Sargasso Seaweed Forces Change to Hunt but Leads to Opportunity

[bdahunter]

I wasn't really feeling up to hunting yesterday but I decided to catch the low tide in the afternoon anyway. Unfortunately, the wind and waves had pushed a mass of Sargasso Seaweed into the swimming hole at The Royal Naval Dockyard which would make for an ugly hunt as I tried to push my way through floating seaweed a foot deep. This seaweed has little gas filled pods that make it float and it gets wrapped around the detector, making it very difficult to swing let alone see the bottom when digging up a target. I just wasn't feeling up to that much effort today so I headed to 9 Beaches Resort instead and began working the water.
9 Beaches Resort is an ecotourism resort with cottages on stilts out over the water and glass panels in the floor so you can look down and see the fish swimming below your cottage, Kewl! This beach has produced some gold and silver in the past for me but frankly I didn't care if I found much of anything as I just wanted some exercise. The charter fishing boats were coming back in from a day of sportfishing through Hogfish Cut which runs beside 9 Beaches, so every few minutes I would get bashed by the wake of these sportfishers as they plowed past before slowing down for the Green Sea Turtle Reserve just beside 9 Beaches. It kept the hunt interesting because I found very little today, just a couple of bucks in clad and a zippo lighter. (lots of junk though which is surprising for an eco friendly resort)
After 2 hours of not very much I was almost ready to pack it in for the day when a woman came down to the beach from the hotel, it was the hotel manager. Susan wanted to know what I was doing so I began to educate her about our hobby. Her demeanour which was initially cool soon began to warm up as I told her how I removed all of the trash I found in the hotel swimming area, including broken glass and fish hooks; obviously she was starting to see the benefit of having me detect in her swimming area. I also explained that I was always happy to help locate missing wedding bands if any of her guests should lose then while staying at her hotel, turning a disaster into a memorable and positive experience. Susan liked that idea even better and proceeded to inform me that the gate to the hotel would soon be locked and she didn't want me to be trapped in the hotel compound but please feel free to hunt the hotel beaches whenever I wanted.
Now to be fair I could have hunted most of these beaches anyway as all areas below the high tide mark are public property, however access to them is private except by water, so by getting the hotel on side I have easy access to all 9 beaches and they are friendly instead of hostile. A little PR goes a long way in this hobby and it is relatively easy to dispel some of the common misunderstandings that most of the public have about metal detecting. I have a similar arrangement with another hotel after I helped them locate a guest's lost ring, they had tried to find it for 2 months without any luck, crawling around on their hands and knees looking for it. I found that ring in under 10 minutes and made the hotel staff and the elderly lady who lost her 50 year old wedding band very happy indeed!
Occassionally, I run into a jerk that won't see reason but these are by far the minority of the public I meet. So be a good ambassador for our hobby and you too can reap the benefits. You'll gain new territory to hunt (often exclusively) and a smile instead of a frown from the people you meet while hunting.

Cheers,

BDA

[anne]

Your lucky day when all that seaweed came in to invade your hunting grounds.
Good job on the PR

[MinelabMan]

Very diplomatic of you, WTG promoting this hobby!

[EPC Guy]

Thanks for being such a good example of our hobby!

[KellycoChick]

Originally Posted by bdahunter

Now to be fair I could have hunted most of these beaches anyway as all areas below the high tide mark are public property, however access to them is private except by water, so by getting the hotel on side I have easy access to all 9 beaches and they are friendly instead of hostile. A little PR goes a long way in this hobby and it is relatively easy to dispel some of the common misunderstandings that most of the public have about metal detecting. So be a good ambassador for our hobby and you too can reap the benefits. You'll gain new territory to hunt (often exclusively) and a smile instead of a frown from the people you meet while hunting.

I couldn't have said this better. Well done!! Thanks again for the post, and we can always use good examples like this to lead by.

['E']

Luckily I haven't ran into any real jerks, knock on wood, but I'm sure my day will come as everyone meets up with one sooner or later, most people are just curious (& nosy) & ask a lot of questions.

[Lt1stone]

Awesome!!

[Buster]

BDA, quick thinking on the hotel for sure. You did good. As for the seaweed and the wake deal, that's another thing to think about. Have not had that problem here in Florida . But it gives me something to think about if I travel..Zippo's are a good find too. They are I think they are good for life in the warranty department..Congrats...Buster....

[EBCIII]

Good job BDA! I liked you response. It is nice to read good stories like this, Beale.

[gordiesgirl]

Great very resourceful. You set a good example to Hunter everywhere. Thanks