Wedding and Engagement Rings Lost in the Dry Sand, Found and Returned in North Myrtle Beach, SC

It was a little bit before 10 p.m. when I saw an email from Jennifer saying she had lost her rings and wanted to know if I could meet her sometime the next day and possibly look for them. I immediately sent her a response saying I could be there in 20 minutes and to call me. If at all possible, when I get a call on a lost ring, I want to start the search as soon as possible. There’s a lot of things that could go wrong, the longer the wait. Jennifer called me 20 minutes after I sent the email and we agreed to meet. We met at a McDonalds since her and her family were staying in a gated resort and I’d need an escort to get into the resort area.

As we’re riding in the elevator to get from the parking garage to the main level, Jennifer filled in all the details of her losing her rings. She told me that her future son-in-law, Noah, had previously asked her and her husband’s permission for their daughter, Aly’s hand in marriage. Tonight was going to be the night Noah was going to propose. The family was on the beach and Jennifer, who’s a photographer, was snapping pictures of the kids, waiting for the big moment. Jennifer had been laying in the sand taking some pictures, and when she stood up and started brushing the sand off the front of her pants, her rings went flying. The temperature on the beach was in the low 40s, so her hands and fingers had swiveled up making her snug rings fly off her finger. She continued telling me that she spent an hour searching with other members of her family to no avail. Jennifer said that Aly was thinking this might be the big night, and this was all part of the surprise, and she’d end up finding her new engagement ring. Jennifer had to convince her that her rings really were lost. At some point during the search, Aly and Noah went to Bass Pro and bought a metal detector, which proved ineffective. After another hour of searching and freezing, Jennifer googled lost ring and found me through The Ring Finders website.

We made our way out to the beach and Jennifer showed me exactly where they were all at when she felt her rings come off. It was obvious they had been searching hard because the soft sand was all dug up and thrown around. I started a north/south grid about 10-15 feet from where Jennifer said she was standing and on the first pass got a great signal. Dug a couple of scoops of sand, shook out the scoop and saw the 14K white gold wedding band staring up at me. Jennifer came running over to me to see what I found, and I handed her the ring, she was very excited. Ok, now to find the diamond engagement ring. I continued my grid search in the small 15 by 15-foot square working towards the area where Jennifer had been standing with no luck. So I went back to my starting point and moved one step in the opposite direction and BAM! Dug a scoop, shook it out and WOW!! I walked towards Jennifer and let her remove the ring from the scoop. She was completely surprised we found both rings and elated we had. Big hugs. Total search time was around 10 minutes. 

Jennifer said she was very disappointed that during all this, Noah didn’t get to pop the question. Since he didn’t get to ask Aly, Jennifer asked me to hold off on posting this story until after the kid’s big moment.

Jennifer sent me a text tonight saying Noah popped the question and Aly said yes and when Noah proposed, Aly didn’t drop her ring in the sand!

Jennifer, thank you for entrusting me to help find your lost treasures. It was a pleasure meeting you, and I wish Aly and Noah all the best in their future endeavors. 

Jim