Titanium Wedding Ring Lost In The Wells Beach Maine Ocean Surf, Found With A Metal Detector

I received the following voicemail, on Thursday August 7th, 2025.

Hi, This is Pat *******. I’m in Wells Beach, for the week. The tides going out, um, I was just in the water and I lost my wedding ring. My wife says she’s been following you and you’re really good at finding rings. So I was just wondering if you would be able to help with tips or tricks for us. Again, my name is Pat ******* and my phone number is 860-***-****, This is my wife’s, Michele’s phone. Thank you.

I immediately called Pat back and told him I would get there asap. Low tide was at 4:23pm and it was now 1:35pm. This means that Pat lost his wedding ring at approximately midway, between high and low tide. If I could get to Wells Beach by 2:30pm, I would have two sold hours of searching the wet sand, as I followed the tide out.
Cheryl and I got the equipment loaded and headed to Wells, Maine. We actually made good time, as we missed the heavy summertime traffic. We arrived at 2:15pm and were on the Beach with Pat by 2:25pm. Pat showed me the area he had been in, when he lost his ring. He also told me his wedding ring was made out of Titanium. Less than a week earlier, I had found a Titanium Wedding Ring, for a client, on Drake’s Island , Wells Maine. I made a southern and northern boundary and started grid searching from south to north, then north to south and repeated this pattern as I made my way towards the water. I was finding a few coins and pieces of aluminum but not the Titanium Wedding Ring. At one point, a young woman approached me and Pat. She told me that her husband had just lost his wedding ring, out in the water, earlier in the day. Pat explained his circumstances and she understood I was already searching for Pats ring. I gave her my business card and told her if I find Pat’s ring quickly, I would come over and help her and her husband. Unfortunately there was only a little over an hour left, before the tide shifted and would start coming back in. If I couldn’t search for her today, I told her to call me and I would come back tomorrow. She agreed and thanked me and I resumed the search for the wedding ring.
I had covered quite a large area and it was now only a half hour before low tide. Pat and I wondered if the ring could have made it this far down the slope of the beach. I was quite a bit further out, from where Pat thought he was, when the ring disappeared, in the surf. Perhaps because Titanium is a light metal, the ring got pulled out, with the surf. The Titanium Wedding Ring I found less than a week earlier had done exactly that. I found the ring, 60-80 feet further out towards the water, than where it was lost. Was history repeating itself? So, with just a half hour left before the tide turned, I jumped over about 20’ or so and headed into the shallow surf. This would allow me to stay ahead of the incoming tide, by now working my way towards shore, opposite of what I had been doing. After about 10 minutes, I was out of the water and just the waves would run up and over my feet. As one of the waves swept over my ankles and feet, I received a very loud signal. The best sounding signal of the day. As the water rushed back out to sea, I looked down to where the signal had been detected. The water was now past my feet and I couldn’t believe my eyes. I could actually see the top of the ring. It wasn’t even totally under the sand. I raised my arm and made a celebratory fist, pumping it up and down. UNBELIEVABLE. This is the first time in my 25 years of metal detecting that I could visually see a ring, that was lost hours ago, in the water. I was and still am completely at a loss of words at this sight. Since the waves were coming back over my feet again, I immediately stepped on the ring, so it wouldn’t move. I saw Pat running down the sloping beach towards me, as was Cheryl. When Pat arrived I told him I had found the ring and that I could visually see it. I then lifted my foot, Pat saw the ring and quickly grabbed it. It’s just the craziest thing. Pat’s wife, Michele, had gone up the house, so Pat called her with the good news. Cheryl and Michele had been sitting and watching me for two hours and Michele really wanted to be there when I found the ring, because she follows me and loves reading my stories. Now, unfortunately, she has missed the recovery. But, because of her following me, Pat now has his wedding ring back and that is the important thing. Pat and Michele were extremely happy to have his wedding ring back. Michele told us that she and Pat would be celebrating their third anniversary, in October. Even bigger news, is that the happy couple are expecting their first child, in December and they are very happy and excited about this. Thankfully Pat has his wedding ring back in time for his anniversary and the birth of their child. Smiles were on all our faces and Cheryl and I are just so happy to have been able to help them, in our own way😀❤️🙏