Lost in the Sand, Sentimental White Gold Diamond Pendant North Myrtle Beach SC

I got a text message from Joe Denton, Minelab and Garrett metal detector distributor in North Myrtle Beach, saying “Call this lady. Names Teresa and she lost her necklace.” Joe gets the occasional frantic calls from people looking to buy or rent a metal detector because they’ve lost a ring or other piece of Jewelry. When he does, he usually steers ‘em my way.

I called Teresa and left a message, she quickly returned my call. She said her necklace had broken and her pendant fell in the dry sand. She gave me the resort name and I told her I’d be there in about 15 minutes. When I met up with Teresa and her husband, Ronnie, they showed me the suspected spot in the dry sand. I got the details and found out the pendant was a white gold pendant with diamonds. I started up my Equinox 800 and did an east/west grid and didn’t get a signal, other than a soda can buried deep in the sand. I started a cross grid going north/south and still wasn’t picking anything up. Ronnie had told me that they were sitting in one area, went to lunch, and when they came back they moved up and over to a new spot on the beach. Teresa also said she walked down to the water to rinse her hands off after apply suntan lotion. I widened the search area, including getting wet in the incoming tide, and still wasn’t finding anything. At that point, I switched to my Gold Bug II thinking maybe the Equinox just couldn’t detect the pendant. I’ve also learned to always take a second detector; nothing is more embarrassing than to start a search and your machine’s not working. I was starting to worry that I might be searching the path they took when they went and came back from lunch, too. I started another grid line with the Gold Bug, and on my second line I got a scratchy signal. I took a small scoop of sand and laid it out, ran the detector over it and got a better signal. I spread the sand out with my foot and picked up a small patch of sand. I gently shook the sand out of the scoop and saw a shell and the back part of the pendant. I turned around to find Teresa standing on the beach, held the pendant up for her to see I found something. She got the “did he really find it” look on her face. She literally ran over, and when I handed her her pendant, she was overwhelmed! Her happiness, tears, big hug, and the Thank you is exactly why I enjoy doing this so much.

Teresa and Ronnie, so glad I could help find your special 2 year old Valentine’s Day present. Enjoy the rest of your vacation and have a safe trip back home.

Jim