Dave Cartee, Author at The Ring Finders | Page 7 of 9

Lost Ring, Pensacola Beach, FL – FOUND!

  • from Orange Beach (Alabama, United States)
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Friday night I got a call from a man named Wes saying that his wife had lost her ring on Pensacola Beach. I talked to him for a bit and got some info. He told me that they had tried to look for it already and said that they might try again. I explained to him that searching for it can usually drive a gold ring deeper into the sand because of the differences in density. I also told him that I was going to be in the area the next morning dropping off my son at Lacrosse practice. Wes asked if I would head across the bridge after and we set a time to meet. When I walked down onto the beach I got a bit concerned because I could see the fresh tracks of the machine that drags the sand to pick up trash, etc.  However, when I found Wes and he pointed to the area where the ring was lost, I started to get the feeling that this nice couple was going to be lucky since the tracks stopped about 50 yards away. When Wes told me that they were sitting 37 steps away from a landmark and he had brought a 100ft measuring tape, I knew that there was a great chance of finding his wife’s ring. Sure enough, in less than 10 minutes on my third pass I got a nice tone and gently pulled up her ring in the first scoop. Thanks for calling me Wes and thanks for being so thorough. I’m very glad y’all got your ring back. 👍😃💍

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Lost Ring in the Gulf, Orange Beach, AL – FOUND!!!

  • from Orange Beach (Alabama, United States)
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On the same day that I returned Don’s ring I was lucky enough to get a call shortly after from my new friends Eddie and Meryl from Kentucky. They were vacationing in Orange Beach and Eddie was playing in the waves when his gold wedding ring was knocked from his hand. It had been about 24 hrs when they found my info but I assured them that we could still find it. They met me on the beach and Eddie thought he had a good idea where he lost it. Unfortunately, it was about chest deep on me and I’m 6’3” and to make matters worse, there was a significant swell that would float us off our line as we walked out to where Eddie thought it was. On our way into the surf we had about 5 young boys come over and excitedly ask about 35 questions in 30 seconds. We assured them that if we found some treasure we would show them when we got back in. I started swinging my detector as we got closer to the area and got a signal. Eddie said we weren’t quite there yet but I told him we should dig it since sometimes it’s hard to know exactly where you are in the surf. Eddie wasn’t surprised when I pulled up a piece of a can and told me to follow him. Well when we got to where he thought it was, I immediately heard a good gold tone. I think Eddie must have had a gps in his pocket when the ring came off because that was the most impressive recall of where a ring was lost in the Gulf of Mexico I have ever seen. 😃. It took a few tries in the waves but eventually I saw gold in the scoop and knew we had it. I headed to the beach with the scoop over my head so as not to lose it in the surf. When we got to the beach Eddie immediately pulled it out and placed it on his hand. One of the little boys from before asked Eddie what he had found.  When Eddie said that it was his wedding ring the little boy wrinkled up his face and said “Eww!”  😆. Luckily Eddie and his wife were much happier about it than the little boy. I’m very glad you got your ring back Eddie!  😃

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Lost Ring, Pensacola Beach – FOUND!

  • from Orange Beach (Alabama, United States)
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I got a call from a gentleman named Don that said he had received my card from the front desk of Margaritaville on Pensacola Beach. I was excited to hear that they gave him a card because I had dropped some off several months ago and it was great to hear that they were saving them in case someone needed me. Well Don definitely needed me!  He had dropped his wedding ring somewhere out in front of the Hotel while staying here in Pensacola Beach. To make matters worse it was his solid Platinum band given to him by his wife to commemorate their 20 year anniversary and he didn’t know whether he lost it in the water or in the sand. Luckily for him, I have detectors that work equally well in both spots. I’d love to tell you amazing stories about finding it but the fact is that once I walked Don through where he was and what he was doing, it was a no brainer to start in an area on the sand. Sure enough, in about 5 minutes I told him that I had a tone that didn’t sound right but it was safer to dig them all. When I pulled it up, he was expecting to see trash when he looked in the scoop. I love watching someone’s face when the realization hits them that their precious ring has actually been found. Don high-fived me and immediately called his wife with the good news. He thanked me about 100 times and I can honestly say that I was thrilled to be able to help.  👍 

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2 Lost Rings – Fort Walton Beach, FL – FOUND!!!

