Jim Wren, Author at The Ring Finders | Page 14 of 25

Car Keys Lost and Found in North Myrtle Beach SC

  • from North Myrtle Beach (South Carolina, United States)

Joe Denton, the mine lab distributor in North Myrtle, called me asking if I wanted a search for some car keys. Sure, I’m always up for a search. Joe sent me the contact information, and I called Ben. Ben explained that his friend had lost his keys the night before on the beach. I told him I’d be there in 30-40 minutes.

As I’m driving to the beach, it starts pouring down rain; I’m good as long as there’s no lightening. When I arrived, Tristan met me at the beach access and explained that he and his buddies were out sitting on the beach. He said he was sitting in one of the low back beach chairs and figures the keys fell out of his pocket. He set me up in the area, and I started a normal grid search. I knew the keys would stand out loud and clear when I waved the coil over them. An hour and a half later, and moving my grid lines out farther and farther both north and south, there were no keys. Tristan had mentioned that he and some other fire fighters were down here for some R&R from Virginia. I asked him if these were the keys to the car that was going to get them back home, they were! He said he had contacted a lock smith who wanted $400.00 dollars to make a new car key. Tristan had also been in contact with his parents to overnight a spare key so the group could get home.

Tristan finally walked over to me, with a couple of his buddies and let me know that they weren’t over as far as I was searching, and really appreciated me trying. This was one of those special serendipity moments. As we were walking off the beach, I noticed the life guard setting up for the day. I walked over and asked him if someone had turned in a set of keys, as I’m asking him, the beach patrol was driving up in their beach cart. The life guard said no, so I asked the beach patrol. She said as a matter of fact, someone had. As she pulls the keys out of the glove box, I saw Tristan’s face light up. Right place, right time, right person and Tristan had his keys back. Sometimes things just happen, and this was one of them.

Tristan, you and your buddies stay safe, and have a safe trip home.

Jim

    

Lady’s Family Heirloom Platinum Wedding Band Lost in the Ocean on Oak Island, NC. – Found and Returned

  • from North Myrtle Beach (South Carolina, United States)

I received a call at 4:30 p.m. on Sunday, Father’s Day, from Julie saying she had lost her platinum wedding band in the ocean sometime between 1 – 4 pm. She also said that during that time she had ridden a boogie board, and played some football. I asked how deep she thought she was and she stated from ankle to about 4 ½ feet. A quick check of the tide tables and it didn’t look good. Low tide was right around 2 p.m. and the hour drive would get me there almost at high tide, I didn’t have a chance. I told Julie I’d be there the next afternoon before low tide at 2:55 p.m.

I had a lost ring search in a back yard set for the next morning, but was able to reschedule. I texted Julie and told her I’d be there close to noon. I figured I could start at the high tide line and work my way out to the low tide line and beyond. When I arrived the next day, Julie met me in the driveway of their rental and led me around to the beach access and out to meet her husband, Lonny. This is about when Julie shared that the center stone in the ring belonged to Lonny’s grandmother, and that they were here on vacation to celebrate their 20th wedding anniversary. I felt the pressure!! Standing on the beach, I asked Julie to tell me how she lost the ring again, what she was doing and where she was at. She showed me the area of a sand bar that she had been boogie boarding around and thought that it may have been where she lost it. I then asked Lonny what he remembered. He thought she probably lost it in the area where they were playing football, because that’s where they had been rough housing, too. I found it helps when I get everybody’s story and piece it together, what one forgets the other remembers – sometimes!

