HURRICANE DAVID AND DRUG DROPSHurricane David skirted the South Florida coast on Labor Day in 1979 doing little or no damage other than some erosion on the beaches. That brings to mind the incident that happened to me and my wife the day after this storm passed. We are both "Treasure hunters," meaning we travel to the Beaches, Battlefields, Goldfields and other interesting areas of the State and Country, including foreign countries using metal detectors. We uncover various articles that may or may not be valuable but it is a rewarding and fun hobby. We had made numerous trips to the "Treasure Coast" Ft. Pierce, Fl. after high winds and rough seas seeking the "Gold and Silver" coins and other artifacts from the remains of the 1715 Spanish Plate Fleet destroyed by a hurricane and thrown upon the beaches from South of Ft. Pierce to the Sebastian Inlet. Hurricane David came ashore just North of Ft. Pierce, and although not a very large Hurricane we knew it had to churn up the beaches , so we loaded up our "Open Road" camper and hit the road. Checking in at one of the campgrounds right on the ocean we decided to wait until the next morning and get on the beach at the crack of dawn. Just a few hundred feet North of where we parked on the beach to begin our searching was a large stand of pine trees and it was here that we had, on occasions camped and spent the night. We had debated the night before as to whether or not we would stay there or in the campground. As it turned out it was very fortunate we decided not to stay in the trees on the beach. The Ocean was very rough and there was enough wind from the East to blow a very fine mist of spray and it was like a thin fog making it hard to see for any great distance, but on the beach to the North, where the stand of pines were we could see the figures of several people moving up and down the beach and I could make-out the shape of a red Zodiac-type boat lying on the beach. I looked out into the ocean and anchored about two - hundred yards or so almost directly East of where I was standing was a small boat and in that rough ocean. I wondered what he was doing because the ocean was too stirred-up and much too rough to fish. By now it was good daylight and I had gone on ahead of my wife and I heard the sound of an airplane and it sounded very low. Sure enough coming in from the South and flying about fifty fight high and following the coastline was a twin-engine "T-Tail" airplane without a side door, or at least it was open and a man standing in it holding something in his hand and looking right at me. The plane zoomed on past and after going about a half mile or so past the pine trees it banked to the right over the ocean and flew back South. It was then I noticed the frenzied activity from the group of men around the Zodiac. They pushed it out into the rough surf and tried to scramble aboard, but the waves turned it over and it washed upon the beach. Mean while the small boat that had been anchored off- shore started up and turned into the waves. I heard the airplane again and here it came back, but this time about a hundred yards off the beach. The man standing in the door either kicked or threw a large black object out of the plane and it hit the water and immediately a yellow-stain began spreading from the black object and I knew from past experiences that this was a dye-marker. The Zodiac had been righted and the men had it in the water and I could see they had an out-board motor on the stern and were trying to get it started. The small boat meanwhile had circled back and someone on it had a boat-hook and was trying to get the object into the boat. By this time the plane had made another round and again it zoomed by and another black object came hurtling out and into the water. The people in the Zodiac must have given-up on trying to start the motor and now they were paddling furiously in the direction of the dye-marker. While all this was taking place the activity had drifted very close to where I was standing on the beach. I was close enough to them to hear their shouted remarks I don't believe they had ever noticed I was there. By this time the dye was already being washed upon the beach, the boat was very close to the beach and the airplane made another run and another drop. All this had transpired in a very short period of time maybe twenty minutes or so and it finally dawned on me that we were in the middle of some type of illegal activity, no doubt a drug-drop and this could very well prove life-threatening so I headed back down the beach to where I could see my wife and again the plane made another run and the zodiac and the other boat were still intent on picking up the black objects. The fifth and final drop didn't go as smooth for the crew of the plane as the first four did because as the fifth and last object came out the door it broke apart and what looked like hundreds of white envelopes fluttered down and into the ocean and there was another mad scramble by the boat and Zodiak crew to salvage them. By this time I had nearly reached my wife who was way-high upon the beach and again I heard the plane coming back. Sure enough it was and about ten feet off the ground coming straight at me. I waited until it was almost upon me and I ran up the beach as I knew the pilot was too low to bank the plane and when the plane roared by the man that had been throwing the objects out of the plane was standing in the door and shouted something at me that I failed to understand. I along with my wife hurried to where I had parked my camper and once inside I had the means to protect us and I felt a little safer. We looked back to where the men in the boats were and the Zodiac crew was on the beach then picking-up the "envelopes" and the small boat was still moving around and the plane was nowhere in sight. Just as we started to pull-out onto the road my wife saw a Deputy Sheriffs car going South on the Beach road and she said "wave him down and tell him what's going on." I thought it might not be wise to stop him because the beach was unobstructed along here and he being a trained observer should have seen unusual activity going on. Right behind the Deputy Sheriff came a Marine Patrol car going in the same direction. I could not begin to guess what kind of "mess" I almost got myself into, and might not be out of it yet. If we had decided to spend the night in that stand of pine trees we could have very well been camped in the middle of a dangerous environment. We thought it best to cut-short our stay in this area. We broke-camp and headed home trying to decide what to do. I had gotten the numbers off the fuselage of the plane and now I must report it, but to whom. Arriving back home, I called a Detective friend of mine on the Police-Force, told him the story, gave him the number and description of the plane and said I would leave it up to him to do whatever needed to be done. I suppose he did, I never heard from him about it and I am just thankful that it ended for me the way it did. Now, I never treasure hunt, on the beach, or anyplace unless I have the means very close at hand to protect myself. (Less than a year later, there were multiple arrests in several counties of public and law enforcement officials involved in drug smuggling activities in this area.) |