THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, June 18, 1995 TAG: 9506150217
SECTION: CAROLINA COAST PAGE: 10 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JENNIFER CHRISTMAN, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 68 lines
IN TWO MONTHS, when my internship is over and I've choked the last breath from my college graduation money, I'm going to need some cash.
So I've been planning for the future.
Armed with a rented metal detector from Lifesaver Rent Alls, I spent a week parasitically scouring the shore for other people's lost valuables. I combed six Public Beach Access sites from Nags Head to Kitty Hawk.
Before venturing on my first beach detecting spree, I felt nervous and silly. After all, I was becoming one of those get-rich-quick dreamers that my friends and I found so entertaining during childhood beach trips.
But the first shrill beep of my sleek, 4-foot Bounty Hunter drowned out my hesitation. Like a Pavlovian dog salivating to a dinner bell, the call of the Bounty Hunter sent me scurrying through the sand.
Each sound inspired me to search harder. I felt as one with those women in Atlantic City who drop major coinage into slot machines just for the freak thrill of one clink of a quarter in the winnings tray.
I was hooked.
The first day, unfortunately, was also the most profitable. I not only unearthed one dime, a nickle and three pennies, but I became the proud owner of matching fish hooks and a weather-beaten Sprite cap.
After a solid afternoon of trudging hunched-over through the sand and dropping to my knees to dig, I felt tired and cranky. Still under the delusion that fortune was within my grasp, I made a pact to find more the next day.
But the next day and each day following were marked with equally humble trophies: a bit of aluminum foil the size of a golf ball, a clothes hanger, several empty soda cans and a broken umbrella. My grand cash total was 42 cents.
Better than the ``treasures'' I found were the comments I earned.
``Off-shore drilling?'' mused one man.
A little boy asked me if I was a spy.
Another boy pointed to the discus-shaped nose of the detector and told his brother: ``See that? That sucks your face off and kills you.''
Chip Burden, president of Lifesaver Rent Alls Inc., said about eight to 12 people a week rent his four metal detectors during the heat of the season. Renting costs $11 per day and $24 per week.
Unlike me, most people rent the detectors not to uncover treasures along the beach, but to recover items like jewelry that they have lost.
No one ever struck it rich with one of Burden's detectors, but they have gotten lucky. A woman once recovered a ring she had dropped into the sand at Jockey's Ridge while hang gliding.
Metal detectors also make handy baby sitters.
``Parents come in and get metal detectors to keep their kids out of trouble,'' Burden said. ``They don't find too much, but it keeps them busy for hours.''
I guess I'll start looking for a job after all. MEMO: METAL DETECTORS
Where: Lifesaver Rent Alls, Milepost 9 on the Beach Road.
Cost: $11 a day; $24 for a week.
Phone: 441-6048. ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by DREW C. WILSON
A nickel, vintage 1964, once covered by blowing sands on the Outer
Banks can be easily found using a rented metal detector.
by CNB