Written by the TreasureGuide for the exclusive use of the Treasure Beaches Report.
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| Reef Ocean Resort Beach Cam From Vero Around 10:20 This Morning. |
The weather is the top story today. We are expecting an increase in the surf today. The wind changed this morning.
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| Surf Chart From SurfGuru.com. |
Yesterday I started looking through a little container of old finds. and I didn't get very far. I only posted a few of the finds I found in the container. Above is one of the finds that I didn't get to yesterday. It was a mystery item for a long time. For some time I thought it might be a connector for a bolo tie, which is an idea provided by one reader, and it was the best guess I had for some time. Later, however, I found a picture of an item on a harness that looked very similar to the item. You can see it in the middle of the picture below.
The item in the middle of the harness that the chains pass through is the one I'm talking about. That is currently my best guess about the mystery object. I could see how the mystery item could be one of those. I don't know what you call it, but I guess it goes in the category of horse tack associated with harnesses.
It goes to show how difficult it can be to identify a find. It has taken years and I'm still not completely sure.
One thing I noticed about the finds in the two containers that I looked at in my recent Box of Chocolates posts, is that a lot of them are mystery items. They don't fit into any obvious category, which is probably why I threw them into a miscellaneous box. Others are unique, even if I can identify them, and don't fit in with a neat grouping of similar items. And thirdly, some of the items, such as the black glass, are somewhat interesting, but not worth storing as a group or in a better way.
Every once in a while I'll take a look at some more of the items that were in that same container. There is one very nice 1715 Fleet item in there.
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Just a few days ago I did a post featuring a smart phone found by Mark G., who commented on how the times have changed and how you find different kinds of things than in the past, modern electronics being a prime example. I followed up with another post in which I mentioned that you don't find hotel room keys much anymore, especially the big ornate brass one. I also mentioned that fewer tokens are found these days.
I then mentioned how trash finds have changed as much as anything. That includes all the plastic bags and things like that which are so commonly encountered on the beach.
Mark G. sent the following email message.
Tip of the Iceberg
Since the age of recycling we’ve been taught that spent batteries are like kryptonite and must be kept separate from other recycling, but they just piled up with nobody knowing how to recycle them, so most of the time they just went into the trash. Like anything that goes into the trash it usually winds up in the oceans. I’ve dug more batteries than I have photo documented and in various stages of decay. My concern is that these finds are just an indicator, or tip of the iceberg I would say, of the devastation that lies ahead of us with electric car batteries. Think of how many electric cars hit the market in the last few years and then imagine all the batteries going dead in the same time period years from now. Will we be digging electric car batteries out of the sand ten years from now?
I haven't found many car batteries, but I find a lot of other used batteries. Those found in the water have always annoyed me.
Below is a list of the dangers of old batteries.
To understand why properly containing old batteries is essential, consider their toxic environmental impact:
- Batteries leach lead, sulfuric acid and plastic microplastics into the water which poison aquatic life when submerged.
- Lead entering the marine food chain accumulates in fish destined for human consumption leading to health risks.
- Acid from even a single battery can acidify and degrade a large volume of water.
- Plastics from battery casings further introduce toxins and choke wildlife who ingest them.
- Battery components take decades or longer to break down into less harmful compounds.
- Unrecoverable lead and plastic contribute to the global waste crisis and resource depletion.