Sunday South Beach Started Terrible Ended Great

[smartfox]

Last day at South Beach got up early 7:30 A.M. Went to one of my favorite stores for a nice Cuban coffee and was detecting at the beach by 8:30. Went to South Beach and 17th street and started to detect the dry land. After 45 minutes of nothing on the dry land I went to the wet land. When I was detecting the wet land I saw that the sea was relatively calm and also saw what looked to be like a little current that made a hole that was like 40 feet by 2 feet so I went for it and was detecting well why did I do that? All of a sudden I felt one of the worst pain that I have felt only once before this time around my calf muscle and Achilles tendon yes a man o war stung me good. Has anyone ever gotten stung by one of those? They look like these blue balloons in the water with tentacles. They are all over the water around this season and I am always so careful but this time it got me from behind. It was too late by the time I noticed. I kept cool and got out of the water without dropping my detector (thank god) even though I wrapped it up but it could have gotten wet. I went to the nearest lifeguard and he put some gloves and pulled the tentacles out of my skin because they were still there. He told me that it was easier to take them out without gloves but if he did his fingers would get stung. He also asked me if I was alergic because if I would have been he would have called an ambulance to take me to the hospital as an emergency but thank god I am not alergic. Then he poured some vinegar on the stung area and then he gave me some ice. After about 20 minutes of extreme pain I started to walk to my car. On the way to the car it started to go up to my legs and it started to affect all my leg muscles. I got into the car and was about to call it quits because it was very difficult to walk at the time. I moved to another location on the beach 24th street and around the corner of that street I had a bit of coffee to speed my metabolism again and some water. After that the pain that was going up my legs started to subside a bit but my calves and Achilles tendon on both legs were on fire but I decided to detect one more time. I started to detect on the wet sand but this time without going to the water at all (do not want to risk getting stung again) and I was detecting the wet sand for 30 straight minutes with only 2 hits of trash. After that I decided to go to the dry sand and was getting a couple of coins here and there and trash and all of a sudden under 3 inches of sand I found a Man’s genuine leather bands Nautica watch completely functional with correct time and date to my surprise. The only thing that was wrong with it was that one of the bands was loose and it took me 3 bucks to fix it. The guy says that these watches start at minimum 75 dollars and up. I could of fixed it myself but do not have a watch kit at the time. I need to but it soon. I have a feeling that this watch is more expensive than 75 dollars. Does anyone know about these watches? So the teaching of this true story is to never give up no matter what the circumstances are and always try your very best no matter what. Also never underrestimate dry land. You can find things in dry land if you try hard especially in South Beach where millions visit every year. If I would have quit because of the pain of the man o war sting I would have never found this beauty. Also I got a bit teary eyed which rarely happens to me anymore because I found the watch about 1/8 th of a mile at the beach where my grandfather asked me to pour his ashes in the sea. I was visiting him at the time and decided to detect killing 2 birds with one stone. He was a father to me and always gave me everything all the time while he was living and finding that watch is like he is still giving me stuff from the other side. Here's a pic of the beach and the watch. Enjoy.

[Buster]

Good hunt...Persistence always pays off...Nice watch for sure...You are hard core for going on after getting stung...Buster...

[SandSkimmer]

Nice find.....

hope your legs get better soon

jT

[ERnurse]

Nice find!

[smartfox]

If you zoom on the beach pic to the seagulls there is a blue baloon looking thing there that is a man o war. Careful with these guys they really hurt. I knew they were all over the place but got careless. Even took a pic of it without realizing it until I just saw it by accident LMAO.

[smartfox]

3 of them if you look at that whole shore.

[MinelabMan]

Ouch, I know that hurt just from seeing them. I've only ever gotten stung by small jellyfish, bit by a crab and eaten alive by horseflies .

Nice find on the watch

[bdahunter]

Those jellies can be real pests. Next time, just pee on yourself, the uric acid neutralizes most of the poison and the quicker you get on it the better. Another good reason for wearing a wetsuit, the big Man-o-Wars can really do some damage.
Way to keep going and finding that watch, it's a keeper.

Cheers,

BDA

[Steve in PR]

It takes more than a jelly to keep you from hunting!

Nice watch! I know they are a popular brand.

I keep a bottle of Vinegar in the Jeep for jellies. Their stingers should be scraped out with a credit card.

I've been pretty lucky and only hit a couple times by smaller versions of the Man-o-War.

[Steve in PR]

Closer but not the same:
Amazon.com: Nautica Men's Stainless Steel case Tan Dial Watch: Nautica: Jewelry