I was in Hawaii with my wife. I had ear problems and was advised not to
scuba dive for a few days by my doctor. We decided to go snorkeling
instead and I would refrain from diving down at all. My wife saw several
huge cowries about 10' down under a ledge in a narrow crevice at the
opening to an underwater cave. The current was very strong pulling you
into the cave on the surface. We had to hold onto the upper portion of the
cave wall to keep from being pulled in while we were at the surface. My
wife couldn't make it down into the crevice because of the current, so I
ignored my doctors advice and dove down and wedged myself in so I could
pry these babies loose. The current rolled my around like I was in a
washing machine and then shot me into the cave underwater. I managed to
swim back out with the retreating current with the cowries in hand,
desperate for a breath.......alive to shell another day!!!!

On Fri, 17 Dec 1999, ferreter wrote:

> Well, it will be a long weekend conch-Lers so why don't all us "L"heads brew
> up a lively topic to chase around ,,,,,
>
> topic "A"       anyone have a real hard luck story concerning shells?
> topic "B"      the most dangerous place you found a shell
> topic "C"      the one that got away
>
> while i think about these anyone want to start,,,and it doesn't start with
> "My name is Mark , and i collect shells "
>
>
> Peta & Mark Bethke
> Hollywood , Florida
> "I have friends who tell me how much it cost to keep me in poverty" Mahatma
> Gandhi 1946
>