Lost wedding ring in ocean, Toronita Beach, Fl....Found and Returned!

I received an email from Omar stating, “I just realized this morning that I lost my wedding ring. It probably happened at Toronita Beach yesterday evening. The tide was high and I was boogie boarding. Please call me if you think there is a chance that you can find it.” It was close to midnight when I read Omar’s plea for help and I answered immediately wanting to encourage and instill some hope. I always start by asking some very pertinent questions like…What time of the day were you in the water? Did you feel your ring come off? How large of an area did you swim in and how long were you in the water? How deep was the water where you were boogie boarding and how far out did you go? Thankfully Omar responded early the next morning and gave very descriptive answers to all my questions regarding the how, when and where! And one key piece of information about their boogie boarding was he and his daughters were trying to see how far they could ride the waves all the way to the wet sand. With that knowledge and the fact they were in the water at “high tide” put the target area in a much easier part of the beach to metal detect, especially at low tide!

The next morning I met Omar at the beach, two hours before low tide, and he showed me the area where he and his family spent the evening boogie boarding. One thing he did mention was that while they were in the water he remembered a yellow house up past the dunes and they never went past the south side of that property. So that gave me a starting point. I promptly set up some flags in the sand every 15 feet apart until I had an area approximately 150 feet wide. By this time low tide was an hour away and I was hoping and praying that his ring would be somewhere in the wet sand area. After saying a prayer with Omar in the parking lot I geared up and started my systematic grid search and worked my way from the first flag and headed out to the waters edge and back. It took about an hour to cover half of the area and I managed to find a few coins and the occasional rusty nail. At one point I popped out a large gold hoop earring and just the edge was exposed in the sand and I thought, “There is Omar’s ring!” But false alarm! Fifteen minutes later I got a great signal on my Whites TDI Beach Hunter metal detector and low and behold it was Omar’s beautiful gold ring!

Omar put it this way….”After over 21 years, I lost my ring for the first time. My wife sympathetically searches my brain and our house but the ocean waves are the thief. First reaction horror. Then disbelief, confusion, disappointment, frustration. Hopelessness pairs with helplessness until I arrive at a desperate web search. Theringfinders.com. Do I dare to hope? I send out an SOS email. Mike responds with a shower of useful questions. I carefully respond to each one. He graciously responds building cautious optimism. “God willing I will find your ring.” We meet at the beach. The search process begins. His faith and experience at work. I retreat back to my job, un-expectantly settled and able to focus. Excited about premonition in my life. In just a few hours Mike unearths a victory. I become like a little child filled with an excitement not felt in decades. The ring is not just a comfortable object, but symbolic of so much more to me. How is it that humans come to value a thing whose true worth is not known until it is lost and then found. Read Luke 15 to understand. Sincerely, Omar”

How I thank God for giving me the opportunity to meet and help Omar and his dear family.
Maybe you need hope and help to find something you’ve lost.
Give me a call, text or email ASAP!
Mike McInroe,
Honored to be a member of theringfinders.com