🚨 𝐋𝐎𝐒𝐓 𝐌𝐎𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐑’𝐒 𝐃𝐀𝐘 𝐓𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐒𝐔𝐑𝐄 𝐕𝐀𝐍𝐈𝐒𝐇𝐄𝐒 𝐈𝐍 𝐒𝐄𝐁𝐀𝐆𝐎 𝐋𝐀𝐊𝐄! 💍😭
Imagine receiving the perfect Mother’s Day ring, only to watch it vanish into a massive lake just six weeks later. That is exactly the nightmare Michelle faced, and it all started during a beautiful, normal day at the beach with her family.
Drop a ❤️ to show Michelle some support, and share this post—you never know who might need a reminder to double-check their pockets this summer!
🌊 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐃𝐢𝐬𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐨𝐧 𝐉𝐮𝐥𝐲 𝟒𝐭𝐡 𝐖𝐞𝐞𝐤𝐞𝐧𝐝
On July 3rd, I received a message from Michelle. She was in urgent need of a water recovery over at Sebago Lake Maine in the Town of Windham, Maine.
Michelle sent over the details of what had happened, and it’s a situation many of us can relate to. She had taken all of her rings off to apply sun lotion to her children and then to herself.
To keep them safe, she placed them all into a pocket on her bathing suit. With the family protected from the sun, Michelle grabbed a float and went into the water to enjoy the beautiful July 4th holiday weekend, soaking up the rays while floating around the private lakeside community beach.
The shock came once Michelle exited Sebago Lake Maine .
She reached into her bathing suit pocket to retrieve her rings, only to find to her utter horror that two of her rings were missing. Cruelly, one of the missing pieces was a deeply sentimental 𝑴𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓’𝒔 𝑫𝒂𝒚 𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈 representing her three children’s birth months.
The beautiful white gold ring featured three stones—two sparkling diamonds flanking a vibrant, eye-catching red center stone.
To make matters worse, Michelle had just received this precious ring six weeks earlier, and now it had slipped out of her pocket and fallen somewhere onto the bottom of Sebago Lake.
🏊♂️ 𝐀 𝐏𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐑𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲
Disbelief quickly turned to action. Michelle, her children, family members, and other supportive community members immediately rallied together and started searching the crystal clear waters.
Some scanned from above on floats while others waded through the water on foot, desperately looking for a glimmer of white gold on the lake floor…
As the family and neighbors searched, a shout went up from the water—Michelle’s son had spotted one of the missing rings!
Floating along the surface, he was peering down through the crystal clear water when a flash of metal caught his eye on the lake floor, about 4 to 5 feet deep.
Without wasting a second, he dove straight down, reached past the rocks, and gripped the ring. He broke the surface triumphantly, holding the ring high in the air to show his mother.
The excitement was electric, but there was absolutely no time to waste. One ring was safely back, but the most sentimental piece—the beautiful white gold Mother’s Day ring—was still lost somewhere beneath the waves.
With new hope fueling the team, the search ensued for the final ring… Unfortunately, despite everyone’s best efforts, the day ended without finding the second ring.
📅 𝐉𝐮𝐥𝐲 𝟔𝐭𝐡: 𝐅𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭 𝐀𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐦𝐩𝐭
That is when Michelle reached out to me. Because the beach belongs to a private, gated community, it wasn’t a spot where I could just waltz right in and start searching on my own. To get access to the area, I needed to be accompanied by a community member. We looked at the schedule, and the next time Michelle would be available to meet me at the gate was three days later, on July 6th.
Perfect! The date and time were set, and a plan was officially in motion.
When the day arrived, Gary and I pulled up to the gate and were warmly greeted by Michelle and her children.
We made our way down to the waterfront, where Michelle pointed out the fairly large area she had floated around during the holiday weekend. The search zone included clusters of rocks and massive underwater boulders—some sitting just inches below the surface, and a few others just barely breaking through the water. She also pointed out the exact spot just past one of those large boulders where her son had successfully recovered the first ring.
Our grid search plan was to concentrate our efforts heavily around these rock formations.
My biggest concern going into this was that the missing ring might have drifted a little too far out, into water that was completely over my head. To tackle the zone efficiently, Gary and I divided and conquered. I waded right out to the deep water where the first ring had been found and began a tight grid search, moving back and forth parallel to the shoreline. With each complete pass, I pushed myself a little deeper out into the lake, continuing until it was no longer safe to go any further.
Meanwhile, Gary started right at the shoreline. His mission was to work his way from the shallow water outward until he reached the deep boulder where I had initially started. By combining these two approaches, we were able to systematically cover a very large, thorough footprint in the exact zone Michelle believed the ring was most likely resting.
🚗 𝐓𝐡𝐞 “𝐃𝐫𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐒𝐡𝐚𝐦𝐞”
After three grueling hours of intensive searching, digging up many coins and pieces of beach trash later, we unfortunately had to call the search without finding the ring.
The water depth simply got to a point where I could not go out any further safely. Gary and I don’t like it one bit when we don’t succeed. We take every single recovery personally, but sometimes in this line of work, we have to accept a temporary defeat.
Before packing up, we sat down and talked out the strategy with Michelle. We discussed the deeper water and assured her that we would certainly come back to search again later in the summer. In August and September, the lake levels usually drop a few feet, which would completely open up the deep areas I just couldn’t reach today. Michelle agreed to keep a close eye on the waterline and promised to contact us the moment it dropped.
