and experience to do underwater searches... it seems that sometimes you turn or go into a direction that you "feel" is the right way to go. Like something is drawing you... pulling you in that direction. It's a weird feeling, but I've seen it happen. I've seen it be successful.

 Hope you have an early spring... early "ice out" so you can get back into the water. I'm looking foward to getting back into the water. I need to get back to work...I hope to put more time into bottle diving this year. I have a few places in mind and I hope to be able to take a couple of days here and there on some road trips and burn two or three tanks a day here and there.

 Hopefully, I'll post them here on the forum...
 Good luck and stay safe!
 Wayne


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## southern Maine diver (Feb 28, 2013)

Sorry... I forgot to post that this is a photo of my two boys...  Ryan and Nathan. I love them with all my heart! They are grown up now, but this is a photograph I will treasure for all time...
 Wayne


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## blobbottlebob (Mar 1, 2013)

Hey Wayne. Cute picture. My little guy will be ten this summer. He started playing 'endless ocean' on wii but other than that, no interest in diving (or snorkelling yet). I'm not pushing my insanity on him. If he wants to try I will encourage it, but he's got plenty of time to pick it up when he's older.

 I know exactly what you mean by following the direction you 'feel' is right. I've done that a million times while bottle hunting. In fact, I've done it so often (with no results) that sometimes I tell myself to stick to my dive plan rather than to go off on a hunch. Some of the areas that I dive I have thoroughly searched. It often works better to wait until you start finding debris that looks interesting before you start scouring the area. Otherwise, you might be searching a spot with little in it.

 I have had very few paid searches for anything. You and I both know that a general idea of where something is lost bears no relation to where it is on the bottom. More search stories coming tonight . . .


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## blobbottlebob (Mar 1, 2013)

Some of my other search and recovery stories.

 Once, while diving out in front of someone's pier, he waves me over. Okay. I can go and talk to someone. Generally, I try to be as pleasant as possible to everyone I meet while diving because - I want people to think that the divers are good folks who are friendly and helpful (which I try to be anyway). (Plus, if people view us divers as a nuisance, they are not going to want us around). The guy tells me that he lost a nice (and expensive) anchor a few hundred feet from shore. I tell him that I will look for it (even though I know that with two feet of visibility, the odds are slim to none that I will find this thing). He tells me to return to the pier if I find it and he'll watch for me. As I'm swimming over wondering how long I should search before I go back to bottle diving, I find a rope strewn on the bottom. He didn't mention a rope. I pull in the long huge line only to find the anchor he described on the end of the line. That was easy. I swam back in. The guy is still there and tells me that he wants to give me a reward for finding it. Okay. No problem there. How's $20 he offers. I reply. It's too much. If you want to give me five bucks or so, I'd be happy. He says, "Are you nuts. That's a really expensive anchor. I insist, take the twenty." Okay. Thank you. I then proceeded to give him another anchor that I had found earlier on the dive (as a back-up) and a few bottles. Sweet.


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## cc6pack (Mar 1, 2013)

Bob

 Nice stories, but with 30 degree water I think you would invested in a dry suit.[]

 I use to dive a local river near Atlanta and pick up some turn of the century bottles mostly soda. It was a crossing McPhearson used during the Civil War and you could pick some CW items now and then, mostly bullets, Don't know what it is about water and people firing off rounds.


 Wayne good to see post how ya been. I just became a grand Pa Feb. 1 a little girl.


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## blobbottlebob (Mar 1, 2013)

Hey CC.
 I'd love to find civil war era stuff. But there is very little from here of that age. I have a dry suit but never got around to liking it. I  hate the air pockets shifting around, and you need a ton of weight to sink, and if you dump the air, you're colder than in a wet suit. So, I dive wet. Congrats on the grandchild.


