On Sunday, October 11, 2026, and just after 12:30 pm I received a text saying, “Hey Jim, this is Marc. I’m currently staging in north Myrtle Beach and lost my wedding ring and class ring at the beach. Are you working today with your detector?” I checked the tide tables in case this would be a water search and then called Marc at the number that was attached to the text. First question I asked was if the rings were lost in the water, and Marc replied “no.” He went on to say that he had placed his rings on a towel and forgot about them until after he left the beach. I told him to send me an address where I could park and told him I’d be there in about 10 minutes.
When I arrived at the rental where Marc and some friends were staying, I met Marc in the driveway. We walked down to the beach, and he pointed out the area where they were sitting and his towel was. I started a north/south grid line from the suspected area to the slope and wasn’t having any luck. I stopped and talked with Marc to make sure I was in the right area. I asked him which way he was facing when he picked up his towel, and he said he was facing towards the dunes. So, I moved a little farther up towards the dunes and continued my grid search. It wasn’t long until I hit a solid 11 on the VDI (visual display indicator), telling me I hit white gold. I dug a few scoops and then saw his wedding band lying embedded in the sand at the bottom of the hole. I reached down and picked it up, cleaned the sand off it and held it up for Marc to see. He confirmed it was his wedding ring. Now I needed to find his UVA class ring. I continued with the grid search and couldn’t find it. I started over and did a cross grid and still no ring. About the only place left to search was the beach access route. As I’m finishing up with that, I noticed a gentleman come up and talk with Marc. As Marc caught up to me, he told me the gentleman told him he had found a UVA ring and turned it into the beach patrol about 11:30 a.m. I called the beach patrol number and gave Marc my phone to leave a voice message. Shortly after I got home, I got a text message from Marc saying, “I just got the second one a bit ago from beach patrol!” Both rings are back where they belong.
Marc – Thank you for calling and trusting me to help find your lost rings. So happy you got them back.
Jim
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