I had brought a couple of detectors, and PVC pipes to mark the areas. The pipe was to help me keep a better grid line. I had Julie and Lonny show me where they thought were the outside bounders for the area. I started at the high tide line and worked my way out pass the low tide line, grid searching both parallel and perpendicular to the shoreline. I made it out to the sand bar and did a good grid with nothing. I knew if the ring was lost on the ocean side of the sand bar, I had little chance of finding it in the washing machine action it’d go through. After what I felt was a very thorough search with no luck, I took a short break and came up with plan B. I asked Julie when she noticed that she didn’t have the ring on and she said it was after getting cleaned up and in the house. So now I’m thinking the soft sand may have to be searched just to rule it out. I asked Julie and Lonny if they wanted to help search, which they agreed to, and showed them how to use my White’s PI. Shortly after, I saw Julie pass the detector off to Lonny, it’s a pretty heavy machine, and he made his way back out towards the sand bar. He was struggling, and without a scoop, if he did get a target he had nothing to dig it with. At some point I decided I’d expand the search area, both on the east and west sides. I knew the platinum ring would show a VDI on the equinox 800 somewhere between 6 and 9, depending on the weight. Lonny’s thinner platinum wedding band rang up as a 3. After about a 3 hour search, and running out of real estate.  Just outside the original search area, I got a solid target showing a 9 on the VDI. Bingo!!! Two scoops and I had the target out of the hole. I gently washed the sand out in the surf and heard the special “twang” you get when there’s metal in the scoop. I looked in the scoop and there it was. Lonny was close, so I called him over. I told him don’t get excited but is this Julie’s ring. He wasn’t positive, because he’d never seen it off her finger, but thought so. I told Lonny, let’s surprise Julie, but I had to get my camera. When we got back up to where I had my gear, I made it sound like I was getting a drink. Lonny put on a great performance telling Julie I had another question. The video tells it all!!! Her response is why I love being a Ring Finder.

Julie and Lonny – thank you so much for trusting me to find your lost treasure. It was great to meet you both.

Jim

   

Lady’s Yellow Gold Engagement Ring Lost in North Myrtle Beach SC, Found and Returned

  • from North Myrtle Beach (South Carolina, United States)

I received an e-mail from Summer, saying she had lost her ring the previous evening around 6 p.m. in ankle deep water. We went back and forth with e-mails, and I finally asked her to call me, so I could make sure I was going to the right area of the beach. Her fiancé, Nick, called me and gave me the exact location and said they’d be there waiting. I told him I’d be there in 10 minutes, grabbed my detector, and was on my way.

I got to the beach and walked out towards the ocean, holding my detector straight up in the air. I called Summer to let her know I was there and to look for me. She spotted me and pointed me in her direction. Once we found each other, I got more details. She pointed out one location and Nick pointed out a different area. Ok, double the area I thought it’d be, but one I could handle. Her losing it at 6 p.m. the night before meant she lost it roughly an hour after high tide, which was good because I got there right at low tide. I started doing a parallel grid at the low tide line, planning on working the incoming tide up to the high tide line. As I’m walking the grid, I look up and see an older gentleman detecting about the mid tide line. I walked over to him to let him know what I was doing; his response was that he was looking for the same ring. So, evidently Summer and Nick had seen him detecting and asked him to help without letting me know, or letting him know I was looking also. There were a couple of times we got in each other’s way, but I maintained my parallel grid. Summer and Nick came up and said they had to leave; I assured them I’d call them when I found it. They also let me know that they had originally come on the beach a little further down from where we were. Ok, I’m thinking now that I may have to come back during the night time low tide. With the distance I had covered already, the tide was catching up to me. I was pretty confident that I hadn’t gotten to the area she lost her ring, but I wanted to make sure I got the low tide area before it was under water. I kept my search going, extending it out further to cover the new area while making my way to the high tide line. Shortly after Summer and Nick left, the older gentlemen came up to me. We introduced ourselves, his name was Jim as well and we compared notes. Summer had told me, she lost the ring around 6 pm in ankle deep water. At some point, she had told Jim she lost it around 7 pm close to knee deep, which was no big deal. Jim said he was going to quit for now and come back out at the low tide tonight. I told him I was going to keep working my way up to the high tide line. About 2 more grid lines and I got a banging 22-23 VDI on my detector. I knew I was looking for yellow gold, but I was expecting something in the 17 VDI range. One scoop and I had the target out of the sand; I spread the sand out with my foot and saw the faint glimmer of gold. I had to look at the picture Summer sent me and the ring I was holding to make sure I had the right one. Bingo, it was a perfect match. I took a picture of the ring and sent it to Summer, with a text saying “Look familiar?” She immediately texted back saying “You found it!!! Oh my goodness thank you” Meanwhile, I caught back up with Jim to let him know I found it. Shortly after, Summer and I met up in the parking lot where she got her treasure back.

Summer/Nick – thank you for trusting me to help find your lost treasure.