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## blobbottlebob (Mar 1, 2013)

Okay. Last salvage story. As I'm launching the boat, from time to time I would run across these people who were running a musky study from a local college. Muskys that are caught are fitted with a wire and a battery so that they can be tracked on a daily basis. Presumably, they could learn about movement patterns, feeding cycles, how territorial they are, maybe seasonal issues about where they might spend their time. They use this circular antenna thing to read the signal from the musky's wire. One day, a gentleman tells me that they lost the book that records all of their data from the entire summer. He's wondering if I could dive for it. My first point was that the pages would be waterlogged. No, he replied. They use plastic pages with a crayon to mark them. I agree to do it and met with someone to take me out in their boat. The book was lost in a rocky area. I swam out in very low visibility - maybe only a few feet and couldn't find it. I returned to the surface and asked for a better beat on where it was lost. He pointed in a slightly different direction. So, I swam down and found it a few minutes later. I was so surprised! He was rather unimpressed when I returned it, (must have assumed it was easy) but I was thinking that I'd found something as hard to find as a needle in a haystack. Next he asked me to find a musky that hadn't moved in a long time. Presumably the fish had died and he wanted me to recover the battery and wire off of the fish. We moved the boat to a heavily weeded area with a strong carpet of green vegetation on the bottom. He told me that the signal was coming from one side of the boat. I swam out and searched and searched and searched. I was half thinking that I'd find a fish skeleton on the top of the weeds. Finally, I asked him to be more specific about the location precisely. He pointed in a 90 degree angle and said that it was within 300 feet of the boat. Are you serious? I asked. The area I was searching was probably significantly larger than a footbal field. And assuming that the fish skeleton couldn't be seen, I was looking for a thin wire and a small battery - and that is assuming the battery didn't sink below the carpet of weeds. Needless to say, I never found the wire. But they thanked me for recovering the book.


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## rockbot (Mar 1, 2013)

Pretty darn hard to zero in no doubt but you nailed it. Right-on. I must have $1000 worth of fishing gear at the bottom of ocean! lol




> ORIGINAL:  blobbottlebob
> You can see landmarks from anywhere out away from shore. At forty eight feet, I swam right up to the boom laying sideways to the drop-off. Sweet! I'm glad I found it on my first pass because I would have gone significantly deeper before I turned around.


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## blobbottlebob (Mar 1, 2013)

Rocky! Great to hear from you. I can't tell you how excited I would be just to get the chance to try to recover some of your lost gear. First off, I would be diving in Hawaii!! Awesome. Second, I would be hanging out with one of the nicest bottle nuts on this forum. With the snow and cold, that trip's sounding really good right now.


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## rockbot (Mar 2, 2013)

Thank you for the kind words my friend! Would love to have you.





> ORIGINAL:  blobbottlebob
> 
> Rocky! Great to hear from you. I can't tell you how excited I would be just to get the chance to try to recover some of your lost gear. First off, I would be diving in Hawaii!! Awesome. Second, I would be hanging out with one of the nicest bottle nuts on this forum. With the snow and cold, that trip's sounding really good right now.


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## blobbottlebob (Mar 2, 2013)

Thanks Rocky.

 Another early dive from 2012.
 Just to show that no matter how much experience you have, crap happens and you need to be careful. On my first dive with a buddy in April, we road tripped out to a large lake. It was a very windy day, but the bay where we were going was protected by land on three sides. Sure enough, when we got there, the wind was blowing from exactly the wrong direction, straight in from the open lake. The waves were huge . . .
 Backing up a bit. I was prepping my gear and decided to dump out all the debris in my float. I disconnected the line that attaches to my arm and emptied out the zebra mussel shells but forgot to re-attach the line. I also set my wet suit bin down and forgot to load that. A few miles from home, luckily I remembered the bin or I couldn't have gone. I went back home then got going again. When we arrived at the lake, I realized that I had no line and I couldn't take my float. My wet suit zipper malfunctioned, and I was going to have to dive unzipped - which means I was going to be a lot colder. Without the float, I now had to make sure that My BC was really full of air at the surface, because I hang on to it for buoyancy. The huge waves were absolutely pummeling me and they kept breaking over my head and face. At the bottom, I was finding shards and anchors and stuff but I couldn't take them because I had no storage with me. In the end I struggled against those waves and managed to swim shallow enough to stand up and walk back in. I was tired, cold, and battered by the waves. We planned two tanks but no way I was going back out after that. . .


