My First Fall (In The Water I Mean) It Had to Happen Sooner or Later

Saturday evening was the Bridgeview Marina member appreciation party. We decided to go there by dinghy (after all this is Venetian Village) so I got everything ready. Chairs, cooler, camera etc.
As I was loading up, I noticed the dinghy had come untied. I dashed over to the boat beside ours. Down to the swim platform I raced. I reached out as the dinghy floated by. Holding on to the folding ladder on John’s Bayliner I extended my reach. Just as my fingers touched the dinghy, the ladder released from its stored position and I was going in. Splash! I immediately thought of my wallet, then the cell phone on a strap around my neck, then the digital camera in the pocket of my shorts.
Bridgeview Marina managing, co-owner Dave Brown calls everyone to dinner
I guess most people would have resigned themselves to the reality that we have some losses here but later, at the party, I couldn’t help thinking I should be back home working on this problem. I was not really enjoying myself for being so stupid so we left early. The rib and fish dinner was superb though. Wendy enjoys her ribs while I sulk. (pictures taken by my other camera)

This story, amazingly enough, has a happy ending. If this ever happens to you, follow these steps. What have you got to lose? First have a good strong drink. Then, remove any batteries as soon as possible. Also remove any chips or memory cards. Shake out as much water as you can. If it fell in salt water, you would have to actually rinse it in fresh water to remove the corrosive salt. Use a hair dryer to heat the phone or camera and dry it out. Do not attempt to power up until the device has sat for at least 12 hours and you can no longer see any evidence of moisture in the screen or lens etc. Electricity and water don’t mix. Be patient and thorough about drying everything or you could fry some of the micro circuitry. Oh, by the way, take everything out of your wallet and spread them out flat. Unfold any papers so they won’t stick together. This picture was taken with my "revived" DMC FX9 digital camera. A survivor of a 5 ft deep plunge in my pants' pocket. Looks like I have an entire Monopoly game in that wallet.
Sunday, I couldn’t wait to see if my efforts were worth it. I couldn’t imagine what water would do to all the tiny mechanisms in the digital camera. The anti-shake mechanism adjusts the lens to compensate for tiny vibrations and a little motor advances and retracts the Leica lens system. I figured the cell phone might fare better. At least the only moving parts are the microphone and speaker diaphragms. I figured the thousands of microcircuit parts should function if dried thoroughly.

Everything powered up as normal. I made a call and took some pictures. Miraculously, every function on both gadgets worked. Even all my addresses were still there. I did have to reset the time and date on both.

I don't know how many times I've dropped this little Panasonic DMC FX9 camera, but it has been truly amazing. The anti-shake feature guarantees excellent pictures. I was already looking on eBay to get a replacement when it came back to life. Talk about LUCK!