Yellow Gold Anniversary Ring Lost in the Sand, Found and Returned Garden City SC

Right around 11:30 pm on Friday, July 19^th, I got the following text, “Good evening, I lost my anniversary ring 2 days ago, out of my pocket. It could be on the beach or on the walk or at our rented beach house. I’ve looked over the house so likely at the beach. I just saw info about your services. We leave tomorrow morning; would you be available to search by chance tomorrow?” We text back and forth for a few minutes about the area so I could get an idea of where I’d be looking and then I asked her to call me. When she called, we discussed some other details and I found out they had to be out of the rental by 10 am the next morning. I agreed to meet her and her husband at 9 am. When I arrived, I met Melanie and her husband, Wes in the driveway of the rental. We walked the block down to the beach access and out on the beach. It was early but the beach was filling up quickly with tourist excited about starting their vacation. Melanie said when they were there Wednesday, the day she lost it; they had set up in front of the umbrellas and chairs that were put out on the beach. At some point the lifeguard told them they’d have to move behind the chair line, which they did. Melanie also pointed out another portion of the beach where she had run to pick up trash that had blown away.  We said our goodbyes and I started a grid search behind the chair line that had already been set up. As time went by, more and more people were showing up and detecting was getting difficult. I did about an hour and a half and called it, there wasn’t much more I could do at the time and the heat was unbearable. I planned to be back out there the next day, but had to play the crowd, the tide and the heat. As I was in the car typing up a text to Melanie, they showed up to check on me. We talked but I didn’t mention I was planning on coming back out.

The next day, Sunday, I showed up about 4:30 pm. I know this is about the time people start leaving the beach to get cleaned up and figure out dinner. Also, the chairs and umbrellas usually get picked up around 4:30-5 pm. The beach looked a lot different than the day before. I started a north/south grid search parallel to the tide line and about halfway up the slope. The closer I got to the chair line; more and more people were leaving. Melanie described her ring as a yellow gold anniversary ring, so I knew that would show up as a 13-14 on my Nox 800. Unfortunately, 13-14 is exactly what pull tabs show up as. Saturday, I must have dug up 7 or 8 pull tabs. So, as I’m walking along my grid line, I got a 13-14. I dug up the target and had it in the scoop. As I’m shaking the sand out of the scoop, I saw a glimmer of yellow gold. I shook quicker and emptied the scoop, reached in and pulled out Melanie’s beautiful ring. It was 5:27 pm when I sent her a picture of her ring and a text saying, “BOOM!!!!! Came back and just found it!” She couldn’t believe it. I put it in the mail and sent it overnight to her and she got it Tuesday afternoon. I love finding people’s lost treasures and returning something they thought was gone forever. Melanie shared with me that she got the ring on her and Wes’ 25^th anniversary; they’re now on their 27^th. She just added another chapter to the ring’s story. Wish you two many many more anniversaries.

Melanie/Wes – Thank you for allowing me to help find your lost treasure.

Jim