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## blobbottlebob (Mar 2, 2013)

Okay. Jumping forward to June. My buddy Tom has a great day. Sometimes it just works out that one of us does better than the other. Out in the depths he finds a super cool old reel attached to an ancient looking rod. I'd never seen one quite like it. The reel was solid brass with a large spool and wide openings in the sides. The pole had a spare tip in the handle. Then he landed a rare hutch from Milwaukee (a company called Dallinger. I later learned that this bottler moved to Tacoma). I'd never seen this bottle come out of any lake. He also brought up a smart phone that looked new. He sold it for parts for $80! Then he found a wallet with some cash in it and the person's ID. It turns out that the kid who lost it was from the same small town where my buddy lives. He tracked him down and heard quite a story. The kid was out fishing in April when it was so warm and something went wrong. He (and his friend) had their boat capsized. They managed to call for help before sinking but it was so early (in the season) that a local rescue team had nothing ready to go and couldn't get out to the lake quickly. The two guys ended up swimming to shore in the cold water. Both survived but were featured on the evening news. Tom returned the wallet to him. Still, quite an amazing story. I found a few blobs, including my first hutch of the year but it was fairly common. Combined, we hauled in 30-40 bottles (mostly crowns).

 To top off the day, we saw a family trying to get their boat off the lake who had no clue, absolutely no idea at all how to pull it out. It was rather odd. Tom and I basically did it for them. Strange spectacle.


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## blobbottlebob (Mar 2, 2013)

Here's a picture of my buddy onboard after the dives. He is holding the the rare hutch and reel in his left hand (at right) and a blob beer bottle in his right.


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## blobbottlebob (Mar 2, 2013)

Another weird boat launch story - one that I hope never happens to anyone here. We were just set to go diving when we saw someone launching their boat. He had backed his pick-up down to the water with the trailer actually in the lake and the boat starting to float off of it. For whatever reason, the guy, jumped out of his pick-up and onto the pier where his fishing buddy was holding the line to the boat. The truck appeared to be in park, but it began to slide backwards (maybe on the slick slime covered concrete of the launch?) into the lake in slow motion. The guy had left the door open probably so that he could jump right back in. He turned and ran for his truck but it gained speed and by the time he made it to the spot, his truck was off of dry land and rolling downhill fast. He swore and ran back onto the pier and jumped onto the top of the cab (denting it inward). By this time, the entire truck went under (except the top of the cab). One of my buddies felt bad for him and suited up, then swam out to the vehicle. He turned of the engine, pulled out the keys and retrieved a few items from the front seat. He also felt around and discovered that the boat's trailer had folded under the truck. The boat was still attached to the trailer and was pointing nose down oddly in the water.

 After doing what he could, my buddy gave up. When we finished diving we learned the fate of the truck. A tow truck came out and could not pull the truck out of the lake. A crane had to come to remove it. Ouch. Poor guys.


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## blobbottlebob (Mar 3, 2013)

One of the funniest things happened on this next set of dives. It really highlighted the difference bewtween my two dive buddies and their personalities.

 On July first, three of us headed out to a river spot. We met a really nice local business donut shop owner who was super interested in what we were doing. We gave her a whole bunch of glass (much of it from local bottlers) and she gave us a bag of donuts. Then she tried to help us find some new spots in local waterways - which was way beyond the call.

 On our second tank, we went down to a pier on the water to get ready. There was a bar nearby where patrons could look over the river while imbibing. It was hot outside. Really hot. There was a woman on the deck overlooking the river who had already enjoyed a few (maybe a few too many). She was not super cute, but we are all married anyway. She called out, "Hey. You guys look hot in them wetsuits." My buddy Tom replies, "Yea. It's got to be 90 degrees out here." She says, "No. I mean you guys are HOT LOOKING in them wetsuits." My other dive buddy replies, "Yea. I was just telling him that myself."

 I thought that was so funny. One buddy is so nice that he gives nearly all his finds away and responds to a call that he is 'hot' in the most innocent and humble way. The other buddy totally takes all of the tension out of the scenario with his silly sense of humor. Really nie. And the best part of it was that I was on the other side of the pier - so, she didn't notice me. Meaning I could tease them about being 'hot' without re-percussions.

