Dave Cartee, Author at The Ring Finders | Page 8 of 9

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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Lost Wedding Ring – Pensacola Beach- FOUND!!!

  • from Orange Beach (Alabama, United States)
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Today was such a cool day because I got to help out a fellow detectorist. 😳👍 Allan and Ami came down for the weekend to celebrate their 16th anniversary and unfortunately Murphy’s Law struck quickly. As they were waiting to check in they decided to wade out in the beautiful Gulf waters. Allan was explaining to Ami that she had to be very careful out in the deeper water because your ring can fall right off your hand. As he touched his left hand to illustrate his point… you guessed it, Kerplunk! Allan’s ring fell straight down in the water and quickly buried in the sand. Luckily they emailed me and although I didn’t get the email until late last night, we touched base first thing this morning. I quickly started getting ready and unfortunately tragedy struck. I badly pulled a muscle in my upper back and had to be helped to lie down. My wife sent Allan and Ami a text explaining that I was hurt and there was no way I could come today. They are very nice people and were more concerned with my health than anything else. I took some Motrin and laid still for a few hours until I dozed off. I woke up and realized that whatever had popped in my back was back where it was supposed to be and although I was really sore, I gingerly went to the front yard to see if I could swing my detector without too much pain. It hurt but I knew Allan and Ami were leaving town at 2pm and I really wanted to send his ring with them. I gave them a call and luckily they were still here and about to have lunch at Pegleg’s. I was quickly enroute to the beach.  Well Allan has done a lot of land detecting and he had tried to mark the location of the ring when it fell and did a great job. I always do a larger area and overlap my passes multiple ways because I have learned what Allan was about to; it’s never where it’s supposed to be in the water. 😃. The first thing I found was an iPhone X in a Lifeproof case complete with multiple credit cards (stay tuned for that return story this week 😉). Although it definitely wasn’t their ring, I think it gave Ami some hope that I really could find stuff buried in the sand out in the water. It wasn’t too many passes before I was worried that Allan might be getting concerned that I was in the wrong area. But then I heard that beautiful sound!!!  I called to Allan and waved him out to join me. He looked shocked when I told him that I thought I had located it and asked if he would like to do the “honors” and “dig it up”. He told me to go ahead and I very gently dug a large scoop full of sand. When I verified with my machine that I had whatever it was in my scoop, I just smiled and handed the scoop to him. Well, he smiled even bigger when he washed out the sand and saw his ring gleaming back at him. It was a great moment when he quickly put that ring back where it belongs and began striding back to Ami to show her that their anniversary weekend just got a whole lot better. 😃

Thank you Allan and Ami for letting me help you and for your patience and understanding when I was hurt this morning. Thank you also to the very nice front desk crew (especially Gillian) at the Holiday Inn Pensacola Beach who allowed me to park on property and even helped us celebrate when Allan showed them his ring!  👍👍👍

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Lost Ring Dauphin Island – FOUND!!!

  • from Orange Beach (Alabama, United States)
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Nick and his family were visiting from Oklahoma and had a house on the water in Dauphin Island.  When Nick called I was worried because I was going to be out of town on business for several days but after getting some more information I told him that I thought I could still find it for him when I got back on the weekend.  Nick explained to me that he was playing in the Gulf with his nephew in about 3 feet of water when he took off his ring and showed it to his nephew and joked that he had found “treasure”.  Well he quickly stopped joking when his nephew made a grab for it and it dropped out of his hands and into the water.  Nick and his family looked for hours but weren’t able to recover it.  When I finally got there, they had an over under going on how long it would take me to find it, and if I could find it at all.  Nick had great directions and after some machine adjustments to account for a ton of old nails from an old pier, I heard that awesome Gold sound and got it on the first scoop.  Needless to say, Nick and his family were thrilled and impressed.  This is definitely the most impressive men’s band that I have recovered.  Thank you Nick for giving me the chance to find it for you.

 

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Lost Ring Orange Beach – FOUND! 2 Day Search!

  • from Orange Beach (Alabama, United States)
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Well, this was a tough one but it turned out great!  Crystal and her family were staying in Orange Beach, AL while they watched her daughter’s team compete in the World Series of Softball. Two days ago they were enjoying a much needed break cooling off in the Gulf of Mexico right before the sun went down. Crystal was standing in waist deep water trying to catch one of the bouncing water balls when tragedy struck. As the ball hit her left hand, both she and her husband saw her engagement ring fly off her hand and into the water. They looked and looked and raked their hands through the sand with goggles and masks and all of the volunteers they could get but they were unlucky and couldn’t find it. A very distraught Crystal did get a bit of luck later however when she found me on TheRingFinders and sent me an email. So yesterday after getting what I consider to be very thorough starting point directions, I began my search in the Gulf. I spent hours and ended up gridding out a really large area and I dug everything from fishing lures to a cell phone deep in the sand. I just couldn’t find it. I was bummed out and beat up from all the digging and I made the call to a very sad Crystal. Well I will say that the occasional one I can’t recover absolutely haunts me and I lay there when I got home last night thinking about anything that I could have done differently. After checking the tide graphs again, I decided that I would try even deeper and use a different mode on my machine. My wife gave me the okay this morning and even offered to come along. I started out neck deep and after only 2 passes I heard a strong signal. I switched the machine over so that I could hear what it was made out of and instantly heard that awesome gold tone. After a couple of gentle scoops, I had Crystal’s ring headed back to where it belongs. She was so sad yesterday, it was fun to hear her beside herself with happiness today. I’m very happy for you Crystal, thank you for giving me the chance to find your ring for you.

