Sun Screen and Wedding Rings

The beaches within walking distance of our resort were excellent. We could walk to Devil's Bay and Spring Bay, as well as enjoy the National Parks there. We didn't even rent a car until later in the week.

But, from the start, we searched for a snorkeling trip. We found one that included a sailboat ride from Bitter End to Dog Islands that sounded good, so we signed up for it. Since we were not guests of the Bitter End Yacht Club we were put on standby until guests there had an opportunity for the 22 slots. As it turned out, we were two of eight on the trip, with only one couple from Bitter End.

We had to drive to Gun Bay which meant climbing over a peak and take a ferry to Bitter End to get the sailboat to George Dog Island. Since I have tendency to burn, I covered my body with sun block during the start of the five-hour trip on the sailboat. What I didn't think about at the time was that I was also getting the cream on my ring finger.

We anchored a short distance from a small beach and donned our snorkeling gear. I was the last one in the water and Celeste was almost to the beach by that time. As soon as I had gone ten feet or so from the boat, I felt my ring slip off my finger. Some of you know this ring is less than a year old.

I called over to Celeste to tell her, hoping she could help me look for it. However, we both had on waist belts and couldn't dive. Adam, one of the crew heard me talking to Celeste about it and he dove it to help. The skipper told me to stay in position so they would know where to look, but I felt I was drifting back and forth because of the waves. I searched the area the best I could, but it seemed a long way to the bottom. Luckily, there were no rocks below me.

I gave up shortly after that and decided it was something impossible to find in such a large ocean. I told the skipper to tell Adam to forget it next time he came up for air and I swam toward shore looking at the fish now instead of the bottom.

Before I reached shore, I heard the skipper holler, "He found it! Adam found the ring."

And so he did.