Joe Au-Franz, Author at The Ring Finders | Page 6 of 36

This ring find began Monday when I got a text from Jorge who was on vacation from Los Angeles and staying at the Aulani Resort at Ko Olina.  The Hotel had given him my number as the resort’s detectorist.  His text said, ” Long story short I lost a ring by the beach and was wondering if you’ve gone by recently and might have found it.  It was lost a week ago.”  Turns out the ring was actually lost by his friend Jose who had given up looking for it a week earlier, returned to LA  and asked Jorge if he could check the “Lost & Found” which put him in contact with me.  I got some details about the ring and the area lost and decided to hunt after work Tuesday.  Since Jose mentioned struggling with his young daughter getting her ready to go to the beach and after removing his ring to apply suntan lotion, after the chaos subsided, he realized his ring had disappeared somewhere in the dry sand below the Ko Olina Chapel.  I started by moving the beach chairs where I assumed he would have set the bag down the ring was on.  No luck there.  I expanded the grid search out towards the chapel and on the third leg I got an excellent tone on the Manticore.  After one scoop there was Jose’s unique Tantalum & Gold Ring in the scoop.  I returned to my car to give Jorge the good news.  We decided to meet at the Chapel for the return.  Jorge was very grateful I found his friend Jose’s ring and asked if we could FaceTime with him in LA.  “I said of course!”  When Jose appeared on the phone and Jorge introduced him to me I could tell he was extremely relieved and very appreciative of the ring finder’s service.  I’m still waiting on a selfie from Jose when Jorge gives him back his ring in LA next week.  Aloha to Jose & Jorge!

 

This ring find began back on August 3rd when I received a text from Jaimie visiting from Massachusetts and celebrating her 10th Wedding Anniversary with her husband Ryan at the Aulani Resort at Ko Olina.  Her text said she had lost her three Engagement and Wedding Bands in the water 40 hours prior.  She was swimming with her husband at high tide and the water was fairly rough.  The water was over her head and probably a foot over her husbands head as they tried searching with snorkels.  Sadly they were leaving later that morning and Jaimie was obviously stressed about the highly sentimental loss.  I assured her I would do my best at a recovery.  My first opportunity was Saturday morning and I donned my scuba gear thinking this would be a fairly easy recovery in water a foot or more over my head and with the excellent location data Jaimie provided.  I brought my fluorescent orange grid line with me and started the scuba hunt in front of the Ama Ama restaurant.  After about a 2 hour underwater hunt I had only found a few trash targets with the Manticore.  I called Jaimie with the unfortunate news but assured her I would hunt again as there was a moment when a swimmer snagged my grid line and pulled me off target.  Again we went over the details of the loss and nothing changed.  The hurricane passed by Oahu and stirred up the lagoons but on Wednesday it was clear to hunt again.  OMG the same results this time I might have recovered two targets I missed the first time.  I assured Jaimie that I was going to attempt a Friday morning hunt when all the environmentals  were perfect.  Especially a low tide.  I arrived early and decided to hunt the lagoon walking until the sun was up over the hotels.  About ten minutes into the hunt, I got multiple targets in chest deep water.   On the second scoop there was a Platinum Band with Diamonds in the scoop.  I went for the next target and it was a White Gold band with Diamonds.  “Thank You Lord” I exclaimed knowing there was another target still on the bottom.  It took a few scoops but finally the Platinum Engagement ring with Diamonds was in the scoop.  Trifecta complete.  What a relief.  But why were they so shallow?  When I went ashore I started talking to the Catamaran sailors and we think what happened was Jaimie lost her rings on the extreme “King Tide” which is often a foot deeper then the normal high tide in the lagoon.  I’ll take that!  Whatever the reason we were blessed.  As you can see in the pic Jaimie received her rings back in Massachusetts this afternoon.  Puts a lump in my throat everytime!  Aloha to Jaimie & Ryan!