  • from Orange Beach (Alabama, United States)
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This past weekend I got a call from Brad and his wife Sky from Louisiana. They were in Fort Walton for a Volleyball tournament. What started out as some fun and exercise in the nice weather quickly turned into a fiasco when Sky realized that not one but both of her rings were missing. She had taken her engagement ring and her wedding ring off and tucked them into her swimsuit for safekeeping. Somewhere during the course of the day she realized they were gone and that’s where I came in. They had actually left me a message the day before while I was out finding the ring for the newlyweds in Orange Beach in my last story. I sent Brad and Sky a text once I was done and offered my services.  Luckily they reached back out the next day. Brad did what a lot of people do and he went to Bass Pro Shops to buy one of their metal detectors. Unfortunately he quickly learned that the average detector will simply not work right on a saltwater beach. I got some information from them and I decided to ask my Father-in-law, Tom to join me as he has been getting into detecting. I am glad that I did! 😃  When we got there I quickly gridded out the outer edge of where I thought the rings might be based on the couple’s info. I asked Tom if he would start going around the outer areas just in case the rings weren’t where we thought they should be. It would also be a good opportunity for him to get some experience with a detector in the sand. We were out there for a long time and had to take a break and get some water. We weren’t giving up though and we headed back down to resume our search. Before too much longer, Tom waved to me to get my attention and I came over to see that Tom had found his first ring!!!  Low and behold it just so happened to be Sky’s diamond wedding band. 😃I am so glad that he joined me because I was then able to adjust my search based on what Brad had said earlier and after another 20 mins I found Sky’s engagement ring! 💍👍. What a great day, I got to experience my Father-in-law’s first ring recovery and return two precious rings back to a beautiful young couple. 😃Congratulations all around!

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Newlyweds Lost Ring – Orange Beach, AL – FOUND!!!

  • from Orange Beach (Alabama, United States)
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Can you imagine how upset you would be if you didn’t even leave the scene of your marriage ceremony before you lost your wedding ring?  That is exactly what happened to Anthony and his brand new bride Katelyn on Orange Beach last weekend. They tied the knot on the beach with friends and family coming up after to congratulate them. They walked down to the water’s edge after that for some pictures and before they even made it back to the dunes, Katelyn had dropped her brand new and already cherished gold and diamond wedding band somewhere in the sand. Needless to say they panicked and started looking everywhere to no avail. The Pastor who performed the ceremony had a unique suggestion and went home to get a security wand like those used to identify metal on passengers at an airport. Unfortunately, this kind of detector like other common store bought models will just not read deep enough and will not work on a saltwater beach. Luckily for Anthony and Katelyn they were honeymooning in OB as well and a quick Google search put them in touch with me the following day. I came out and did a large grid search where the ceremony was performed with no luck. I moved to the water and started searching and came up on two sunbathers with their eyes closed. I moved the coil as close to them as I dared without disturbing them and sure enough I got a signal that was the same number as Katelyn’s engagement ring. It has been my experience that most people are nice and eager to help once you explain what you are doing and these two were no different when I abruptly woke them up and asked to dig near their feet. They were the first to shout happily when I dug up Katelyn’s ring but they were quickly outdone by Anthony and Katelyn who came running from the shade of the lifeguard tower. I love the smiles on both of them in the picture but I think Katelyn’s face says it best. She is so thrilled to have her ring back to its brand new home. Anthony and Katelyn, I hope you both are blessed with happy, long lives together and I thank you for letting me be part of starting out your marriage with an exciting story rather than a sad one. God Bless!

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Lost Rings at Night! – Pensacola Beach – FOUND!

  • from Orange Beach (Alabama, United States)
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Well, I’m not sure if this counts as 2 rings or more but I am sure that Kelly and Bill are absolutely thrilled that I was able to put them back on her hands where they belong. Kelly and Bill have been married for 25 years and have been down vacationing from Michigan. Kelly folded her rings into her swimsuit early in the day for safekeeping and forgot they were there when she got up later to meet her sister. You can imagine her shock when she realized they were gone that evening. Kelly went ahead and called me even though it was nighttime and I’m glad she didn’t wait. Bill had gone out with a sand flea rake for fishing and combed the area already to no avail. I told him later that he had actually just made the rings go deeper and deeper every time he disturbed the sand because of the density of gold. Luckily for Kelly and Bill, I have a wonderful wife and even though we were at dinner 30 minutes away, she offered to ride with me and we immediately went home and grabbed my gear. I met Bill in the parking lot and he walked me down to the area he thought they had lost them. I could see all of the rake marks and I told Bill I would start my search there and then fan out if needed. I absolutely love night searches on the beach. It’s nice and cool and you can hear the waves over the hum of the machine in my headphones. You can enjoy the stars without bumping into sunbathers and it’s just a great time to enjoy what I do. I also knew that I had a very anxious couple waiting on the outcome so I was very glad that as I made my first pass I heard a faint gold sound. I was a little surprised at how deep it was even though I knew Bill had thoroughly raked the area. When my first gentle scoop to five inches came back empty I thought to myself that they were very lucky they called me and I had the machine that I was using. The second scoop was the charm and I reached down and dug the first ring out of the scoop to make sure I didn’t scratch it. When I saw that I had them both in the scoop, I smiled and handed them to Bill. With a shaky hand, he asked me to hold the light and he took a picture and sent it to Kelly in the room so she could stop worrying immediately. We walked back up and told my wife that I was already done in less than 10 minutes and Bill asked us both to come up and meet Kelly. When we walked in the door I was quickly reminded why I do this. Bill and Kelly both got choked up remembering how much those rings had been a part of over the last 25 years. I was glad that my wife got to witness that and I hope Bill and Kelly have many, many more happy years together. 👍😃

 

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Lost Wedding Ring – FOUND!!!

