Joe Au-Franz, Author at The Ring Finders | Page 7 of 36

This ring find began when Taryn from Hawaii Kai reached out and told me her husband Jeremy had lost his Rose Gold Wedding Band in shallow water at Aulani’s Lagoon.  He had been brushing the sand off his leg when the ring fell off in shallow water.  I had nothing going on so I told Taryn I’d grab my gear and head down.  She told me they had already left after searching for at least an hour and were heading back to Hawaii Kai.  We discussed the details to the lost location and I told her I would call after the hunt.  Thankfully,  when I arrived the area was clear of beachgoers and I was able to start my grid search in earnest.  I had detected this area the day before and it was sterile.  Then about 20 minutes into the hunt “Boom!”  15-17 on the Nox and I knew it was the ring.  However the thinness of the ring allowed the sand to push it away from my scoop at least six times.  Finally, I had the target in the scoop and it was indeed Jeremy’s  ring.  I rinsed off and went back to my car and texted a pic of the ring asking, “This one?”  Response was “YES!!!”  We agreed to meet at the Jack Lord Bust at Kahala Mall for the return.  Smiles all around.  Aloha to Taryn & Jeremy!

This ring find began Sunday when I received an email from Zuleyma saying, “We decided to play volleyball in the dry sand yesterday and when I hit the ball up my ring went flying in the air and I didn’t notice until it quite literally left my finger and we tried to search the area but none of us had any luck.  Also ironically I was recording us play while it all happened so if I zoom in I can see my rings flying up in the air high, but cannot quite see where they landed.” I responded,  call me immediately as I wanted to hunt ASAP knowing she posted on Stolen Stuff Hawaii and informed the Lifeguard.  Oh no!  The entire metal detecting community is going to be there.  We decided to meet at my home and take one car to Waimanalo Beach not knowing what parking would be like on such a beautiful Hawaiian Sunday.  When we arrived the place was busy but we had no problem parking.  Zuleyma’s husband Jan helped review the video to determine the search area.  To my surprise the beach was really clean until I got closer to the tree line which was choke full of metal undesirables.  With no luck in the first grid we moved North.  After no luck there I reviewed the video myself and we all agreed we were in the correct location and all the trees in the video lined up.  I moved closer to the tree line as it appeared the ring may have traveled more in that direction.  No luck again.  After an hour this was getting frustrating especially for Zuleyma who was about to call it a lost cause.  Time to break out of the box.  Since we had the North South location confirmed by simply watching the video of the flying rings I told Jan and Zuleyma to give me just a little more time going East and West through the grid and to expand out just a bit further towards the water.  Also as you know sometimes the aspect of the target can hide one direction and pop on the other.  I could see the hopelessness in their faces so I was praying this would work.  As I started toward the water I went much farther past where the ring should be then did a 180 to head back the other way.  Boom!  Super loud unmistakable sound on the Nox.  One scoop and there is the Rose Gold and Diamonds Wedding Band in the scoop.  Wait, what?  I’m completely out of the grid and probably even past where the phone was recording the volleyball game.  Zuleyma couldn’t believe it and came running over with tears in her eyes.  The beach goers were hooting and clapping knowing how long we had been hunting.  We hugged and I said, “Let’s get the Engagement Ring.  Thankfully, only a foot away the next Boom on the Nox and one scoop later.  Mission complete!  Elapsed time 1.5 hours in the hot dry sand.  The only thing we could figure is the ring although appearing in the video of going straight up and down in fact went up and straight towards the camera if not flying over it as we lost track of them in the video on the down fall.  You never know for sure until you find the ring.  Much Aloha to Zuleyma & Jan.

This ring find came in on Thursday when Margo found me through the ring finders site and texted if I could find  her husband Donovan’s tungsten ring at a beach campsite.  I assured her I could and we agreed to meet early Friday morning when the campsite opens so she could show me the area.  Margo took me to the site and showed me the area around the shrubbery.  She explained Donovan was wiping the sand off his hand onto his pants when his ring flung off into the shallow grass, sand and shrub area.  I turned on the Nox and the first target boomed.  I looked down and there smashed into the sand was a round object and when I picked it up it was a gray tungsten ring.  I showed Margo the ring and to her delight she thanked me for finding it so quickly.  Elapsed time to target 20 seconds.  I actually made it to work an hour earlier then I projected.  Aloha to Donovan & Margo!

This #300 ring find began when I got a call from Drew visiting from New Zealand and attending his Brother’s wedding on Oahu.  He decided to spend a day at Waikiki Beach with his wife and baby.  Drew decided to take the baby into the calm waters of the lagoon and somewhere during their water adventure his Platinum Wedding Band went missing.  Thankfully he remained in a relatively small area.  After his wife noticed his wedding ring missing, Drew Googled “Metal Detector Waikiki” and that’s how he reached out to me.  We agreed to meet at the Honolulu Zoo and he would walk me down to the area he figured the ring would be.  Since he had a New Zealand phone number I told him to call me in about 15 minutes and I should be parked nearby.  I’ve been unable to return some calls to foreign numbers so I ask them to keep checking with me until we hook up.  He told me he was wearing a bright orange shirt and I spotted him rather quickly.  We walked down to the beach and Drew drew two lines in the sand for me to use as grid marks.  I started the hunt and it was sterile.  Then on the fourth leg I got a booming #16 on the Nox and it actually took 5 scoops as the ring kept moving away.  As I looked in the scoop I saw the two grooves in the ring Drew had described so I was able to shout over to him, “We got it!”  Drew was obviously relieved to be out of the dog house with his wife and could fly home tomorrow with his wedding ring on his finger.  Aloha to Drew and his family!