Defeated for now, Gary and I loaded up our gear and made the long drive of shame home…
📉 𝐀 𝐋𝐨𝐰 𝐋𝐚𝐤𝐞 & 𝐀 𝐍𝐞𝐰 𝐎𝐩𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐲
Fast forward to late August. Gary and I were driving home from a successful recovery on “The Sandbar” at 𝐒𝐞𝐛𝐚𝐠𝐨 𝐋𝐚𝐤𝐞. As we passed the gated community where there was still a missing 𝐌𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫’𝐬 𝐃𝐚𝐲 𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠, I mentioned that I should contact the owner, Michelle, knowing just how low the lake level had become.
Just 10 days later, Michelle beat me to it! She reached out on September 2nd to tell me the water level was down significantly—by two feet or more. Since she was about to go on vacation, she could get us back past the gates and into the water. Awesome.
🔍 𝐄𝐱𝐩𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐆𝐫𝐢𝐝 (𝐀𝐠𝐚𝐢𝐧!)
Two days later, Gary and I resumed the search. We expanded our grid out deeper and into other areas we hadn’t covered the first time around. We even were out past the roped off buoys, that Michelle had not gone past. But after another three hours of grinding it out, we still had no ring.
I was convinced the ring had to be out deeper than we could search during our first attempt, way further out than Michelle had ever been on her float. We even were out past the roped off buoys, that Michelle had not gone past.With the deep water now eliminated, Gary shifted his focus to searching up on the beach itself, out of the water. I continued working my way back through the water toward the shore, preparing myself to break the bad news to Michelle.
🔔 𝐓𝐡𝐞 “𝐅𝐨𝐢𝐥” 𝐒𝐢𝐠𝐧𝐚𝐥
As I was finishing up the grid near the shoreline, standing in just ankle-deep water a few feet out, my detector suddenly went off with a loud, low tone. The Target Identification (TID) read 07-08.
It was definitely in the gold range, but given how close we were to the shore and the picnic tables, my first thought was foil. It had to be foil, right? I dug the target anyway, and BAM!!!
💎 💎 𝐔𝐧𝐛𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐞𝐯𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐃𝐢𝐬𝐜𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲!
A white gold ring with two diamonds and a brilliant red center stone appeared in my scoop. I couldn’t believe my eyes! After six total hours of searching deep water, the ring was sitting just a few feet from the shoreline, only about 60 to 75 feet from where the first ring had been found. We were so certain it was out deep, but the shallows held the treasure. Lesson learned.
😭 💎 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐄𝐦𝐨𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐑𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐚𝐥
At this time, Michelle had no idea I had it. I called her over and casually told her we were just about done. I asked her a few quick questions to distract her, then I held the ring up right in front of me and asked, “𝐖𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐛𝐞 𝐢𝐭?”
Michelle’s hands went straight up to her face in total shock. Happy tears immediately started flowing, and I couldn’t have been happier for her.
It was truly wonderful for Gary and I to witness such an emotional reaction. After having the ring for just six weeks and now just over two months lost in 𝐒𝐞𝐛𝐚𝐠𝐨 𝐋𝐚𝐤𝐞, Michelle is once again wearing her beloved children’s birthstones on her finger. With the happy tears flowing, the hugs and thank yous over, Gary and I drove home not on the “𝐃𝐫𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐒𝐡𝐚𝐦𝐞” but on a “𝐃𝐫𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐅𝐚𝐦𝐞!” 🏆🚗💨
❤️ 𝐖𝐡𝐲 𝐖𝐞 𝐃𝐨 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐖𝐞 𝐃𝐨
Another ring back on the finger, right where it belongs. 𝐖𝐄 𝐋𝐎𝐕𝐄 𝐎𝐔𝐑 𝐉𝐎𝐁𝐒! It really is the best job in the world.
Remember: 𝐈𝐅 𝐈𝐓 𝐌𝐀𝐓𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐒 𝐓𝐎 𝐘𝐎𝐔, 𝐈𝐓 𝐌𝐀𝐓𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐒 𝐓𝐎 𝐔𝐒. 🙏✨
🍂 𝐃𝐢𝐝 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐋𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐑𝐢𝐧𝐠? 𝐖𝐞 𝐂𝐚𝐧 𝐇𝐞𝐥𝐩 𝐘𝐞𝐚𝐫-𝐑𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝! ❄️
Now that the summer and water seasons are over, you might think a lost ring is gone for good—but it isn’t! We don’t just search the water. If your precious jewelry slips off in the backyard, down a trail, or while doing yard work, we can find your ring hidden in:
• 🍁 𝐃𝐞𝐞𝐩 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐬
• 🌱 𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐤 𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐬𝐬
• ❄️ 𝐄𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐟𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐡 𝐬𝐧𝐨𝐰!
Time is of the essence! The sooner we get out there, the better the chances of a perfect recovery. Don’t wait until it gets buried deeper or lost forever.
📞 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐜𝐭 𝐃𝐞𝐧𝐧𝐢𝐬 𝐀𝐒𝐀𝐏 𝐚𝐭 𝟐𝟎𝟕-𝟒𝟐𝟑-𝟑𝟎𝟐𝟕 and let us bring your treasure home!
𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐝𝐥𝐲 𝐜𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐛𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝟑𝟐𝟓 𝐬𝐮𝐜𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐟𝐮𝐥 𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠! 𝐖𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐞 𝐰𝐞 𝐜𝐚𝐧’𝐭 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦 𝐚𝐥𝐥, 𝐰𝐞 𝐧𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐠𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐮𝐩 𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐥 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐬𝐪𝐮𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐡 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐛𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐬𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐝—𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐑𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐅𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐌𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲 𝐭𝐨 𝐚 𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐲 𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠.
📹 𝐖𝐚𝐭𝐜𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐒𝐡𝐨𝐜𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧!
Michelle’s unforgettable, shocked reaction was caught entirely on video! We released the reel last night, and you can watch the incredible moment unfold right now on The Ring Finders of Maine Facebook Page.
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