Joe Au-Franz, Author at The Ring Finders | Page 28 of 36

This ring find began when Gareth from Auckland, New Zealand called. It was already dark but as always I wanted to get this ring before the band of detectorists go into the water in the protected area of Waikiki. As Gareth was testing the water to see if he could take his baby girl in he didn’t realize that the swim through the wall had a drop off from 3 to 6 feet deep. As he stumbled he put his hand down to break his fall and when he pull his hand out of the coarse sand his ring was gone. The lifeguard told him to watch for a detectorist to come down the beach but after an hour none arrived. That’s when Gareth googled “Lost Ring Waikiki” and found the ring finders. When I arrived there was just enough ambient light from the hotels along the beach I didn’t need my headlamp. I went out to the drop off and immediately got a nice tone but the target kept moving around and away from my scoop. I abandoned that thinking it was a pull tab. About ten feet away I got another nice tone and two scoops down there was Gareth’s awesome gold ring glittering in my scoop. Elapsed time 3 minutes. Gareth thanked me many times over and said the vacation was saved. Aloha to Gareth!

This ring find started when I was called by Frank from Rochester, New York. While celebrating his 20th Anniversary Frank was enjoying the warm waters of Waikiki with his wife. After about two hours in the water Frank started heading into the beach when in about waist deep water his Gold Wedding Ring fell off in a wave. He tried looking with some goggles but the turbulent sand covered the ring out of sight. That evening he found “The Ring Finders” and sent me an email. I never got the email or responded so Frank decided to call. We decided to meet in Waikiki in about 45 minutes at the Burger King across from where he lost the ring. Frank showed me the extreme ends of the grid and in I went. It was high tide and the rollers were coming in fast & furious. It was hard to stay on target let alone scoop into solid reef. After the first grid search I went in to give Frank an update. The only target I could retrieve was an 8 ounce fishing weight. I asked Frank to join me in the water and act as a marker so I could stay on grid. While in the water Frank realized I needed to search more towards Diamond Head. On the fourth leg I got a decent tone and one scraping scoop across the reef low and behold there was Frank’s ring. I was actually shocked as several targets were unobtainable in the reef. I was relieved as it was getting late and the surf wasn’t subsiding. I looked over at Frank and said, “Got it!” He was like, “Really?” In the scoop lets start walking ashore and I’ll show you. I didn’t want to take a chance dropping the ring back on the reef. Frank was so thankful and still had a look of disbelief. Frank texted a pic to his wife and was so thankful his 20th ended on a high note. Aloha to Frank!

This ring find began on Thursday afternoon when I got a call from Janett who lives at Schoefield Barracks in Wahiawa Hawaii. She had taken her two boys to the resort lagoons to play and while she was applying their suntan lotion she took her rings off and placed them on a blanket. When play time was over she gathered up the beach gear and headed off to the showers to wash off the sand her boys had gotten all over themselves. While there she realized her rings were missing and immediately went back to their spot on the beach to try and find them. The sand swallowed them up so she informed security who gave her my number. I told her it was getting late and I would search first thing Friday morning. Janett texted me a pic of the ring and one of her boy playing on the beach so I would have a general sense of where they were. When I arrived the next morning I was able to use some distance markers in the pic to triangulate a grid. Several coins and metal junk targets later I got a loud concentrated tone and one scoop down I found one of Janett’s rings. This one wasn’t the Solitaire. I continued on but couldn’t find the other half. I noticed the tracks of the sand cleaning tractor nearby and wondered if it had consumed the ring. It appeared to fall short of the grid area but where was that other ring? I finally got through to Janett whose phone was on the charger. I explained to her the other ring wasn’t here. I talked her through the scenario again and told her it was possible the diamond prong may have snagged a thread and was still on the blanket. I told her to go through all her items and that of the boys. She did it once already but said she’d look again. I expanded my grid a bit then gave up. I called Janett to coordinate the return of the ring half that I found and when she answered the phone I could tell she had been crying. When she emptied the boy’s beach bucket the other ring went tink-tink onto the floor. She was so relieved after thinking it was gone forever. We met at Denny’s and put the ring set back together the way it belonged. Great way to end the days hunting. Aloha to Janett.

