So I found a diver on Craigslist and he was very reasonable. $100 to go out and look. Another $100 if he found. I took today off and we boated up to Blake Island from Gig Harbor. Beautiful weather for a cruise. We got up there and there were SEVEN commercial fishing boats right at the point where I dropped the anchor. What the heck? Turns out they were geoduck farming. The geoduck guys harvest them by sending someone down on a air line. So basically there were already seven divers out there right at the spot I lost the anchor. The diver looked over at me with a frown and said "Your anchor is good as gone." I didn't want to believe it and we had spent an hour boating to get to the spot. I know the salvage laws just as good as any boater but I didn't want to give up hope. He went in the water looking for it anyway. About 10 minutes later a DNR boat came up to me to warn me that the boats around me had divers down. I let him know that I saw the dive flags and that I had a diver of my own looking for my lost anchor. The DNR guy came back with "Was it large anchor that was painted white and have a pivot?". My stomach sank. "Yes it is actually" I replied. He then told me that one of the fishing boats had pulled up the anchor not an hour prior. He tried hailing him on the radio but the fisherman would not reply. About 30 minutes later my diver came back up to the surface. I hauled him in and told him the story. The DNR guy would not tell me which boat it was that had my anchor. He reminded me of the salvage laws and said if the guy didn't want to give it up, there was nothing he could do. I reminded him that laws are one thing and morals are another. Even if it meant I gave the fisherman a finders fee I would have been ok with that. I tried hailing the boats on the VHF, and one guy said he would keep an eye out for it. No one else on the other 6 vessels replied. Anyway, the DNR guy took my name and cell number but made no promises. So there I was, within a few hundred feet of my anchor and 300 ft of chain and no one would cough it up. I was just an hour too late. So much for paying it forward. Karma will get that clown eventually.
Kerry --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "UnifliteWorld" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/UnifliteWorld?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