 I didn't get much on these dives, but those guys found a porcelain sign and another brass or copper sign (for $3 shoes - with a face embossed on it). They also got some glass. I was happy for them.


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## blobbottlebob (Mar 3, 2013)

Some of the stuff from this dive. Me and my hot friend Tom.


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## blobbottlebob (Mar 3, 2013)

Trying again.


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## frozenmonkeyface (Mar 4, 2013)

Great stories!!!! What part of WI are you from? I visited the Westby area one time, it is beautiful but WAY to cold for this southern gal!

 I get nervous in water that I can't see in, I don't know where the fear comes from. I never had anything traumatic happen... that I know of [8|] . haha

 I think it would be awesome to explore the water! Your a brave fella. []


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## blobbottlebob (Mar 4, 2013)

Thanks Frozen. I live in the Milwaukee metropolitan area. I am trying really hard to get out to different areas and expand the the type of bottles that we find. 

 I'm not sure that we are brave (though it's nice of you to say that). We do have all the proper training and we are careful when the visibilty goes down or the danger levels go up. Some of these river dives have tons of debris (like trees and branches and barrells and shopping carts and bicycles and rebar, and fencing, etc . . .). The main thing is to stay calm. Anything that you can get into, you can get out of,  if you're calm and collected. Sometimes, we do get surprised if a fish swims into you when you can't see, but we laugh about it later.


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## cc6pack (Mar 4, 2013)

Bob

 I'm setting here LMAOPMP from some of the tales you've been telling. We call it black water diving when you can't see anything. One of the worse things we ran across is bob wire it's almost impossible to get out of without help and will tear you to pieces, fishing line is also bad mainly because it's invisible underwater even in clear water.

 I use to sell items like in the pic in a rental space I had in some local antique stores before I retired, if you would like to have them send me your address and I'll get it in the mail to you.












 Upper right is an eagle cuff button back and shank, upper right is a 58 cal U S 3 ringet bottom is an iron buckle common as dirt and a fired bullet not to bad of shape.


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## cc6pack (Mar 4, 2013)

Sorry button is upper left.


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## blobbottlebob (Mar 4, 2013)

Wow CC. That is very generous. Those bullets look old. Were they from the civil war? Did you find a lot of them?


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## blobbottlebob (Mar 4, 2013)

On our next dive out, I finally found some interesting stuff. Oddly enough, I didn't even know that I had it until after the dive . . . 

 For our first tank in one of our favorite spots, I anchored the boat with my buddy Tom and we hit the water.  I swam straight south for half a tank and was shocked that I hadn't found anything. I turned and swam for the other half (in a different direction) with similar results. After the whole tank, I found exactly three bottles and two were cracked. I know that we had been searching this area and that we were good at finding stuff, but there was no way that we were *that* thorough. Tom at least had found a decent weiss beer. I vowed on my next tank to investigate and bring back anything interesting.

 For tank two, early on, I swam out and saw a rusty metal box on the bottom. It was plainly visible and obviously corroded. There was a hole in the top of it the size of a baseball. I stuck my hand through the opening and carried the box to the surface.  Without much fanfare, I flung the box into my float and went on diving. I wound up finding a few blob beers and didn't think much more about the box. While swimming back in to the boat, I thought that I saw something metallic in the box but decided to wait to check it out until I got back.

 Back at the boat, I got my cylinder off and began to check out the box. I reached in and pulled out an old lock. It said DIAMOND 6 LEVER on it. Now I was determined to search this box carefully to see if it had the key! Tom was really excited. For him, it was like finding a time machine. Everything in this box was lost decades earlier and represented a vanished past. I reached back in and pulled out a solid brass reel. Super cool. Tom immediately noted a small drag lever on it - which he thought indicated European origins. Tom said that there could be more reels in there. I reached back in and pulled out a second reel similar to the first but smaller. We sat there carefully inspecting this old tacklebox. It was full of hooks but had relatively few lures. Tom concluded that the original owner was primarliy a bait fisherman. Many of the hooks (which were steel) had corroded together. I threw them out in clumps. There were lots of lead weights including a bunch that were designed to loop over these long hooks. I'd never seen these types of fishing weights before. One spinner in the box was stamped from Pflueger. For a half hour we picked carefully through this thing while we enjoyed the gorgeous summer day. It was a blast going through the sections of the box never knowing what we might pull out next.