This ring find began when I got a call Thursday from Arnie and Debbie who live in Skokie, Illinois. They were visiting his Aunt & Uncle and taking in a day at the beach. Then while his lovely wife Debbie was wading in waist deep water off Duke’s in Waikiki her engagement ring fell off. They tried to find the ring with a snorkel and goggles and a detectorist also went in for them but the ring was not to be found. Arnie then googled “lost ring Waikiki” and that’s how he found “the ring finders”. I told Arnie I lived 10 minutes away and I’d meet them in front of the hotel. When I arrived and went down to the beach it was high tide and the rollers were coming in. It was going to be a challenge staying in grid. Arnie directed me from shore and I attempted my best to stay in line. After a penny and a pull tab I got a nice low gold tone but had a rough time in the surge getting the target in the scoop. Finally on the fifth try I looked in the scoop and bingo there was Debbie’s beautiful ring. I looked towards shore and gave them a thumbs up. I let them look into the scoop and the pure look of elation came over Debbie’s face. She really didn’t believe it would be found. Vacation saved. Aloha to Debbie & Arnie!

This ring find began when I got a call from Jill who lives in Waialua, she was looking for a metal detector rental. She explained that sometime the day before while her husband Steve and her were on Nanakuli Beach just enjoying the day she realized when she got home that the chair pocket where she had placed her ring was empty. Steve and Jill also noticed a hole in the pocket. They went back to look but were unsuccessful as the drop area wasn’t for certain. It happened where they were sitting or the walk back to their vehicle. That’s when Jill called me. I told her that you can’t just rent a detector and go hunting in Hawaii. I offered my services but she was reluctant at first and was going to call another rental place. She called me back 5 minutes later and decided it probably would be best if I met them at the beach. Nanakuli is a huge beach so I told them to meet me at the Electric Beach Parking lot and we would proceed from there. It took me about 30 minutes to get there. Thankfully we met because the area they were talking about wasn’t well known to me. Thankfully they didn’t tell anyone either this side of the island can be a challenge. We walked down to the area they were sitting. I noticed the high tide came way up on the beach and went into the grid. I was praying the ring didn’t get sucked down to the low tide line as that would have been a major challenge to detect as the slope is severe. I started on the extreme North side of my grid from land to sea. The area is a bit noisy with the power plant nearby. My first target was lost so I assumed it wasn’t the ring. For some reason on the second leg, away from the sea, I decided to go outside my grid and good thing because I got a screaming target and 2 scoops down was Jill’s ring. WOW! I was shocked to find it that fast and in that spot. We decided it must have fallen out as they were leaving as this was outside the grid they were sitting in. I could see the relief on Steve & Jill’s faces and they were very thankful. Busy weekend with three ring finds. Aloha to Steve & Jill!

This ring find began when I returned to my truck from a hunt and their was a voicemail from James of Wahiawa, HI. I immediately called as the voicemail was only a few minutes old. Thankfully, James had just left Ko Olina and could turn around and meet me at Ulua Lagoon in a moment to search for his wife Larissa’s ring. James explained that while his wife was putting suntan lotion on their children she removed her ring and placed it on her lap. The fidgeting children distracted her and she didn’t realize the ring was missing until they returned home after a day at the lagoon. That was yesterday and James spent the morning looking through the sand for the ring with no luck. When he told Aloha Security the Team gave him my number so he could contact me for the hunt. As James and I went down to the area in the sand they were at I marked a grid and started the hunt. Not too many people on the beach this AM so the hunt was easy. First target was a dime. Then two minutes later the tone was great and two scoops down was Larissa’s ring. Someone must have stepped on it to get that deep overnight. Some nearby tourists applauded as I handed the ring to James. Larissa was home with the children and a migraine so hopefully the ring find will stop that headache immediately. Aloha to James & Larissa

