Gold And Diamond Wedding Ring Lost In The Atlantic Ocean Water, Found With A Metal Detector, in Camp Ellis, Saco, Maine

 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐅𝐮𝐥𝐥 𝐒𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲: 𝐀 𝟐𝟔-𝐘𝐞𝐚𝐫 𝐖𝐞𝐝𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐁𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐒𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐭 𝐂𝐚𝐦𝐩 𝐄𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐬

“𝐋𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐦𝐲 𝐰𝐞𝐝𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐛𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝟐𝟔 𝐲𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐬 𝐲𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐝𝐚𝐲 𝐢𝐧 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝟏 𝐟𝐨𝐨𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐰𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫…”

That was the emergency text that came in from Mike. He was down at Camp Ellis Beach, playing catch with a football in the surf the afternoon before when his ring slipped off into the ocean.

When Mike messaged me, he was already back at the beach, frustrated and stressed. As a Ring Finder, I know that time and tides wait for no one. I immediately asked Mike what exact time the ring was lost so I could calculate the tides. It was lost between 3:00 and 4:00 PM the day before. Looking at the clock, I knew right then: 𝐢𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐥𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐢𝐝𝐞 𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐧𝐨𝐰, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐚 𝐧𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐨𝐰 𝐰𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐮𝐧𝐭 𝐛𝐞𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐫𝐮𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐝 𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐢𝐧.

I told Mike to save me a parking spot on Pearl Ave. Cheryl and I grabbed our gear, jumped in the truck, and headed straight out. Camp Ellis is just about four miles down Ferry Road from our home, so we pulled up to the beach in less than 15 minutes. When it comes to recoveries in the surf, every minute counts.

I grabbed my gear and headed onto the sand. As I arrived, a local detectorist told me that he had already been searching for two hours but wasn’t able to find it. He also mentioned he hadn’t searched the water or the wet sand. I thought to myself, “Ok then.” My first instinct was that the diamond wedding ring was lost in up to two feet of water, and that is exactly where I was heading.

Mike and his family noticed our arrival and flagged us down. He walked me through the exact events of the previous day and pointed out the small, specific area where they had been throwing the football.

Then, Mike told me something that broke my heart. He said that when he lost the ring, he was so completely devastated that he just wanted to call the remainder of their vacation off right then and go home to Massachusetts. His wedding ring meant everything to him. He couldn’t stand the thought of being on the beach, knowing his ring was buried under the water and sand, assuming he would probably never see it again.

Once I heard that, I looked at him and told him I would do everything humanly possible to find his extremely sentimental wedding ring. I explained the game plan to the family: with the tide already turning and starting to come back in, I would start right at the water’s edge, work my way south for about 25 feet, turn around, and head back north—slowly and meticulously gridding the entire area.

I turned on my detector and thought: 𝑶𝒌, 𝒍𝒆𝒕’𝒔 𝒈𝒆𝒕 𝑴𝒊𝒌𝒆’𝒔 𝒘𝒆𝒅𝒅𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈.

I took exactly two steps into the wet sand and water when my headphones lit up. I had my very first target. It was a beautiful, loud, low tone registering a 𝟒𝟔 𝐓𝐚𝐫𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐈𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 (𝐓𝐈𝐃) 𝐨𝐧 𝐦𝐲 𝐌𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐥𝐚𝐛 𝐌𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐨𝐫𝐞. The machine was telling me that whatever was down there was shallow—just 0 to 2 inches beneath the surface.

I dug a quick scoop of the sand, threw it just outside the reach of the incoming water, and looked down. Shining right back at me was 𝐌𝐈𝐊𝐄’𝐒 𝐆𝐎𝐋𝐃 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐃𝐈𝐀𝐌𝐎𝐍𝐃 𝐑𝐈𝐍𝐆!

𝐘𝐎𝐔 𝐇𝐀𝐕𝐄 𝐆𝐎𝐓 𝐓𝐎 𝐁𝐄 𝐊𝐈𝐃𝐃𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐌𝐄!!!!

Having just left Mike’s side less than a minute earlier, I knew how completely heartbroken he was, and I wasn’t going to make him wait another single second. I looked back up at the family, waved them down, and shouted: “𝐌𝐢𝐤𝐞, 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞. 𝐈 𝐠𝐨𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠.”

Mike and his family came running right down to me at the water’s edge, and an immediate wave of hugs, handshakes, and thank you’s ensued. You could visually see the heavy knot in Mike’s stomach and the crushing worry in his mind completely vanish in an instant.

𝐀𝐧 𝐔𝐧𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐠𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐔𝐩𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐞:

A week or so after the recovery, I received a text from Mike that reminded me exactly why Cheryl and I do this.

He wrote:

 “𝑰 𝒂𝒎 𝒕𝒓𝒖𝒍𝒚 𝒃𝒍𝒆𝒔𝒔𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒎𝒆𝒆𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖, 𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒊𝒔 𝒔𝒆𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒅𝒂𝒓𝒚. 𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒅𝒆𝒅𝒊𝒄𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒍𝒊𝒇𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒎𝒂𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒑𝒆𝒐𝒑𝒍𝒆’𝒔 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒔𝒕 𝒅𝒂𝒚𝒔 𝒃𝒆𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒊𝒓 𝒃𝒆𝒔𝒕 𝒅𝒂𝒚𝒔. 𝑩𝒆𝒔𝒕 𝒘𝒂𝒚 𝑰 𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝒔𝒂𝒚 𝒊𝒕. 𝑰’𝒎 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒆𝒎𝒐𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒂𝒍 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒅𝒂𝒚 𝒕𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒉𝒊𝒅𝒆 𝒊𝒕. 𝑻𝒉𝒙 𝒔𝒐 𝒎𝒖𝒄𝒉! 𝑾𝒆 𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒄𝒂𝒏’𝒕 𝒃𝒆𝒍𝒊𝒆𝒗𝒆 𝒊𝒕!!!!”

I told him there was no better feeling than being able to help others get their lost history back. For me, it was all in a day’s work. Based on how he described losing it, I knew the ring would be in the shallow surf. Since the waves were minor, rings don’t move much—so I trusted my gut and went straight for that spot.

Mike replied: “𝑰 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒅𝒚 𝒕𝒐 𝒄𝒖𝒕 𝒗𝒂𝒄𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒔𝒉𝒐𝒓𝒕. 𝑱𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅𝒏’𝒕 𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒅𝒍𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒂𝒍 𝒗𝒂𝒍𝒖𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒍𝒐𝒔𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒊𝒕. 𝑾𝒆 𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒃𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉 𝒍𝒊𝒇𝒆’𝒔 𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒆𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒔 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒅𝒐𝒏’𝒕 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒍𝒊𝒛𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒊𝒎𝒑𝒐𝒓𝒕𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒔𝒚𝒎𝒃𝒐𝒍.”

Vacation saved. 26 years of marriage history restored. This is exactly why we do what we do at The Ring Finders of Maine! 

If you or someone you know loses a ring, keys, phone, or jewelry—don’t wait, and don’t try to sift the sand yourself. Time is of the essence. Call Dennis at The Ring Finders of Maine: 207-423-3027

 We love a happy ending!