My Precious.....
About 2 months ago I went snorkeling in Hanauma Bay for the first time (I know...I've lived on Oahu for over 10 years and just went there. I'm pacing myself and not doing everything at once). The bay is a state wildlife protection area and the snorkeling is the best in the U.S. Before you can swim, you have to watch this 15 min video on water safety and how not to kill the reef. After the short video, you are allowed to make the trek down this really steep road and then venture out to the water. I helped my wife setup our blankets, chairs, and various required beach toys for the kids before gearing up myself to go out in the water (my wife doesn't swim).
I decided to break the first rule we learned in the video and snorkel on my own. I swam maybe two feet before finding wildlife under the water and knew I was going to have a blast that day. It's impossible to describe the abundance of beautiful fish and coral here, you just have to go see it to understand. Why it took me ten years to do this I'll never understand.
Towards the end of my first swim of the day, I saw something shiny out of the left corner of my fogged up goggles. Stopping to investigate I saw something metal partially buried in the sand next to a small piece of coral. The closer I got the more I realized it was a ring. I snatched the ring from its underwater resting place and the first thing that came to my mind was a vision of Gollum's friend from The Lord of the Rings doing the same thing. The whole time I was swimming ashore I kept thinking, my precious, my precious.
I couldn't find a lost and found there at the bay, so I took the ring home. It's a rather plain silver wedding ring made by James Avery. The ring is apparently worth about $40 brand new. After researching how much the ring is worth, I did a quick google on lost wedding bands and Hanauma Bay. Apparently there is a treasure trove of gold, silver, platinum, and diamond rings waiting to be found under the water.
I couldn't find anyone describe the ring I had found, but there seemed to be a similar story for each lost ring. Of course they were all lost while swimming, but each person's story focused on the beauty of Hanauma Bay, the amazing fish they found, not on the actual loss of the ring. The loss was just mentioned in a, oh by the way this happened fashion. The human race just went up a notch in my book. Most people were able to focus on the amazing experiences they had at Hanauma Bay, and not on the fact that they lost a sentimental piece of replaceable jewelry.
I feel guilty now for having this ring for some reason. I might go back to the Bay and return it to the approximate same place I found it....but it's my precious, they can't take away my precious, we earned my precious didn't we?
What do you think I should do with the ring?
.
I decided to break the first rule we learned in the video and snorkel on my own. I swam maybe two feet before finding wildlife under the water and knew I was going to have a blast that day. It's impossible to describe the abundance of beautiful fish and coral here, you just have to go see it to understand. Why it took me ten years to do this I'll never understand.
Towards the end of my first swim of the day, I saw something shiny out of the left corner of my fogged up goggles. Stopping to investigate I saw something metal partially buried in the sand next to a small piece of coral. The closer I got the more I realized it was a ring. I snatched the ring from its underwater resting place and the first thing that came to my mind was a vision of Gollum's friend from The Lord of the Rings doing the same thing. The whole time I was swimming ashore I kept thinking, my precious, my precious.
I couldn't find a lost and found there at the bay, so I took the ring home. It's a rather plain silver wedding ring made by James Avery. The ring is apparently worth about $40 brand new. After researching how much the ring is worth, I did a quick google on lost wedding bands and Hanauma Bay. Apparently there is a treasure trove of gold, silver, platinum, and diamond rings waiting to be found under the water.
I couldn't find anyone describe the ring I had found, but there seemed to be a similar story for each lost ring. Of course they were all lost while swimming, but each person's story focused on the beauty of Hanauma Bay, the amazing fish they found, not on the actual loss of the ring. The loss was just mentioned in a, oh by the way this happened fashion. The human race just went up a notch in my book. Most people were able to focus on the amazing experiences they had at Hanauma Bay, and not on the fact that they lost a sentimental piece of replaceable jewelry.
I feel guilty now for having this ring for some reason. I might go back to the Bay and return it to the approximate same place I found it....but it's my precious, they can't take away my precious, we earned my precious didn't we?
What do you think I should do with the ring?
.
posted by Jason at 12:37 AM
1 Comments:
Hey, Jason- good to see you online! Would love to see pictures of you and your wife. Thanks for sending me your blog address. If I remember, I'll check it often. The ring? Probably just keep it or sell it. I can't imagine you'll find its owner. A neat story, though. And James Avery- that's random.
I think you have my blog address at www.practicingsanity.blogspot.com. Now I know you do. ;-)
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