Making REAL Money

So I've been looking to buy a metal detector this past week because I really want to go out on the beach and start making some REAL money. Know what I'm saying, son? The Benjamins? Booyah. Y'all Pirates know me real well, dontcha!

My obsession with being a beach comber started last summer when I was working on that amazing reality show "The Beach." We shot during the two busiest weekends of the year at Huntington Beach (Surf City USA, for real): Memorial Day weekend, the beginning of summer; and July 4th weekend, the biggest swingingest day of the year in my opinion. My job was to haul a Radio Flyer wagon with all-terrain wheels, loaded to the splinters, through the sand and people, just generally backing-up production.

I would say it was a shit job except for the fact that I was on the beach most of the summer, fifteen minutes from my house; besides a few days, it was really pretty rad.

So on the Sunday of these two weekends, a bunch of old timers would show up around 3PM, as the crowds thinned to hit the bars on Main St, with their metal detectors swinging and their little metal scoops hanging from their belts. Every few minutes they would stoop down, sift the sand for a minute and then place something in a small mesh bag.

Since I was bored and they were still shooting Take 14 (it was a "reality" show), I walked over to one of the old dudes and asked him about his hobby and how often he would find anything.

Turns out, he finds TONS of stuff. Usually about five dollars in change and rings and necklaces and belt buckles and cell phones and iPods. Memorial Day and Independence Day are like gold mines. He told me stories of being approached by kids to help them find their lost keys.* Apparently, he and a few other of the beach combers keep lobbying the city to put up a bulletin board to help them find homes for the things they find. I guess even though he's probably got a couple thousand dollars worth of rings, he won't sell them because they belong to somebody.

The most inspiring story he told was that he found a local Huntington High class ring in the sand and went about trying to find it's owner. Turns out it had belonged to a kid that joined the marines and was just sent over to Iraq. The old guy was in the process of contacting his unit so he could send him the ring.

As far as hobbies go, it's a somewhat expensive one. With most detectors costing between $500 - $1000, and lest we forget, there weren't really any pirates or Spanish ships on the west coast so it's not like I would be shooting for gold.

But a sandy BlackBerry would be pretty cool too.**




* Also, he said some rather awkwardly bigoted things about the Asian kids he would help.
** Sandy Blackberry won an AVN award last year.