Skip's Treasure

"Horsefeathers"

I think perhaps instead of whining, which by the way, I do extremely well, perhaps I should spend more of my time remembering our good times. 

For many years we had a sailboat, and in one of our annual week-long trips on the boat a really bad storm blew up and after fighting the boat and the weather we were desperate, exhausted, wet, and cold.  We found a natural spring on the charts we felt we could sit it out and rest a bit. Unfortunately, according to the charts, it should have been just a little bit too shallow for our draft to get through the quarter-mile canal into the spring.  We crossed our fingers and hoped the water levels may be a bit higher than reported on the chart and forged on. I got up on the bow with an extendable boat hook and we slowly picked our way up the narrow cut and into the spring.  It was beautiful, calm, perfectly clear water surrounded by nature, not a sign of anything man-made in sight and we were the only ones there. It was so wonderful we decided to just stay for a few days! Later we were told that this was the notorious “Silver Glen” a very popular summertime big boat hang-out with wild “partying” and stories of being able to walk from boat to boat through the entire spring area (at least the size of a couple of football fields) without ever getting in the water.  Skip had an “ah-ha” moment and figured that many drunk big expensive boat owners would certainly drop or lose untold quantities of jewelry into the water climbing from boat to boat.  It was a treasure waiting to be found. All he needed was an underwater metal detector and we would be rich!

Each October from then on, when the summer boating season was over and especially in the mid-week we included several days alone in the spring as part of our trip. We loved the peace and serenity, one year there was an eagles nest full of very hungry and noisy chicks, another year we saw a Florida black panther, and every year we were constantly entertained by the ever-growing family of otters. But there was always the treasure hunt!  Skip as the metal detector operator and I was the one designated to dive down and retrieve the “treasure”.  Although my shallow diving and snorkeling skills were adequate, the digging proved to be the challenge!  Each time I forced the scoop into the sand the force floated me back to the surface.  Who knew that one of my top-secret talents is outrageous buoyancy! Skip's solution to the problem was to stand on my bottom to hold me down! After the retrieval of literally pounds of pop-tops, beer bottle screw tops and several near-drownings I emphatically resigned as the official “treasure diver”.  Skip rigged another extendable boat hook to the scoop and continued on the hunt for several more years. I lounged on the

deck reading and “sipping” as he doggedly pursued the treasure and more pop-tops.  It was the perfect compromise!

Through the years the hunt did, in different years yield a nickel and 2 pennies…and then finally…a gold ring with 3 small diamond chips!  I framed the coins in a mirrored shadow box that we called “Skip’s Treasure” and it hangs in the wall bookshelf unit we built together.  He then had the ring sized to fit my finger.  

Although it was not the treasure we expected, the happy memories of those years of sailing I wear every day have proven to be more of a treasure than any amount of money could ever be.

" I Will Remember You"  Sarah Mclachlan