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Lost Ring, Night Find, Pensacola Beach – FOUND!

  • from Orange Beach (Alabama, United States)
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I love to find rings at night!!!  There’s something about that cool breeze and the stars in the sky that make it that much better  😃  I got an email last night about 8pm explaining to me that Matt and his wife had been out on Pensacola Beach all day enjoying the Gulf and especially the Blue Angels as they rehearsed for the upcoming show this weekend.  Matt had put up a tent and taken off his shoes.  Unfortunately, his wife put her diamond and white gold engagement band in one of his shoes and forgot to tell him.  When the family ended the day and headed towards the parking lot Matt popped his shoes together on the boardwalk to knock off the sand.  When an inexpensive ring came out he asked if she had put her rings in the shoe and she said, “oh yeah, hand me my engagement ring” 😳😳😳.  Well you can guess where this story goes next. First Matt decided to rent a metal detector and actually did a great job removing all of the bottle caps and pop tops from the area ( I appreciate that 😉).  Unfortunately those machines are just not built to find anything made of precious metal around saltwater or after it has dropped deeper in the sand.  In fact when they finally called me and I came out, you could see his tracks where he had gone directly over the spot with the rental detector.  It didn’t take long once I finally got to the beach and I’m very glad I got to return such an important ring.  Thanks for letting me help you out Matt!

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Lost Ring Portofino Pensacola Beach – FOUND!

  • from Orange Beach (Alabama, United States)
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Well believe it or not I found my third Texas A&M class ring of the year!  I think that if I find a fourth, I should get an honorary Aggie t-shirt. 😃  I had the pleasure of meeting Evan and his girlfriend Dallas who were in town with family out at Portofino over the weekend. Evan found me on Ringfinders and reached out and let me know that he had a big problem.  He was playing paddleball out in the water with Dallas when his brand new solid gold class ring went flying off his hand.  They all tried looking for it but weren’t able to find it.  I let him know that I would be glad to come find it for him.  As is often the case, it wasn’t where it was supposed to be.  Luckily, this wasn’t my first time and after some thorough questioning, re-enactments and a check of the historic tide charts, I was able to give a very happy Evan back his ring.  What I thought was so neat is that Evan and Dallas told me they had seen the post from a few weeks ago where I found a man named Josh’s Texas A&M ring.  Throughout the search Josh told me that he had not removed that ring in 22 years.  Well you can see from the pictures that Josh was class of 97 and Evan is class of 19, exactly 22 years apart.  Isn’t it neat how fate works out sometimes.  😃  Congratulations Evan!

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Lost Ring Orange Beach, AL – FOUND!!!

  • from Orange Beach (Alabama, United States)
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I am glad to say that I found my second Texas A&M class ring of the year today.  Josh emailed me this morning and let me know that he was throwing football in the Gulf yesterday when his class ring that he has had on his hand for 22 years went flying into the waves.  He immediately began to search for it and some kind strangers helped but the waves just knocked them around and the sand swallowed up the heavy gold ring.  Luckily he called me and I showed up this afternoon and after getting all the information I could, I began the search.  Josh stayed hopeful for the first hour and watched as I uncovered 2 different earrings and some other bits of metal.  I could tell he was starting to get down as I went into the second hour but I assured him that this was normal and the ring could move in heavy surf and sometimes it’s just not where you think it is but I wasn’t giving up.  Josh was kind enough to get me a Gatorade and as I took a break, I asked him to recreate exactly what happened the day before again.  I picked up another detail or two that allowed me to slightly adjust my search.  Sure enough, on the second pass I heard a good signal that had possibility so I called over Josh.  He was definitely not getting his hopes up but I have to say that when he saw the gold flashing in my scoop, I have never had anyone get so excited so fast.  He grabbed it and ran for the beach and then stopped, came back and started jumping up and down high fiving me.  I told him we should high five on the beach so we didn’t lose it again and we headed that way.  By that time, there were tons of people that came up to see if I had really found it.  It was just an awesome time and totally why I do this.  I feel like I’ve made a great new friend in Josh and I am truly happy that I could give him back something that has been such an ever present part of his life and his memories.  Congratulations Josh and thanks for calling me!

 

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Lost Ring Fort Morgan, AL – FOUND!

