The Ring
Lost Isle
Father's Day

Tuesday, July 20, 1999

   
The ring.  Unfortunately, I couldn't get a very good close-up of it.

Anyway, I put the ring in my pants pocket, and all was fine. Later, when we were walking down the dock on our way to get some lunch, I pulled my money out of my pocket to see how much I had.

Well, yesterday I hired a diver to go look for the ring. I needed to have one come by and inspect my hull and sacrificial zincs anyway, so why not have him look for the ring as well? Well, a quick dive, and 20 seconds later, he came up with it in his hand! Here's the photo: 

Steve, holding the ring!

What a relief!  Needless to say, I now have the ring covered by insurance!

For the record,  The diver's name is Steve Zarit of Sea Wolf Marine Services.  (415-435-7904 or 800-SEA-WOLF or on the Internet: http://www.1800seawolf.com)  Very pleasant to deal with, and very reasonable.  I continue to use Sea Wolf to inspect my zincs and clean my hull on a regular basis.  I've recommended him to several of my friends who have boats, and they have signed up as well for regular services.

There is an addendum to this.  Much later, I believe in August 2001, I lost the ring in the Marina again.  I had the ring resized and, unfortunately it was now too big.  One day I had leaned over to pick up some flotsam out of the water next to Dakota.  When I flicked the water off my hands, off went the ring into the water!  So I called Steve and told him what I had done; I described where it had happened; and I asked him to let me know when he was in the area again so I could direct him to it.

Then a few days later I came home to Dakota and found the ring in the cockpit with a note underneath.  It read: "Here's the ring.  Next time it's mine!"

Needless to say, I immediately had it resized properly.

Sunday, July 4, 1999

As I sit here just lazing away this 4th of July weekend, I just thought I would take a moment to mention a little about a place on the Delta called Lost Isle.  It's just up river (actually south, but that's still up river), from where I am located now at Mandeville Tip (see Mandeville Tip in the Ship's Log).  This is an island bar located on the San Joaquin River, just north of Stockton, California.  I've been to Lost Isle many times in the 16 years that I've been coming to this part of the Delta.  Obviously, being an island, you need a boat to get there.   There are two bars on the island.  One is in the original house of the island, and the other is an 'outside' bar, with open sides and a thatched roof.  Actually, they replaced the thatched roof a couple of years ago, but that's the way I like to remember it.  They serve Mai Tai's on tap here, usually with a Meyer's Rum floater!

Needless to say, since it is an island, you need a
boat to get there.  There is no automotive access.
Hence, the boatjam shown above and below

It gets quite busy here in the summer time.

Every weekend, during the summer, they have live music, and the place is packed!   They have contests too.  Wet T-shirt contests.  Bikini contests.   Banana eating contests.  (All female contestants only.)  It's a wild and crazy place.  They sell T-shirts that say: "Lost Isle - The Weekend I'll Never Remember!"  It's one of those places where you gotta go, at least once in your lifetime!  Amazing, is a pretty descriptive word for it!

Of course, I only go to Lost Isle to see the bands and listen to the music...   Ahemm.

Father's Day, 1999

Isn't that great!  It came in it's original wooden case.

What's also interesting, is that there is a certification card in the case with the signature of a retired naval officer.  And the certification date is December 26, 1945.  This is just a few months after World War II had ended, and almost two months after I was born!  But what struck me most, was that the certifying officer was at work on the day after Christmas!