Mark Rubey, Author at The Ring Finders | Page 19 of 23

Sara had been playing with children on the beach and in the water when she realized her engagement ring was missing. I received the call as I was sitting down to Easter dinner with family and friends so I told them it would be an hour or so before I could meet them at the location. When I arrived, I met Sara and Angel and their family and listened to the story of the loss and went about gridding the dry sand, which was just one possible area of where it might be hiding. After searching that area and expanding it out even beyond the boundaries they set, we figured it must be out in the ocean. Being high tide and fairly rough out there, I was only able to search to about knee deep. With no success, I told them that I would return at low tide and continue the search. They were sad and disheartened but that was all I could do at that time, so I reluctantly left to go home and get some sleep. I got up at 3am and made it down to the beach by 3:45am to begin the water search. After about 3 passes, I found the ring in ankle deep water with my killer Excalibur, 15″ WOT, Stealth 720i, combination. I texted them that I had found the ring and would contact them later in the morning after getting some much needed sleep. As soon as I woke up, the phone rang and we made arrangements for them to come pick up the ring. Sara and Angel had already traveled home so Adrian came by with daughter in tow. A few photos, calls, and text messages informed everyone the good news, with relief and smiles all around. Thank you for the reward.

I received a call from Annie on Sunday evening about a lost ring. She had been at Mission Beach earlier in the day and had been playing in the surf with a nerf football. She went for a reception and ended up with a fumble as her ring that was given to her by her mother-in-law flew off into waist deep water. As in most cases, the search was in vain as rings can disappear easily in the surf and shifting sands. I told her that I would go to the site the next afternoon to take advantage of a low tide. She gave me a good description of the area since she had to work the next day. I arrived a couple hours before low tide and started a grid. About an hour or so later I got a nice low growl in my headphones indicating a target in the gold range. One big scoop with my Stealth 720i in ankle deep water and I had the prize in the basket. Since I live right on her way home from work, she and her husband stopped by the house and had a happy reunion with the ring. It was a pleasure to meet you both and thank you for the reward.

Greg called me Sunday about an hour after realizing his ring was lost in the sand at Black’s Beach. We met at the glider port on top of the cliff overlooking the beach below. He explained that he had taken the ring off to apply some lotion and placed the ring in his hat. Forgetting about the ring,  he put the hat on and the ring went for a sand swim.  He had walked 50 feet away before he realized what he had done, but when he retraced his steps, he could find it.

We hiked down the cliff and over 1/4 mile north on the beach to the search area. It took over 5 minutes to get my first target! Very clean beach in that area. After about 15 minutes or so,  I got a good signal on my E-trac indicating it was a likely candidate to be his ring. Sure enough,  Greg’s  nice platinum band was in my scoop. A happy Greg wanted to keep his smile off camera but was willing to show the ring. Thank you for the reward Greg.

Mikhail contacted me about his wedding band lost in the dry sand at Black’s beach. We arranged to meet on top of the cliff overlooking the beach below. My wife and I  ran across Mikhail and his wife  in the parking lot and proceded over to the trail head and the steep climb down. He showed us the area where they were sitting and I decided to start my grid at the NW corner. I fired up the Excalibur and on the first swing, I hit a promising sound. Sure enough, it was his ring! I love those quick searches. It helps make up for the ones where you search for hours. A happy Mikhail headed back up the cliff and off to his home in Los Angeles. Finding the ring was the easy part. Now it was my turn to hike back up that cliff! Thanks for the reward Mikhail.

After dropping off Zach at the airport from my previous ring return, I got a call from Joe, who said that his wife had lost her ring at Mission Beach. He haden’t left the spot so I told him I’d be there in about 45 minutes. I headed home and grabbed my detector and made my way to the beach where they had been camped. When I arrived, I discovered that ring had been lost in  the surf and the search area was quite large. The tide was going out so that helped some. After a couple of hours of gridding the area and no luck, Joe had to leave and meet his wife at the hotel and load the car up for their trip back home in Arizona. About 20 minutes after he left, I got the magic sound of a ring at the edge of the search area and came up with this beauty. A quick call and he headed back down the beach with lightning speed! The trip home will be a lot more pleasant now.  A pleasure meeting you and thanks for the reward.

Megan saw my ad on Craig’s list and contacted me with the sad story of losing her ring the day before at a small beach on Camp Pendleton. She had removed the ring to keep it from getting scratched in the sand. Yup, it ended up in the sand anyway! It was about a 45-60 minute drive each way to the location so I got on my way as soon as I could.

When I arrived, I called Megan and met with her at the little cove next to her rented bungalow.  She showed me where she had been sitting down by the waters’ edge. I turned on my detector and in maybe 10 seconds, it get a good “Gold” signal. Sure enough, it was the ring! I wish all recoveries could be that quick and easy. Megan was quite relieved and overcome with emotion as she hadn’t slept the night before worrying about the ring. I received cheers from the other people on the beach and a big hug from Megan. I guess I should have waited for her to recover  a bit more before taking the photo of her holding it! Believe me, she was one of the happiest people I’ve had the pleasure of helping. Thank you for the reward.

        Kara called at about 7pm saying that she lost two rings at Pacific Beach, two days ago. I told her I was on my way and also explained that it’s entirely possible that someone else could have already found them, as that beach is heavily hunted. I arrived a bit after sunset and was shown the search area. Dry sand and it was marked where they thought the rings fell. A common story about the rings having been removed and wrapped up in a shirt for safekeeping. Later,  the shirt went back on and the rings went into the sand. After only ten minutes or so, and a few junk targets, I hit the first ring….a screaming silver sound.  A foot away, I get the sketchy, small white gold sound. The E-trac, Stealth 720i, and the Vibraprobe get the job done again along with some great work by Kara to get me near the spot! Nice to meet you and thank you for the reward.

Another long distance return. Matt had lost his platinum wedding ring in the shallow surf. Not being able to find it, he flew home to Seattle. I found it a few days later and was able to get in touch with him. He was going to be back in San Diego soon so I just held onto it until he flew down again. A pleasure to meet you Matt and thank you for the reward.

       This return is a reverse find, so, I don’t know if it counts in our total or not. Wednesday evening was very warm and humid and I couldn’t get comfortable, so, I decided to go down to the beach for a while to cool off and do some detecting. I got there around sunset and started searching over the blanket line area as people were leaving for the day.

     I was finding some coins and other misc. when I came across a good sized ring. It was dark and I didn’t have my glasses so I had to wait until I got home to see exactly what I had found. I left at 11:00pm, went home, and cleaned up my equipment and finds.

     Inspecting the ring, I found a name enscribed inside the stainless band. Not a common name (first name Guillermo) so I figured it was worth a try to find the person who lost it. I didn’t see any “Lost” ads on Craig’s list matching this ring but after a bit of internet surfing, I came up with a couple of possible leads. A call to one number got me a woman related to the Guillermo I was seeking and offered to have him give me a call. A bit later, I got the call from an excited Guillermo and we made arrangements to meet at a local shopping mall for the exchange. In talking with him, I discovered the ring was given to him from his girlfriend and he was uncertain as to where he had lost the ring. He just noticed it was missing at one point (three days before I found it) but didn’t remember actually losing it. He was happy to hear that there is a group called The Ring Finders and praised our efforts. It was a pleasure meeting you and thank you for the thirst quenching reward!