  • from Orange Beach (Alabama, United States)
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What a beautiful ring!  I’m so glad that Lindy and her husband Matthew gave me a call yesterday morning.  They are vacationing out on beautiful Fort Morgan, AL for the week and unfortunately, Lindy lost her ring.  She was pretty sure that it had come off while performing Mom duties for her son out in the Gulf but she wasn’t completely sure.  I wasn’t able to come out until after work but the beauty of the Gulf Coast is that we had plenty of time left and the rain had even cleared out so I could start my search.  It wasn’t exactly where they thought which is often the case but by using a grid search technique I found it in the Gulf and put her ring back where it belongs.  Talking afterward, Lindy was trying to explain that even though they could replace the ring, it just wouldn’t be the same.  Lindy works at her church and I told her, even though you can buy an exact replica or even one with bigger diamonds, there is only one that was there the day she and her husband stood in the church and made a covenant with God.  I think she realized then that I really did understand.  😃  Thank you Lindy and Matthew for trusting me to find your ring.

 

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Two Rings Lost, Navarre, FL – FOUND THEM BOTH!!!

  • from Orange Beach (Alabama, United States)
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This is is why I love what I do!  When Chelsea called from another state, I knew she was skeptical that I could not only find her rings here in FL but also return them.  She explained that she had dropped both the diamond engagement ring and the diamond encrusted band from her Tacori wedding ring set on the beach while visiting Navarre.  I knew what these rings meant to her both financially as well as emotionally and I could only imagine what was going through her mind.  I couldn’t wait to see the smile on her face when I found them.  Chelsea was on a huge beach and as is common, she was not sure where she lost them.  She didn’t even know if they were in the Gulf or the dry sand.  She also mentioned that they had purchased a metal detector and gone back another day and scoured the area with no luck.  I reassured her that I had a few tricks up my sleeve and a couple of top of the line machines that could find her rings much deeper than the machine she purchased.  She began to feel better and I asked my questions I needed to know so that I could start my search.  I had to put in quite a bit of work on this one because of the size of the area but ultimately I was able to find both rings and put them back on her finger.  As you can see from the picture, her husband Jason was just as thrilled as she was.  I am so glad that I was able to find these for you.  Thank you Chelsea and Jason for trusting me.

 

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Ring Lost for 1.5 Years – FOUND!!!

  • from Orange Beach (Alabama, United States)
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😃 I couldn’t possibly tell this story better than Lindsey herself so here it is below:

 

“It’s a pretty big honor to have the opportunity to tell this story and share the name of the guy who is the reason this story has a happy ending after all. Over a year and a half ago, in October of 2016, my oldest daughter “borrowed” my engagement ring and wedding band which I had taken off while preparing food for a father/son campout birthday party we were hosting for her two brothers later that evening. Without my knowledge, she wore them into the yard not realizing that because they were loose they would fall right off of her hand into the grass. We discovered that both were missing mere moments before my husband came home from work and guests started arriving. The remaining daylight hours of the party turned into a father/son treasure hunt, and while my engagement ring turned up almost immediately, the wedding band was nowhere to be found. One of the guests had a metal detector at his own home less than a half mile away so he allowed us to use it as we continued to look for two more days. My husband even created a crime scene style search grid, but still we found nothing. Fast forward to May 6, 2018. My precious neighbor messaged to ask if we happened to have a metal detector we might be able to loan them. By the time I wrote back and told her we had actually had to borrow one ourselves a while ago, she already had a different solution to her own situation in the works. And since I shared the story of my lost wedding band with her she was quick to let me know what that solution was–a gentleman by the name of Dave Cartee who had come to the rescue when her son’s girlfriend’s promise ring had been lost in the sand at the beach. While I had doubts finding it was even possible because so much time had passed and it might not even be there anymore because it could have been moved great distances by our lawn mower or buried in the mud by flooding during heavy rains, I couldn’t help but call Dave to inquire if I should hold out any hope at all. Jordan had bought me a replacement wedding band last summer, but there was still something so sentimentally special about the original that if it could be found I would not want to pass up the opportunity, even if it meant paying someone with expertise and good equipment to find it. A few minutes after calling Dave, he and his wife showed up. He searched with the beach equipment he already had on him for a while and when the search didn’t turn up anything right away he asked for permission to return with his land equipment on another day. This evening he showed up and after an hour I came out to check on him. It was evident he was calling it a day. I figured maybe he thought it had just been too long since it was lost or it was too hot to work for too long. “Nothing?” I asked. “No, I found a few things. A foil wrapper, a bullet, a penny. And one more thing” he said while digging in a pouch tied to his waist. “Do you recognize this? It was about 3 or 4 inches down buried in the dirt.” At first I really didn’t. It was so encrusted with dirt that I thought it was some old building material that had been dumped in the yard, but the closer I looked I could see the tiny little diamonds and milgrain. I couldn’t believe it. I still can’t. The best thing about the whole experience: I could tell that my joy over the returned ring brought Dave equally great joy if that’s even possible. It once was lost but now is found. Dave Cartee, you recovered something irreplaceable. We will never forget your kindness or your commitment to seek and save that which was lost. Thank you!”

 

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