This ring find began when I got a call this morning from Danny visiting on a vacation to Hawaii from Minneapolis, Minnesota. Danny explained that he was in the protected beach area at around 5:30 PM the previous day when he jumped from a rock and started swimming ashore when his gold wedding band came off. He immediately went ashore got his wife Brittany and a mask and snorkel and went back into the water to look for his ring. Unfortunately he didn’t find his ring but fortunately for them they didn’t tell anyone and found the ring finders on the internet shortly their after. I met Danny & Brittany at the zoo parking lot and we proceeded down to the beach where the ring was lost. I explained that this area was the most detected beach in Hawaii and our odds would be slim but I would do my best to search the area. I marked my shore grid markers and went on the hunt. The area was sterile of any targets. Danny joined me in the chest deep water and was my visual marker for each leg of the grid. Initially Danny thought he was 20 feet from the breakwater wall but as I was passing that distance the search started to feel hopeless and that another detectorist already found the ring earlier that morning. I continued on and about 30 feet from the wall and a few feet from my Danny marker I got a screaming low tone target. I looked over at Danny and said I think we might have your ring. Two scoops later their was a fat gold ring in my scoop. I pulled the ring out of my scoop and showed it to Danny. Excitedly he exclaimed, “That’s it!” Several tourists nearby started clapping and Danny shouted to Brittany on the shore, “He found it!” Smiles all around and another vacation ends on a happy note. Aloha to Danny & Brittany!

This ring find began when I woke up to an email request to hunt for a ring at Waikiki at 515 PM that evening when the couple returns from a Sight seeing tour around Oahu. I immediately left a voicemail to call me ASAP as it is well known Waikiki is heavily detected and it appeared the ring was lost in waist deep water in the protected area. I received a call about 30 minutes later as I was about to leave. Aneesh & Archana from India and on their honeymoon were at the beach the previous evening when Aneesh’s wedding band went missing. He wasn’t exactly sure when it came off but thankfully they didn’t travel too far along the beach when they discovered it missing. Also the ring would be in the unprotected area and that area doesn’t get detected as heavily as the others. After they gave me a few more data points I decided I would hunt their ring first thing that morning before other detectorists came around. As I was proceeding to Waikiki I got a call from Archana asking if I could meet them that morning and I told her I was almost there already. We met at the Kapahulu Beach Wall and they proceeded to help me mark the extreme ends of the search grid. I started at the westward end and entered the water. I was immediately met by surf that was crashing the shoreline from my knees to my neck in height. It was a high tide. The sand area here only goes out 20 feet before hitting solid reef so I was hoping the ring fell off in the sand near shore. I immediately found two quarters and was getting tossed about with each wave. I was about to go ashore and tell Aneesh I needed to wait until low tide as I couldn’t stay stable and hunt. On this first leg and on the way in I got a nice tone but I was getting pushed around it took at least 8 attempts with my scoop to retrieve the target. When I looked in the scoop there was a gorgeous gold ring with four diamonds just as Aneesh described. I walked up onto the beach where Archana and Aneesh were waiting and held out my scoop and asked, “Is that your ring because if it isn’t I need to wait awhile before going back in to hunt?” The look of joy came over their faces as they exclaimed, “That’s it!” It had to be divine intervention to find the ring at the extreme edge of the grid and thankfully I started on the westward end otherwise it would have been a very long day. Aloha to Aneesh & Archana.

This ring find began when I got a lunch time call from Kristen from Beach Recreation at Aulani Disney Resort. She told me a couple lost their ring on the beach in dry sand and she was going to give them my information to reach out to me if they required my services. After arriving home from work I got a call from Ben on vacation from Alberta, Canada. We had a storm coming in this evening so I wanted to get there before it arrived. Waiting until morning could have been painful for me and them. I got through rush hour traffic fairly quick and met Ben on the beach an hour later. He explained while his wife Chelsea was applying sunscreen to their children she set her rings on a towel and when she grabbed the towel afterwards she realized the rings had fallen somewhere around their lounge chairs. They sifted through the sand for a few hours but never found any of the missing four rings. Ben and I moved the metal chairs out of the way and I started a grid search. After finding 17 cents I got a really nice tone and after two scoops I looked into my scoop and there were 3 white gold rings one with a hefty diamond. Ben was surprised and said “Wow”! Those are the three primary rings and he was just so relieved they were found. I scanned the hole again and there was a faint target. Another scoop down and the fourth and final ring was in the scoop. Ben said his wife Chelsea was very distraught after losing her rings and this was going to make their vacation. We took a few pics and Ben thanked me again. Another vacation saved! Aloha to Ben & Chelsea!