Jim

       

Engagement Ring Found by Owner

  • from North Myrtle Beach (South Carolina, United States)

Not all ring finder stories end with a happy ending. As hard as the members of The Ring Finders try, some treasures just aren’t found and returned. Then there are the stories that have a very happy ending that members had nothing to do with. This is one of those stories.

I received a referral off of a Face Book group that I responded to. Jessica had lost her engagement ring while her and her fiancé, Oscar, were on a 6 mile bike ride. I contacted Jessica and offered to help. I had a couple of appointments the next day, so I told her I could come by at 4 pm to start a search of part of the route. She explained that she and Oscar were leaving to go back home at 4 the next day and wanted to know if I could come earlier. So we set it up that I’d be there at 9 am and we’d take a golf cart ride along the same route as their bike ride, so I could get a feel for the search area.

Everything went as planned and I was there at 9. We jumped on the golf cart and started the adventure. During the route, Jessica was showing me where they were riding in the streets, going with the flow of traffic, or on the sidewalks. I confirmed Jessica was wearing the ring on her left hand. Jessica told me she had put suntan lotion on before they started their bike ride. She also said that towards the end of the route, she had shaken her hands a few times to get the circulation back after grasping the handlebars for so long. We both came to the conclusion that if the ring was anywhere, it would be in the last half of the route. We also concluded the ring should be in the middle of the street, because they only rode on the sidewalk in two places and that was only for a block or two. Jessica and Oscar had retraced the entire route on foot and golf cart, searching the street area as soon as they got home and Jessica realized the ring was gone. So, I’m thinking the ring flew off her finger when she shook her hand, bounced and rolled across the road and ended up on the side of the road or in the grass areas. By 9:30, I started my search and covered about 2 miles of the route working both sides of the street before I had to leave for my appointments. I made it back at 3 pm and covered another 2 miles, again working both sides of the street. Right around 5 pm, I called it a day, planning on being back early the next morning and finish up the whole back half of the route.

At 9:08 pm, I received a text from Jessica, “Jim I can’t believe it but I just found my ring!!! It was inside my laptop?!! I don’t know how it got in there!!!! I was going through everything again and I noticed my laptop wasn’t closed all the way and I opened it and there it was!! I’m so relieved.” I immediately responded telling her how happy I was for her, and I truly was.

It’s completely and totally irrelevant how the ring got back to where it belongs, and as I said, I had nothing to do with it. The important thing is, her ring is back where it belongs. She is one very excited, happy young lady with a huge smile on her face making for a very happy ending!

Jessica and Oscar – Congratulations!!! Thank you for the beautiful card. Take care of each other, and I wish you two only the best in life.

Jim

   

Lady’s Yellow Gold Band Lost in Myrtle Beach – Found and Returned

  • from North Myrtle Beach (South Carolina, United States)

I got a call from Joe Denton, NMB Minelab distributor, about a lady who had lost her Gold band in the dry sand in North Myrtle Beach. He gave me her number and I called her. I introduced myself and learned her name was Elizabeth and she had lost a yellow gold band. She told me she was in North Myrtle on 21st Ave North, right next to a life guard stand. No problem, I grabbed my Equinox 800 and headed out for the 10 minute drive to the beach. After finding a place to park on a busy Sunday, I made my way out to the beach. When I got out there, I called Elizabeth saying I was there and holding my detector up in the air so she could see me. She didn’t, I gave her a couple of landmarks like the banana boat ride. She didn’t see it. Ok, I must be in the wrong spot. I asked her again about being in North Myrtle Beach. She said she’d ask the life guard, and I asked to talk to her. The life guard said they were about 10 blocks up from the sky wheel on 21st Ave North. Ok, she wasn’t in North Myrtle Beach, she was in Myrtle Beach. This happens all the time with visitors; both Myrtle and North Myrtle have exactly the same street numbers. I explained that since she was in Myrtle, I needed to call the TRF for Myrtle, Matt Fry. I tried his number a couple of time, with no answer, so I called his wife. I explained the situation and she gave me permission to take the call. Matt and I have a great working relationship, so if one of us gets the other one’s call we’ll work it out.