  • from Orange Beach (Alabama, United States)
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With all of this warm weather I knew it wouldn’t be long until someone called with a lost Ring. I thought it would be a spring breaker that dropped it on the beach though and not my new friend Freddy with a lost Ring in the front yard. Freddy is active duty military and is living in Navarre, FL.  He had dropped his wedding band while doing some landscaping in the yard a month ago. Freddy was concerned that after some heavy rain, the ring would have sunk too deep into the ground to find. I assured him that the machine I have would have no issue reading it if it was there. This was a pretty straightforward recovery and I was able to find it in only a few minutes. I’m so glad that I was able to return something so meaningful to Freddy and I am very thankful for his service to our country. 

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Lost iPhone X surprise – FOUND!!!

  • from Orange Beach (Alabama, United States)
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It’s funny, sometimes you don’t even know you need the RingFinders but… the RingFinders find you.  😃 I was deep in the middle of trying to find Allan and Ami’s wedding band when I came across a great signal worth digging. When I pulled it up I saw that it was an iPhone in a lifeproof case and there was some sort of card holder on the back. I put it in my pack and finished finding Allan’s ring. When my wife and I left, I pulled out the cards to see if there was an id but there were only names on credit cards. My wife went into Facebook detective mode and looked at a few profiles. One girl looked promising but she was living in CA.  However, we saw on a public picture that she had recently done a Spartan run and that was the image on her phone case. 👍. I thought it appropriate to reach out via FB messenger. Victoria quickly replied back and said, “Omg!!! Did you find my phone with my cards?!”. To which I replied, “Haha , yes i did“. Too cool. Well the Rest is boring but to sum it up, I sent an iPhone X and some credit cards to California and Victoria was absolutely thrilled to get them. I think she was most shocked that I found it in deep water, buried 6-7 inches in the sand right where she lost it well over a week before.  I love being able to help people out with my hobby!  😃 Congrats Victoria!!!

 

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Lost Ring in the Gulf – FOUND!!!

  • from Orange Beach (Alabama, United States)
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This is an awesome ring that I actually recovered a couple of weeks ago but I’ve been waiting to post and keeping it safe until Patrick was able to get back down here from Huntsville, AL.  I love this story because it seems like what I would do if the situation was reversed.  Patrick called me after he and his wife had already gone home and told me that his wife had lost her ring in the Gulf of Mexico 9 days earlier! 😳  They had already contacted their insurance carrier and been told that they had a claim.  Unfortunately, as we all know, when you file a claim your future payments go up.  Most importantly, even though you may be able to pay for a replacement, you can never get back the actual ring that holds so many memories unless you go find it.  That’s why when Patrick and his wife stumbled across TheRingFinders.com and saw my page, they gave me a call.  I was feeling lucky having already found a ring that morning an hour away so I decided to head out to Pensacola Beach late that afternoon.  The people at the Margaritaville hotel were awesome and quickly gave me permission to park so that I could help out one of their previous guests.  When I got down to the beach I thought to myself that this would definitely be a record for wave height if I was able to find it.  I waded in and I was very quickly taking waves over my head (I’m 6’3” 😳) but luckily they were spaced out where I could work and I like a challenge.  Patrick gave fantastic directions over the phone and I must admit that I was surprised when after less than 10 minutes I heard a fantastic signal and I was able to gently scoop up this gorgeous ring buried about 7 inches down.  To say that Patrick was thrilled when I called him is an understatement!  I am so glad that they took a chance and reached out to me even after they thought it was lost forever!  What a great day!

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Lost Engagement Ring – Gulf Shores, AL – FOUND!!!

  • from Orange Beach (Alabama, United States)
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I love good people and I really love being able to help them out when they have lost a ring.  I met my new friends Christa and Ryan today in Gulf Shores, AL after reaching out to me about  the possibility of finding Christa’s rose gold and diamond engagement ring that she lost in the shore break yesterday.  They told me that they were here from Texas and Christa had been cooling off in the water and was walking out of the surf when she was knocked to her knees by a wave.  She immediately realized that her ring was gone and Ryan helped try to search down in the sand for it only to discover that it was missing.  Christa found me last night on TheRingFinders.com and I returned her email this morning.  Ryan and I got a chance to talk shortly thereafter and I knew I had to help them out immediately.  My kids and I headed that way despite the rain and found Ryan in the parking lot buying us a parking pass, what a great guy.  We walked down and met Christa on the beach and talked for a second.  I quickly lost focus and had to talk to a well meaning guy with a metal detector about how we were thankful but we didn’t want his help.  After hopefully explaining that I didn’t need his help and in fact his presence there was making my new friends very nervous, he finally stalked us from a bit farther away and I could get started.  This is why it’s so important to start looking for it immediately.  About 45 mins later, Christa and Ryan came and got me and confessed that they may have been down the beach to the east 40-50yds.  I was thrilled to hear it because this means they have really been thinking about where the ring is.  I quickly moved that way and started over my grid search and after several coins I finally found that sweet sound and and showed them the scoop.  You can tell by the pictures that they are very happy to get the ring back.  Thank you so much Ryan and Christa for trusting me with your treasure.

 

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