Salvaging

It is quite amazing just what mother nature claims for herself. Or what people decide to donate to Neptune, mostly in the form of beer cans or wine bottles. Tells a tale in itself.

With many anchorages consisting of 50ft deep moorings, these have proven most lucrative for the humble cruiser scavenging for useful items. Reason being that most people seem to be of the opinion that if they can't see their missing item from the surface, it is probably being whisked off to Neptune's extensive cutlery draw, linen closet, wardrobe etc. (That or they can't free dive to 50ft...whilst this is only 16 metres, there are multiple ear popping stops on the way down)

With a bit of hyper ventilation and some of Sallys rock hard cooking to decrease buoyancy, a good rummage around each of the moorings in deep water have revealed a vast quantity of potentially useful goodies. Sally refuses to acknowledge these handy goodies as true treasure but she will come around when I find her something she appreciates. I have brought up a few bikini tops and bottoms but Sally believes it to be in poor taste to wear another woman's clothes, especially items that closely mimic under garments.

This is not to say that only charter boats have helped to supply Orion's inventory. We have salvaged stuff from all over the Caribbean.

The most expensive piece of kit we have brought up has been a winch handle. Also to be added to the useful pile has been a number of stainless steel shackles that I have prised off rusty anchor chain. I even found an old anchor too. We now have 3 anchors and enough shackles to connect some chain to them. Now I just need to salvage 300ft of 3/8” chain...

The most popular item to canvas the seabed with seems to be towels. As all cruisers will know, you can never have too many towels. Although Sally is now starting to dispute this. I have acquired 5 towels to date. Many with ill placed pegs still attached. I must admit, Sunsail or Moorings seem to equip their vessels with quite good gear as these towels are more absorbent than a five year old learning swear words.

These gains do not come with out their fair share of swashbuckling and tragedy. Many a time have I wrestled with crabs and other creatures of the deep for ownership of these items. Some crustaceans being so committed to their goods that they actively fight back. I have the scars to prove it.

I just wish people would poorly peg more clothing as my wardrobe is wearing a little thin...