Suncoast Research And Recovery Club (SRARC), Author at The Ring Finders | Page 37 of 43

Anna Marie Island Gold and Diamond Wedding Rings Lost then Recovered

David and Jennifer were down from Virginia on a mini vacation and house hunting trip. While relaxing one evening at sunset Jennifer was in the water and David tossed her a ball. The ball landed just in front of her and she plunged her hand into the water to get it. She felt her wedding set fly right off her finger. She called to David for help but just then a big wave slammed into her and moved her away from where she had lost the rings. They looked until after dark but had no luck finding them. Both David and Jennifer are Gulf war veterans and while stationed in Iraq someone had stolen her first wedding set and now losing another set was just devastating. Jennifer started searching the internet for help and soon found SRARC on the Ring Finders site. She called Tom who called Mike and we set up a meet time and search for 7:00 am the next morning. Mike went right to work when he got there and searched for about an hour and a half before hitting the target he was looking for. He flipped a “thumbs up” toward the beach and got two great big smiles in return. It was a pleasure to meet both David and Jennifer and I want to offer them a big “Thank You” for their service to our country. It gave me a great big smile to be able to serve them in a small way. I look forward to hooking up with them again after they have relocated to Florida.

009 001

Wedding Band lost and recovered on Treasure Island

Steve and Kate Drof (recently married) were enjoying a day at the beach with friends and Kate’s Mom. Steve was standing in about thigh deep water talking with one of his friends. He noticed how loose his ring was on his finger and commented to his friend that he needed to get it sized before he lost it. He pulled on to see if it would come off and sure enough it popped off and flipped into the water. He and his friend looked frantically for several hours but it stayed hidden in the sand. The next day Steve returned with snorkel gear and hunted some more. Kate started looking on the internet for help and ran across SRARC on the Ring Finders site. She contacted Mike and they set a meet time of 5:00 pm the next afternoon. Kate and her Mom showed up to get us into the right area and with 4 hunters, Paul Hill, Ed Osmar, Bill Gallant, and Mike Miller we forged our way into the waves and hunted for about an hour in the rough surf before the rain and lightning drove them off. They reset a hunt for the following morning and after Steve lined them up to where he had been Paul took about 10 steps into the gulf, made a left turn and took 2 more steps and hit it. Steve could not believe it and almost broke into tears. After that it was nothing but great big smiles. Nice work Team and a big thanks to Paul for hitting the jackpot.

Sunset Beach, Treasure Island, Pass-A-Grille, Fort Desoto, lost 001 2015-05-139513.47.31

Wedding Ring Recovered at Honeymoon Island State Park


Leanne and her husband were at Honeymoon Island enjoying a sunny day her husband. He was crab walking through the stones to get back to shore and lost his ring in the rocks. After looking for a while, they asked at the ranger station if anyone had turned in a ring. The Ranger said no but that he knew some people that would come help them look for the ring. She gave them Howard Metts phone number. They contacted Howard and he called Stan Flack and asked him to meet at 2 o’clock on Honeymoon Island so they could look for the ring. The conditions were very rough, 3 to 4 foot waves on an incoming tide. Howard and Stan ventured into the rough water and after about one and a half hours of hard searching Howard was able to get a good signal. After some digging through all the rocks the ring was recovered and returned to Leanne. She returned to the car where her husband was waiting in the car with their young daughter. She returned his ring and he was very happy and they all ended the day with great big smiles. Howard is now the King at Honeymoon Island. Nice work guy’s!!!!!!

Honeymoon Ring 2 Honeymoon hunt 2

Engagement ring lost at Honeymoon Island State Park, Florida recovered

SRARC Ring Finders Metal Detecting Service – Tampa Bay Area, Pinellas County, Manatee County & Sarasota County

Lost something important? We can HELP! Our services are FREE! Donations to the Club are accepted.

We will send a team of metal detector experts to search virtually any location. Some of the most common are parks, beaches, creeks and even your own backyard.  If you have lost your ring or any other precious item, “Don’t Wait – Call Now.”

