Hurricane Sandy Beach Replenishment

Thanks to the generosity of the Federal Government, and the courtesy of the US Army Corp of Engineers, beach replenishment projects are ongoing all along the New Jersey coast.

I've been filming the work for the past few months, and have put together this short minute long video showing how the process works.  It's really quite amazing, they are actually moving the coastline further out into the sea.  Of course, the sea will push it right back, but it's still quite a project to view.

I hope you enjoy the video, and forgive my bad jokes.

I don't know how you feel about it, but the air's warming up, Weather Underground reports Sandy Hook water temperature at 39 degrees (just six degrees below my limit), Lobster season opens on April 1st, my dry suit just went for a trip to DUI, and I can't wait to get back into the water.

Thank for reading my blog and sharing with your friends -- and DSAO!

ScubaDave

Of treasure and shipwrecks

I've been following a shipwreck exploration company for about ten years now.  I organically heard about them from an article in INC or FORTUNE or MONEY magazine, I really don't remember which it was.  The company is Odyssey Marine Exploration, ticker symbol OMEX.

I bought a couple hundred shares: it was something like 25 cents a share, so it's not like I'm a big investor or anything.  I figured, it's less than most people drop at a casino on a Saturday night trip.

Image my surprise when a year later, the stock hit $10 a share.  I sold my stock quicker than you could say "fill it with 32% please" and continued following the news.  OMEX had found a Spanish galleon off the coast of Europe and recovered about $100 million in silver, which they quietly put on a private jet and flew back to Tampa.

Over the next two years, the company was in court and eventually ended up giving all the money back to the Spanish government.  I put my small gains into my "diving" account and gave it to dive shops and dive boats for the next few years.

The stock fell back into the 1-2 dollar range, and has been hovering there for years.  Every once in a while, usually after the stock price has been pummeled for a few weeks, I'll pick up a hundred or so shares, figuring they'll find another treasure wreck and the market will go nuts and I can get some more diving money.

The company has now started a new division to look for undersea mineral deposits.  It sounds like instead of speculating on treasure, they've decided to try to become an industry leader in undersea mineral exploration.  Maybe it's a good idea, maybe it isn't, I'm not sure.  I originally bought the stock and promised to give up on trips to the casino, which I have faithfully adhered to.  So this is definitely gambling, not investing.   Click here for a report from Bloomberg.com that will give anyone interested a little background.  Click here for an article by a guy who says the company is a sham, just to give balanced information.

Just to be upfront, I'm not a stock broker, I own less than a thousand shares of OMEX stock, and I'm not giving out investment advice or suggesting anyone buy the company.  All the prices I mention above are from memory, and while "in the ballpark" may be off by a few years or a few million dollars.  My reason for buying the stock is that the next time they find a big treasure, the stock market will go insane like it did ten years ago and the stock will soar as idiots buy high thinking they're getting in on something.  After all, everybody wants to discover treasure.


If you don't get why this post is being put in a scuba blog, then you're spending too much time looking at fish.

Thanks for reading my blog and sharing with your friends -- and DSAO!

ScubaDave