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## blobbottlebob (Mar 4, 2013)

A picture of some of the old contents from the day they were found.


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## blobbottlebob (Mar 4, 2013)

Here's a shot of me (still wet suited) at the back of the boat checking out those reels.


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## JOETHECROW (Mar 4, 2013)

Enjoying these dive stories Bob!


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## blobbottlebob (Mar 4, 2013)

Thanks Joe.


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## cc6pack (Mar 5, 2013)

Bob 

 Yes all the items came from campsites or battlefield. All are common items.

 I don't know how many bullets I found over the years I used a metal detector, but it has to be into the thousands, we use to give a lot of them to kids if there were any in the populated areas we would dig. The fired bullets went into a 5 gallon bucket in the basement. I collected Artillery shells and mostly hunted impact areas for the unexploted shells.

 I still have my first bullet I found and Artillery shell. I sold off most of my collection when I retired. The son nedded money for college and I paid the house off.


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## blobbottlebob (Mar 6, 2013)

> I sold off most of my collection when I retired. The son nedded money for college and I paid the house off.


 Hey CC. I'm sure it was sad to see it go but at least it accomplished some good things for you and your family.


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## blobbottlebob (Mar 7, 2013)

On one of my next dive trips, the stuff before and after the dive were more memorable than the dives. While I was waiting for my dive buddy to show up, I launched the boat by myself. Nothing too unusual. I prepped the boat and backed it into the lake. I keep a rope tied to the boat on the back of my pick-up so that I can get out of the truck when the boat floats off the trailer. Then I walk over and tie the boat to the dock before I go to park the truck. The rope untied off my truck before I got out and the boat started floating off into the lake. Okay. No time to suit up. I took my wallet and cell phone out of my pocket and swam in the water to retrieve the boat. A group of kids were going out fishing in a pontoon. They shouted out "How's the water." I told them it was just fine.

 Out in the water there was a sailboat race that forced us away from where we wanted to go. We tried going out deeper finding a few things but nothing major. It was still fun (always is) but nothing too great was found. After diving, I pulled the boat out using four wheel drive. When I wanted to drive home, the car wouldn't shift out of four wheel. Uh oh. Finally, I called everyone where I was heading to tell them I wasn't going to be there. My sister looked up the problem on the internet and walked me through how to fix it, which remarkably - worked. Things ended up okay. I got it back into 2 wheel drive and went on with my day.


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## blobbottlebob (Mar 7, 2013)

In mid August, I had been camping with my wife and son. My dive buddy and I were thinking about getting out in the water depending on when I got back home. It turned out to be fairly late so, my buddy said he couldn't make it. Rather than pull the boat, I decided to swim from shore in one of my favorite haunts. 

 Keep in mind, I've done this many many many times. My initial goal was to force myself to swim as far as possible from shore so that there was some chance that I could get on unsearched bottom. Usually, I say I'm going to swim way out and then hit the bottom a few hundred feet from shore. On this dive, I went out about 1/4 mile. Swimming farther from shore as I went, I still hadn't found anything half way through the tank. Suddenly, I swam up to a little slope on the bottom that transitioned from 20 feet to about 15. I went upslope and bang bang, in five seconds I found two hutches. Cool. I continued to search the area and found a blob beer but no more hutches.

 After I swam back to shore, I took my time getting out of the water mucking around in the shallows. It was getting dark. A woman came out and asked me what I was doing. I explained and she told me that her children thought that a swamp monster was getting out of the lake to get them.


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## blobbottlebob (Mar 7, 2013)

The hutches. I love the one on the right. Not embossed from a bottler but it does have a cool design.