I called Elizabeth back, told her I’d be there in about 25 minutes, and headed south. Once I got there, I went through the same routine of calling her and holding up my detector. This time she found me. She led me over to the spot and explained that the ring was dropped in the sand right off the blanket that was spread out. She told me the ring was yellow gold, but in my head I’m thinking white gold. So I’m looking for a VDI (visual display identifier) numbers between 8-10. I immediately got a VDI of 17, and passed over it. Took another step, it was like dah; I confirmed yellow gold, turned around and took out 2 scoops of sand. Bingo, I had it in the scoop. As I’m showing it to Elizabeth, another young lady was walking towards us and Elizabeth said “he found it.” This young lady’s name was Jessica and the actual owner of the ring. Jessica said she had taken her rings off so Elizabeth could put them in her bag, and this one was dropped in the sand. Elizabeth felt horrible, so both ladies started digging through the sand with no luck. Elizabeth had originally called Joe to rent a detector, and Joe sent her my way. All’s well that ends well!

Elizabeth/Jessica – so glad I could help find the lost treasure.

Joe – thanks for the referral!

Jim

   

White Gold Wedding and Engagement Rings Lost on Ocean Isle Beach NC – Found and Returned

  • from North Myrtle Beach (South Carolina, United States)

I had gotten a referral off of a Face Book page about a young lady who had lost both her wedding and engagement rings on Ocean Isle Beach, NC. Her name, Leanna, and phone number were in the referral, so I called her. When she answered, I introduced myself and told her that I was a member of The Ring Finders, explaining what it is that we do. I also gave her The Ring Finders.com web site so she could verify the service as well as who I was. She asked about the cost of the service, and I explained I did this on a reward basis, so if she wanted to do a reward it was totally up to her. Leanne and her husband had traveled back home and weren’t in the area so after talking with her husband, they agreed to have me look. She explained that she had taken her rings off and put them in a bag and left them in a cup holder on her Aunt’s beach chair. It wasn’t until they left the beach and got to the end of the beach access, did they check and find the rings weren’t in the bag. The chair and all the rest of their belongings had been sitting in the dry sand. Her husband stated they were set up to the left of the beach access, about 3 houses down.

This would be my second search for the day on Ocean Isle, just 4 blocks apart. I had already called Jim Brouwer to help me search for the other ring. Thinking this would be a quick search; I decided we’d look for this one first and then get the second one. It never fails, the ones you think should be quick and easy never are. Jim and I got to the beach and saw people set up right where we needed to search. We started our search weaving in and out of chairs, umbrellas, and people. There were a few couples that moved for us after they knew what we were looking for. I took a quick picture and sent it to Leanna to confirm we were searching in the right area. After about 45 minutes, with no luck, we decided to go after the other ring. Our plan was to come back a little later when most of the people would be gone.

After a successful find on the other ring, we showed back up to look for Leanna’s rings. There were still a few people but not near the crowd. As I’m doing a grid search, two young ladies (Virginia and Nadia) walk up to me. They tell me their cousin had lost her wedding and engagement rings the day before. I asked them if their cousin was Leanna, which they replied “yes.” I told them those were the rings I was looking for. We went back and forth about what happened, and I told them Leanna and her husband thought they were behind the 3rd house. I asked them what they remembered about the loss. Right off, they both said that they thought they were a little further east and about the middle of the dry sand. I talked to Jim, and we dividend the new search area in half. I worked the middle of the dry sand walking east, and Jim worked closer to the slope going east. About 10 minutes, I see Jim digging out a scoop of sand, and reaching down and picking something up. He walked over and handed me Leanna’s wedding band. He then walked back to the spot, swung the coil over the area, took another scoop and pulled out her engagement ring. I took both rings and laid them in the sand to get a picture. I sent it to Leanna with a text saying BA-BOOM! I then called her and ask if she got the text, she said she hadn’t checked her phone for a while, I told her she needed too! I heard her kind of gasp and said something like “Oh my goodness.” She was one happy young lady.

Leanna – Thank you for trusting us to help find your lost treasures.

Virginia and Nadia – if you read this, Thank You both for getting us in the right spot, it made all the difference.

Jim – Once again, thanks for your help!

