Certain times of the year lure the surf hunter out into the dark forbidding sea at night when times and tide are right for rich reward. The longer one hunts the beaches the more you realize how very much the sand shifts and how suddenly. There are days each year that coincide with very low tides and the richest deposit of gold which will be dug by another hunter or covered up with sand in only days! The answer therefore is to hunt after the huge crowds have gone home and the hunters with them in the dark night with only the comfort of the stars and distant street lights to form a reference.
When you finally assemble your tools and start to walk down to the sea it looks as black as it could be and not very inviting. Only hours before there were happy kids and sunburned adults splashing around in the water and the hot sun beamed down with the heat of an oven but, its cool now and only the water is warm. Hunting in the heart of the dark sea gives one a unusual sense of calm as you look back at the lights of town and the stars above listening to the infrequent tones of promise from your detector. That surprised me, the comfortable feeling that I liked about it. Only the stinging jellyfish I wanted to avoid, everything else was really nice.
Ahh! the sound of gold! Anticipation as I steady the coil to pinpoint the target. There is of course that ever present breaker that hits me just about the time I am trying to put pressure on my big scoop and I have to do it all over again. Then there is the heighened sense of awareness as I turn on my small waterproof light and wash out the last of the sand in the bottom of my scoop. I peer into the bucket and....
Drat! the alarm clock! Oh Well, I its only my dreams again but I wanted to give you an illustration of the experience that I felt when I hunted the dark sea. It may seem forbidding but just try it sometime and it will grow on you like it has on me. There is two times a year when I walk into the water that I really feel like I should be home watching the TV instead of stalking the seafloor at night or walking down in January into a very cold sea with freezing temps and a blasting wind but as soon as I am there I just love the experience and I wouldn't be anywhere else.
I think one of the things I like about it is just pushing the limits a little more and grabbing for the gold ring and the solitude of the experience in the water that brings a quickening focus to my experience and brings me to a fresh perspective and a positive attitude about life that sometimes grows dull back home sitting around the TV.
The most wonderful thing about what we call "treasure hunting" is finding what others seek and never find in the material lust that commits their thinking only to basic human needs or the temporary satisfaction in dedicated consumerism. Life at its best is an adventure and adventures are harder to find in our world today but call to us to extend our reach just beyond ourselves. How many people there are who repeat the daily grind and search for vicarious experience in sports or books that they will never provide. It reminds me of reading a biography of someone else's life instead of living first person live.