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## coldwater diver (Mar 8, 2013)

Hey Bob,
                   Great stories!, I can relate to alot thats in them. I am wondering if the embossing represents the North Star. Whatever its nice. I bought a new coldwater regulator because of freeflow issues. I'm waiting to dive but we have had weekly Nor Easter's so visibility is not great(next week, hopefully). Keep up the diving and the stories and treasures that come with it. Kevin


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## blobbottlebob (Mar 8, 2013)

Thanks Kevin. Yea, you need a great regulator to be diving now. (Or at least one designed to be used in coldwater - (by the Coldwater!!!![])). Otherwise, you waste half the day for a little frustration. 

 I don't think this hutch represents anything important - but who knows? There are a series of star embossed hutches from local glassmakers. I always considered them 'blanks' (if you will). That is, ready made bottle stock for that bottler who planned to put paper labels on them anyway and just wanted the bottles asap. One odd thing about them is that they are fairly rare. I don't know how that fits into my theory but they don't turn up often. So, it was something different, something with a neat embossed picture - I'll take that anyday.

 Kevin - I'm sure you've seen this, but I'll post it again. This was my last really cold dive here. I think it was January 2006. My regulator free flowed very shortly into the tank. Because I was wet suited, I continued to play around in the water for awhile (rather than just get out, unsuit, and freeze). Some big ice chunks were floating on the river and I crawled on top of one getting the coolest picture of me diving (pun intended). Thanks go to my dive buddy Tom for taking the shot.


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## blobbottlebob (Mar 9, 2013)

On my next trip out, three of us got together. Sharing this crazy hobby with your pals can be a total blast. Only one slight problem, my boat - which we were using, is pretty small. So the three of us tried to pack all of that gear in. It became quickly apparent that we were not going to fit that much crap in there plus six tanks. (We each have the clothes we are wearing, plus masks & fins, wet suits, BCs, weights, dive floats, bins for bottles, etc...). We decided to play it safe and take only three tanks to avoid overweighting. Even still, we could not hydroplane the boat and basically went out and back then out and back again without ever making a wake. The good thing about it was that it allowed us to shoot the crap in transit and catch up with each other more - which was really great.

 Our first problem getting going was that the boat wouldn't start (my battery had drained). I have a long jumper cable and jumped it using my car - but there is always that worry that you will be out on the lake next time with no power and no one to help. Luckily, after it started that first time, there were no more problems. (I put a trickle charger on the boat in my garage after this incident).

 For our first tank, we each found blob beers. It's better when everybody get something. Two of us found bottles that have "PURE WEISS BEER" embossed on them (from the same company). While the bottles are not super rare, it was still strange that two of us found them on the same tank. For example, I did not find another one all year. For our second tank, we did not haul as much back but still had fun. All in all, it was great hanging out with those guys. These are the days you look longingly back to in the winter. Looking over the calm water, the sights, sounds and smells of the lake (including the fish,-the algae,-the mud from diving, the grass and flowers blooming, maybe someone grilling something off in the distance), the relaxing pace, and especially the great companionship.


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## tftfan (Mar 9, 2013)

Nice ...   that fishing stuff looks to be in good shape. That star hutch is sweeet. One of these days I would like to get certified.....    scuba that is ![]


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## southern Maine diver (Mar 9, 2013)

Hey Micah...

 I'm certifiable!!!


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## tftfan (Mar 9, 2013)

> ORIGINAL:  southern Maine diver
> 
> Hey Micah...
> 
> I'm certifiable!!!


 
 [] lol...  I think I can be. Nice pic !


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## blobbottlebob (Mar 10, 2013)

Thanks for piping in your cetifiables. BTW TFT, make sure you do get trained before you go diving because there are some inherent dangers.

 Wayne. I've seen that picture of you before but I failed to notice that gigantic honking mask - regulator set. Is that one of those set ups where you can talk as you go? If so, how do you equalize in that thing?


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## southern Maine diver (Mar 10, 2013)

Hey Bob...

 This mask is an EXO-26 and is a lightweight commercial band mask. They make three different models.
 They can all be set up with hardwire communications or wirless communications. You can run them right off a scuba cylinder from a first stage or from surface supplied through an umbilical. 

 They are very comfortable and warm. Your face doesn't freeze when you go ice diving or jump into 34 degree water.  They can be set up with a V-notch (snot bar) inside the oral/nasal cavity or you can pinch your nose off by pushing your face forward in the nasal indentation which is soft rubber...

