Hey SSG!
I guess today is going to be a post about nothing and everything at the same time. I had a contest last week and all your bling made my stackitis worse but thankfully 
First of all, I want to thank you for your great entries to the contest, I asked for bling and you all gave me bling!! I didn't think of the part where I actually have to choose a favorite!! I have to admit it was tough to choose, it was close but I narrowed it down to 2 winners. 
Now to the birthday raids, Pirate Sunday was my birthday, how fitting...Perfect time to go down to Aaron's shop and see what treasures may lie within for the taking. It all started after I made my last SSG posts and all the bling I encountered got me feverish, caught in a fog, all I could do was sleep,maybe that was the allergic reaction and the benadryll, maybe it was the fact the I'm now officially old at 35. In my fog,
Shot 1/30 sec. f/3.2 40 mm, ISO 900
Every pirate needs a nice booty bag and for whatever reason I didn't have one yet. I have treasure boxes but no bag, It was time to change that, there was a box of home made bags by some kid trying to buy Pokemon cards, they were a bit over priced but I can appreciate the enthusiasm and the effort. It will make a great background for coin pictures until it gets taken over by my shipmate and best hired mouser's fur, Kit-Ten. It has skulls and roses, Very fitting to hold my loot. You can see parts of it in the background of the picture above.
Shipmate Kit-Ten
Of course we cant leave without checking out the loot box of random 1 oz/fractional bars and rounds at bargain prices and found some interesting 2012 Year of the Dragon 1/2 oz bars still in the original package.I can't walk away from a nice dragon.
Shot 1/30 sec. f/3.3 40 mm, ISO 1000
Of course no worthy sea journey is complete without a good shark encounter, this Hammerhead was headed strait for us, I could see his glimmering teeth thru the blue water encasing it.
Shot 1/30 sec. f/3.2 40 mm, ISO 1400
This is probably the weirdest thing I found since the pirate bills. Niue has a series of colorized coins featuring sharks and other sea creatures. The coin looks like looking thru a submarine window. The case cover has a blue water like substance with an air bubble to make it look like it is being looked at under water. Unique indeed! So I conquered the shark and put him in the bag too, what a find!
Shot 1/25 sec. f/3.2 40 mm, ISO 1600
What about the black forest mumbo jumbo? It was my birthday after all and since I have deadly food allergies,
Shot 1/40 sec. f/4.5 34 mm, ISO 800
Well that was a lot of raiding for one day, stack on!
All images taken with Nikon D7000 and 40mm Nikkor micro except for contest pictures.
Cheers, X🐞X