Engagement ring lost at Honeymoon Island State Park, Florida recovered

Linda from Clearwater was at the beach with some friends enjoying a sunny afternoon at Honeymoon Island when a wave hit her from behind and knocked her engagement ring off. After searching with no luck, Linda asked the guard station if anyone had turned in a ring and the Ranger told her that there were two ring finders looking for a cross at the beach for someone and maybe they would help. Linda found Howard Metts and Stan Flack at the beach and showed them the place at the next pavilion down the beach where she lost her ring.  After about 45 minutes of hunting Howard was able to find the ring and smiles were all around. Nice work Howard.

Honeymoon Ring Honeymoon hunt

Blind Pass Beach Wedding Band Recovery

Andy and his wife and two children were down at Blind Pass Beach on Manasota key enjoying a Sunday on the gulf. Andy was snorkeling along the shore line looking for shells and sharks teeth. He noticed his ring on the hand he was digging through sand with and thought to himself “I should take that off before I lose it”. Then the thought promptly left his mind. A little later he was out of the water getting a drink from the cooler and noticed that his ring was gone. He and his wife looked everywhere and he even put his goggle’s back on and scoured the gulf floor where he had been. The ring was not to be found.

About a week later Andy was looking to rent a metal detector so he could try and find his ring. In the process he found SRARC on the Ring Finders site. He gave Mike Miller a call and explained what had happened. Mike setup a meet time for the next morning and put an email out to the team. Andy, Mike, Ed Osmar met at the site at 7:00 am. Andy gave us the particulars on where he thought he had lost the ring and we went to work. After about ½ an hour of focusing on the area that Andy thought he had lost it in, we started to spread out with Ed moving up onto the shore and Mike moving a little deeper. A little while later Bingo!!! Ed hit a target and it was the ring. When Ed showed Andy where he had found it Andy said it was right where the cooler had been sitting. It must have fallen off when he was getting a drink. Well it is all history now. Andy was overjoyed and he said his wife was going to very happy. Ed and I sent him away with a big smile on his face and I gave a big high five to Ed for a job well done.

metal+detecting+detector+found+club+lost+ring+jewelry+tampa+St Petersburg+Largo+Clearwater+florida 003 (3) metal+detecting+detector+found+club+lost+ring+jewelry+tampa+St Petersburg+Largo+Clearwater+florida 003 (1)

Wedding ring recovered at Sunset beach, Treasure Island

Down in Florida from Illinois, Rachel and Leslie and the kids Tegan and Harley were on Sunset Beach for their wedding ceremony. Leslie had taken responsibility for three of the rings (hers, Tegan’s and Harley’s). Rachel had given her ring to one of the attendants to hold. They walked from the entry point to the Wedding arches placed on the beach. Just before stepping under the Wedding arch, Leslie handed off the bouquets to one of the attendants and the proceeded to the arch for the ceremony. When it came time for her ring presentation she discovered her ring was missing. The ceremony went on and the couple was married as planned, but the missing ring left an empty spot in the memories.

A few day’s later, Channel 10 news got wind of the event and started looking for a solution. They found SRARC on the Ring Finders site and contacted Mike Miller. On very short (1 hour) notice Mike put out a request for hunters and when he arrived at the site found Tom Jones and Chris Duerden ready to go. Jonathan Petramala from Channel 10 showed up a few minutes later and then the wedding coordinator Lisa with Tide The Knot Beach Weddings came to show us the general area where to look. We hunted hard for a couple hours with no luck but just as we were ready to give up Tom found the ring. Lisa called the couple and they came down from Clearwater to claim their ring. When they arrived there were so many smiles going around that beach it was just awesome!!!!!!!! We want to give our best wishes to the couple for a wonderful future together. We are happy we could be part of their memories.

