When I first got my Sea Nymph aluminum boat and started taking exploratory trips out of Newport Bay bass fishing and then breakwater fishing in Long Beach and Dana Point there were a lot of buddies interested in going fishing with me. One friend in particular was a service writer buddy named Dave.
He had just passed his scuba certification and was interested in knowing if I would consider taking him the next time I was going fishing out of Dana Point especially off the harbor breakwater. He wanted to practice scuba diving and using my boat as his dive boat station complete with a diving flag fixed to my VHF antenna.
I didn’t see any problem with this and said yes to his request and so the weekend came and we planned to launch my boat out of Dana Harbor. Dave had all his scuba equipment on hand and was preparing himself for his dive while I got my vessel ready to launch. Once out of the harbor, I slowly maneuvered my boat down along the breakwater looking at my fish finder for signs of activity when Dave asked me to move my boat slightly away from the breakwater into deeper water and then down another 50 yards along the breakwater.
I told him that I was trying to locate fish but then he said something that really got my interest in something other than fishing. “How would like to share $15,000. in precious metals today?” he said. “What the hell are you talking about? I inquired. He then told me about a year ago an acquaintance of his that had worked in a laboratory that used these metals in their work that they performed at this facility that he worked at. The guy stole the metals, placed them in a sack, then borrowed a friend’s boat and in the dark of night dumped them off the breakwater at Dana Point. This story was the basis for Dave wanting to go scuba diving on this day. At first, I thought he was just telling me a story, but then he told me this was why he got his scuba diving certificate and wanted me to take him out on my boat. I started asking him more questions about this buddy of his, but he remained tight lipped not to let slip his identity when I started asking questions.
He said there was gold, silver and Platinum wafer bars used for making electrical connections in highly critical equipment, but he didn’t tell me what the equipment was used for. This friend of his told him that there was a lot of suspicion of who stole the metals at the lab, and he didn’t want to bring any attention to himself, so he struck a deal with Dave to recover the metals and give him a share of the money after it’s been sold. So, Dave decided to take up scuba diving for his part of the deal. Me, on the other hand, just wanted to go fishing on this day and I told him that his chances of finding the sack were a million to one but I would do my part in helping him to use my boat and help him locate the sack whilst I fished.
So, over the side of the boat Dave went looking for his treasure, while I baited up a plastic swim bait casting towards the breakwater looking for fish. Sometime had passed making casts with no luck, then I got a solid hookup. My rod had a major bend in it and whatever was on the end of my line was heavy. The line started moving to the right off the stern then moved towards the boat and stopped. Then it started moving to the left and my drag was just screeching. I could not move this fish at all. I pumped the rod like I was tuna fishing and all the time could not gain an inch on this fish. Then after maybe ten minutes, I started to gain line and whatever was on my line started coming to the surface. I was finally going to see this behemoth sea creature. Then, I noticed bubbles. A lot of bubbles. A black figure rose to the surface. It was Dave. I managed to hook his scuba tank harness with my swimbait. The whole time I was thinking it was my dream fish but instead it was a scuba diver. Dave apparently became disoriented under water and swam into my casting area and then I hooked him. He lifted his mask and started saying something was pulling him from behind but he couldn’t figure out what or who was doing it. I then reached over the side of the boat and unhooked the swimbait from his harness and showed him what was pulling him. We both started laughing. “You want a beer Mr. Treasure hunter?” “Yeah, I can use one” he returned saying. “Then get your ass in the boat and call it a day” I said.
With that, I helped him get his diving pack into the boat and pulled him in. We cracked open a couple of beers and laughed over my great fish hookup and battle. I don’t think he’ll ever find his lost treasure but if you think you’re lucky enough it’s still probably out there only if you believe his story of origination first. Good Luck!
Note: This story occurred over 30 years ago so the cost of those metals has quadrupled in value !
