Lost gold chain and cross in Lake Howell, Winter Springs, Florida....Found and Returned!

  • from Sanford (Florida, United States)
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I received a call from Mr. Robin inquiring information about “Underwater Metal Detecting”. You see, he runs a unique day camp for kids during the summer months and has a number of young adults that help work with the little ones doing all sorts of outdoor activities. In January of 2018, one of the young adult men, named Frankie, was on the dock, horsing around with some of his friends, when he decided to dive into the chilly water. And yes, the lakes are fairly cold during the winter months here in Central Florida, at least to us thin blooded Floridians! Well, Frankie dove in a couple of times and after his 3rd dive, as he was coming up the ladder he noticed his gold chain and cross were not around his neck! This chain and cross was a gift from his grandmother and he just had to find it and get it back around his neck. He and the others dove numerous times hoping to find it, but each time they came up with only weeds and clam shells. Later on they even had someone with scuba gear try and locate it but soon they realized they needed someone with a metal detector. Thankfully I was able to get my scuba certification and I agreed to try and find Frankie’s lost chain and cross.
I arrived at the camp Saturday morning with all my gear and was shown just where the target area was. It was only a 15X20 square foot area but the challenge was the lack of visibility in the murky water. Once you dig a target the whole bottom gets all stirred up and from then on you go by feel. I was able to hold the shaft of my Tesoro Tiger Shark metal detector in my left hand and go over a small area and then with my right hand I would use my Garrett AT Pro pointer, (the Garrett Carrot) to check out each signal. It was a really slow and difficult process and to add to it all I could not go in a straight line and would invariably angle off to one side or another. I did find numerous targets, like a brass whistle, a bunch of pop cans, a few coins, some screw tops and an assortment of nails, screws and other junk. About 35 minutes into my dive I felt the chain under my coil and as I pulled it from the sand and weeds, I realized there was no cross on the chain, so I continued to search. Three targets later up came Frankie’s cross. I said a short prayer and thanked God for helping me find this sentimental treasure and headed to the surface! It is hard to express in words how it feels when one is reunited with something so precious and valuable! Lost something valuable? Call, text or e-mail me ASAP!
Mike McInroe—thankful to be a member of TRFers

1 Comment »

One Reply to “Lost gold chain and cross in Lake Howell, Winter Springs, Florida….Found and Returned!”

  1. Jim Wren says:

    Great Recovery Mike

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