 Have I confused you yet?  They start at about $900 and go up from there depending on the bells and whistles you add on to them.  They have mounting brackets for adding headlights which has proven to be a great help at night or in dark water at the bottom of the river.

 wayne


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## blobbottlebob (Mar 10, 2013)

WOWIE Wayne. I'm pretty sure you couldn't sell all my gear off for $900 bucks. (Of course I have a lot more invested in it.) Pretty spiffy. I think it might be fun to chat with dive buddies but it would be different for sure. It is so peaceful and quiet and solitary down there - which is partially what I like about it I think. I bet in the beginning we'd be giving blow by blow accounts of what was going on and then after awhile, we'd just be chatting like we would at the surface. One issue might be crowding each other around. If one of us noted that he was finding say a pile of glass target balls, you'd think that all of us would abandon whatever we were doing and rush over there - which is obnoxious. One advantage now of finding a good spot is that you get first crack at it until you run out of air.

 If money were no object, and you had high tech gear, it might be really neat to take some non-divers, (like my folks for example) along on a dive - especially if you also had a helmet cam (and the talking mask). You could give blow by blow accounts of what you see, what you expect, what typically happens, etc... And if they were following you at the surface, you could pop-up, hand them a bottle, and go back down to talk more about it!


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## blobbottlebob (Mar 12, 2013)

For our first dives in September, we returned to the river spot (where my friends were 'hot' earlier in the summer). We had planned on trying some new areas, but they didn't pan out, so, we were back. For our first tank, we settled in and dug down, hunting for buried treasures. I found two metal pieces, one of which was a lead, one brass. These were kind of cool. Pics coming later.

 For tank two, we swam out of our spot and explored a bit. I wound up in a decent area and did find some new things. I got my first bean pot, a hair restorer bottle (which is great for me because I am follically challenged) a few milks and a beer ot two. I also landed a large section of copper pipe that looked like it came right out of someone's basement walls.

 The dive was all day 7 am until 7 pm. Great hanging out with my buddies. Pics coming later.


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## blobbottlebob (Mar 13, 2013)

Okay. Here's me sitting on the dock holding that huge copper plumbing pipe. We had to break it up to fit it in the car. I salvaged the pieces for over $30!


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## blobbottlebob (Mar 15, 2013)

The bean pot from this dive.


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## blobbottlebob (Mar 16, 2013)

A brass framed beveled glass frame?


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## blobbottlebob (Mar 16, 2013)

This cobalt thing is cool. There is an aqua medicine above it. The cobalt glass is embossed. CHICAGO / P.L.HANSCOM $ CO / PRINTERS


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## blobbottlebob (Mar 16, 2013)

A short google search reveals that Hanscom & co printed druggist labels???


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## blobbottlebob (Mar 16, 2013)

A beer and a milk. Never found this size in this beer bottle.


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## blobbottlebob (Mar 16, 2013)

A weird insulator. Anybody know what it did? Telephone - telegraph - electric?? I took this because I thought it might be cool to hang my gear up on something I found.


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## blobbottlebob (Mar 16, 2013)

The hair balsam. I was excited to get it. It turns out not to be rare, but I still thnk its cool.


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## blobbottlebob (Mar 20, 2013)

Also from this trip, a lead typeset piece (presumably like from a newspaper). My dive buddies wondered how I found this. It just felt something symetrical and solid then surfaced to check it out. It reads, (Advertisment) backwards.


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## blobbottlebob (Mar 20, 2013)

A side view shows how the lettering stands out (so that it will print on the press).


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## andy volkerts (Mar 20, 2013)

> ORIGINAL:  blobbottlebob
> 
> A weird insulator. Anybody know what it did? Telephone - telegraph - electric?? I took this because I thought it might be cool to hang my gear up on something I found.


 I dunno if it was the right use for it, but we had a bunch of those style insulators that carried the 220 volts of electric current along the rafters in one of our old barns years ago.....


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## blobbottlebob (Mar 20, 2013)

Thanks Andy. The thing is a heavy duty glazed porcellain - couldn't have been any easier than glass to make (especially with the threaded screw protruding.


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