Engagement Ring and Wedding Band Found in Northern NY

About a month ago I got an email from a lady who lost her engagement ring and wedding band. She and her husband had been enjoying some Summer recreation time in the cool waters of a northern New York river. At one point she was swimming in a stretch of fast water for some real fun! But the fun quickly ended when she realized her rings had fallen off. She and her husband tried for quite some time with no luck. The water was too fast and deep and the bottom was rough and rocky. They knew they needed someone with special euipment and experience in water searches.

I emailed back and told her that I would love to help, but there were other members of The Ring Finders that were closer to that area. She replied that she had contacted them, but they were unable to help her. One had recently opened a new business and the other wasn’t euipped for that kind of search. Unfortunately I couldn’t help her then either, because I had just lost my mother 2 nights earlier and I wouldn’t be able to come for awhile. She was very sweet and understanding and was willing to wait.

We stayed in contact and decided to meet at 8:00 Sunday morning. It was a very chilly 40 degrees, but we were willing to tough it out! I got my water equipment ready, put on the wet suit and got started. They put on hip boots and searched where they could. I searched for 5 hours without finding her rings. It was slow going because the current was strong and hard to use a metal detector in. She was feeling discouraged and had to leave to take care of their elderly mother back home.

I figured I had enough energy to search for a few more hours. Her husband, being a really decent guy, said he would stay with me because he didn’t want me to be searching alone in the rapids. He also helped me in many ways, whenever he could, to help make my job go easier. I searched for 2 more hours, pulling up lots of metal debris and “hot” rocks(rocks containg metal of some sort). Finally, I got a weak signal from between some rocks, and after a few tries, there in my scoop was her wedding band!! We were both very happy to say the least! Now we were both encouraged that the engagement ring might be closeby. About a foot from the wedding band’s location, I got another weak signal coming from deep between some larger rocks. It seemed like an eternity, but I finally got whatever was making the signal into my scoop. As I sorted through the stones in the scoop, I saw shiny metal, there it was, her engagement ring. I grabbed it, let out a shout and nearly fell down in the rapids I was so happy! He couldn’t believe it. For the next hour we kept repeating “I can’t believe we found them”!

So, we had a nice drive back to their house. When we handed the rings back to her, she was in shock and disbelief. Then the happiness kicked in and and the hugs got handed out!! I got to meet their kids and their dog and we all had a nice visit.

The BEST hobby in the world!

Note….Water searches can be extremely dangerous, especially in deep or fast water, never attempt it alone or without the proper gear and experience.

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