Jim

  

Man’s Tungsten Wedding Band Lost on Ocean Isle Beach NC – Found and Returned

  • from North Myrtle Beach (South Carolina, United States)

I got a late evening e-mail from Kim advising that her husband, Dondi had lost his Tungsten wedding band. Her e-mail included a description of both the ring and the likely area it was lost in. The area she described was between a local Inn and the pier at the beach access with two red poles. I had a good idea of the search area, but was unfamiliar with the two red poles. I responded to her e-mail, asking a couple of questions and sent a Google earth map picture with the area broken down in a couple of squares. My initial impression was this was going to be a tough search. Luckily, she eased some of my concern when she responded that the search area was about half what I thought it might be. She also told me that her and Dondi had left to go back home. So, I was looking for a ring that had been lost 2 days before, within a 3 hour time line, and from the dry sand to beyond the low tide line. Plus, they weren’t going to be there to actually put me on the spot. Not a big deal, but I thought it’d be a good idea to get a little help. I called Matt Fry, the Myrtle Beach Ring Finder, who already had other plans, so I gave Jim Brouwer a call. Jim’s always up for a challenge and someone I can trust and depend on.

Shortly after talking to Jim, I got a referral off Face book. These were a lady’s white gold wedding and engagement rings that were lost the day before, in the dry sand, and just 4 blocks from my other search. Now, I’m glad I called Jim and got some help.

After a short attempt at finding the lady’s rings, because of the crowd, we decided to go after Dondi’s ring. When we got to that search area, we found the red poles, and divided the search area in half. I took the west side and Jim took the east side. It was just about low tide, so we started our grid searches. I started about knee deep in the ocean, Jim started above the low tide line, this way our detectors wouldn’t interfere with each other. After about an hour, I had finished my search area. I went back to the water’s edge and started a cross grid of both search areas, working my way up the beach. Meanwhile Jim was working his way up to the high tide line. Another 15-20 minutes, I see Jim walking down the beach towards me. Jim doesn’t give up, so I knew that meant only one thing, he found the ring. Sure enough, he walked up and dropped the ring in my hand. I took a picture of the ring in the sand, added a text saying “BINGO,” and sent it to Kim. I then called her; I could clearly tell she was overwhelmed. She told me she was gardening when she got the picture, and she screamed and jumped up. Dondi and her neighbors thought that she had gotten snake bit, thank GOD that didn’t happen.

Later, Kim told me that a friend of hers had told her about the ring finders, and that’s how she found me. She also mentioned that she hadn’t told Dondi that she had contacted me until they were on their way home. She confidently told him that she really felt like I was going to find it, because she had been praying for 2 days. Kim, to be honest, I had a little conversation with the Big Man upstairs as we walked out on the beach, no doubt it helped!

Kim and Dondi, Thank you for trusting The Ring Finders, and Jim and me to find your lost treasure!

Jim – Thanks so much for your help.

Jim   

Wedding Band Lost in the Dry Sand, Found and Returned at Ocean Isle Beach NC

  • from North Myrtle Beach (South Carolina, United States)

My wife and I had just sat down and ordered dinner when I got a text message saying “Hi, is this Jim the ring finder?” I called the number and talked to Blythe, who stated she was on the beach taking photos and when she stood up and brushed the sand off her pants, her Tungsten wedding ring went flying. I told her that I’d be there between 9:30 and 10.

After dinner, I dropped my wife off at home, grabbed my gear, texted Blythe telling her I’d be there in about 30 minutes. When I got to the beach, I met Blythe, Cassi and their dog, Jasper. It was very dark as we made our way out to the beach and the area both Blythe and Cassi were sure they were when Blythe’s ring came off. I turned my Equinox 800 on, literally took two steps and got a solid 17 on the machine. I knew I had Blythe’s Tungsten ring. This is the type of ring searches we pray for – lost in the dry sand, and the owner putting us in the exact spot! I scooped the sand up, checked the hole and knew I had the ring in the scoop. As I shook the sand out of the scoop, I heard the familiar sound of a metal ring clanging in the bottom of the scoop. Cassie and Blythe heard it too. I walked over to Blythe, holding the scoop out for her to pluck her wedding band out. Cassie kept saying “you found it already?” Big smiles and hugs, and I think Jasper even got a little excited.

Blythe and Cassie, thank you for trusting me to help find your lost treasure! Have a great rest of your trip and a safe drive home.

Jim

      

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

  • from North Myrtle Beach (South Carolina, United States)

I got a call from Matt Fry’s (TRF Myrtle Beach) wife, Sunny saying that Matt and she were on the highway and Matt just got a lost ring call. She asked if I could take it for him. I asked her to text me the man’s phone number. Shortly after getting the number, I called Randy to get the details. Randy told me his wife had lost her rings and wondered if I could help. I told him I’d be there in an hour.

When I arrived at their location and was walking out on the beach, I text Randy saying I’m here. As I walked on the beach I saw Randy waving his hand, so I made my way over to them. I introduced myself and asked what happened. Randy’s wife, Lesa, said the rings were within about a 6 ft radius and she had taken them off and put them on the towel, forgot them until she shook out the towel. I asked if the rings were separate or soldered together, she said they were separate and both rings were yellow gold. I turned my Equinox on and took 6 steps. First signal was a VDI of 16 so I knew I had one of the rings. Took a few scoops to get it, but as I lifted up the scoop I saw the small wedding band. I turned around and handed it to Lesa, who was trying hard to hold her emotions. A couple more swings and I got another signal, 12 on the VDI, scooped it up and had her beautiful engagement ring. As I handed her the second ring there was no more holding the emotions, a few tears fell, but they were happy ones! Total search time was about 30 seconds.

Lesa and Randy, thanks for calling The Ring Finders and so glad we could help. Enjoy the rest of your vacation!

Matt, thanks for the call, happy I could help.

Jim

   

Man’s Rolex Watch Lost and Found in the Lockwoods Folly River, NC

  • from North Myrtle Beach (South Carolina, United States)

I got a text message from Mark on Thursday, Aug 29th saying that he had lost his Rolex watch, while fishing, in the Lockwoods Folly River and wondered if I could help. At some point, Mark told me that his wife, Joanna, had gotten him the watch as a present and it had a great deal of sentimental value attached. He knew the watch, itself, could be replaced, but not the memories.

I was concerned about the depth of the water and what the bottom of the river was. He said the depth was about 5 feet at low tide, which is pushing my limit, and didn’t know about the bottom. A lot of the marsh bottom in North and South Carolina has what’s called “Pluff Mud.” In earlier century’s it was called “Plough Mud,” because it was used to fertilize cotton fields that were depleted of nutrients. Anyway, it is nasty, it’s made up of dead grasses, fish, crabs, shrimp, and anything else that dies and decays in the water, it stinks, literally! When you step in it, it sucks you down, and what was at your ankles is now at your knees or thighs. So I was real anxious about searching in those kinds of conditions, but agreed to meet him on Saturday. I talked to my son-in-law, Donnie, who is a certified diver, about it and was thinking of him taking this call, but decided I’d give it a shot. Donnie has helped me on a number of searches, and I knew he’d jump at the chance of this search.

On Saturday, Mark and Joanna picked me up at one of the boat docks in Holden Beach, NC and we took a 20-25 minute boat ride to get the search area. Matt told me that the evening he lost his watch that he was having problems with his outboard motor so he was getting his trolling motor ready to use to get him back home. At some point in the process, he hit the trolling motor with his watch making the clasp come apart sending his watch in the water. When we got to the search area, Mark beached his boat and told me the search area was within 15 feet of the stern of the boat. We were bucking a strong current, but managed to search the area for a couple of hours or so. After searching what I could, I knew I was in over my head, and I’d need Donnie and his scuba diving abilities to help. While we were waiting for the tide to come back in, because we were now high and dry, and grounded on the beach; I called Donnie. I let him and Mark work out the details on the date and times both were available.

Fast forward to Monday, Donnie and Mark met at the same boat dock and headed out around 6:30am. I got a text from Donnie about 11:30 saying “No luck” but he was going to get lunch, fill up his air tanks and go back out with Mark and try again. At 6:22pm Donnie texted: “found it!” I got a few details from Donnie about his search, and the picture and video of him and Mark.

Donnie – thanks so much for your help and your “awesome” scuba skills and “fantastic” underwater metal detecting services.

Mark and Joanna – so happy and excited for you that Donnie was able to find and recover your lost treasure!

Jim

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtu.be&v=LAk1V40FH2Q&app=desktop