Link to video story:

http://www.wtsp.com/media/cinematic/video/25956665/group-finds-weding-ring-on-sunset-beach/

002 007 009

Longboat Key Saint Christopher Pendant Recovered

Down in Florida from Michigan with his family for spring break, 8th grader, Spencer was soaking up the sun on his towel on the beach. Getting a little to hot he decided to take a dip in the water. He carefully removed his Saint Christopher’s pendant and placed it on his towel. Off he went for a swim and more beach activities with his family. When they were done for the day they picked all their beach items up and headed to the condo. Later that evening Spencer realized that he no longer had his Saint Christopher’s pendant. The whole family looked all around where they had placed their towels on the beach but could not find the pendant. After a couple day’s Spencer’s Mom, Karen, checked in at the lost and found department and happened to talk to an attendant that was around two months earlier when SRARC had recovered a wedding ring at the same complex. He gave her our number and she contacted Mike Miller on Sunday morning just as her son was leaving for home. Mike went right down and began a search. There were two possibilities so he thoroughly searched the most likely place first and when nothing showed up they moved to the second location. Just as Mike began the search Karen exclaimed, “there it is”, and plucked it out of the sand. SRARC didn’t find it this time, but I think we were the catalyst that helped Karen find it. It doesn’t matter who found it, it is the smiles that were on their faces after it was found that count. SRARC is happy we could be a small part of putting the smiles back on their faces.

metal+detecting+detector+found+club+lost+ring+jewelry+tampa+St Petersburg+Largo+Clearwater+florida (2) metal+detecting+detector+found+club+lost+ring+jewelry+tampa+St Petersburg+Largo+Clearwater+florida (6)

Don CeSar Resort Platinum Ring with Solitaire Diamond Recovery

SRARC received a call from Shadd Young asking for help finding his wife’s platinum and diamond ring. It had been lost it in the water behind the Don Cesar Resort while catching a football just before sundown on April 5th. Shadd told Tom Jones that he could meet him at the beach any time so Tom called Mike Miller and they decided to try and do a hunt as soon as possible. They met Shadd late morning and hunted the area as deep as they could until the high tide forced them to stop. At that time they decided to organize a hunt later that evening when the tide was low.

At 6:00 pm Tom Jones and Mike Miller met up with Paul Hill, Rick Magyar and Ed Osmar to hunt the area that could not be hunted earlier. After 40 minutes of battling the afternoon sea-breeze surf the ring was found. The group called Shadd and informed him to come and pick up his wife’s custom made ring.

He showed up and could not believe that they actually got the ring back and praised the group for the “Noble Thing That They Do”.

Now he, his wife and daughter can go back home to Denver with big smiles and great memories of their trip to Florida.

003 007 009

Indian Rocks Beach Ring Recovered

Marlita and Lani first met and became friends while working in the medical profession in Saudi Arabia. They had not seen each other since 1993 but had just reconnected and Lani was visiting from Connecticut. They decided to spend the day on the beach and relive old times. After a few hours of sunbathing, Lani decided to go for a swim. She was wise to the danger of losing jewelry when in the water so she took off her bracelet and ring, put them in Marlit’s hand and ran off into the water. Marlita quickly put what was in her hand into the beach bag. She did not realize that there were 2 items in her hand and somehow dropped the ring without knowing that she ever had it. When Lani returned and looked for her jewelry she discovered her ring was missing. They searched and searched but could not find it. They left the beach that night broken hearted. Lina had received the ring from her husband 30 years earlier and it was very precious to her.

Marlita was so devastated that she had been the one to lose the ring and the next morning she found The Ring Finders on the internet and contacted Tom. Tom went right up to the beach and met Marlita and Lina. He searched the best he could but with the beaches so full for spring break there were many area’s he could not cover. After finding nothing he organized a hunt that evening after the crowds had cleared out. The group, Stan Flack, Ed Osmar, Rick Magyar, Chris Duerden, Mike Miller, Jim Thobe, and Sharon Holcomb, showed up at 6:00 pm and by 6:30 pm Stan had the ring in hand. Marlita met us shortly after and was overjoyed to see Stan pull it from his pouch. She call Lina immediately and told her the good news. It was smiles all around!!!!!!! Great job team, thanks for being there for Marlita and Lina.

006 001 002

Platinum Wedding Band Recovered at Caspersen Beach

Joe, his wife, and children were visiting his wife’s family here in Florida for Spring Break. They traveled all the way from Ohio for some sunshine and had all gone to Caspersen Beach. This particular beach is well known for the millions of year old sharks teeth that can be found along the beach.

Joe was out in about waist deep water digging and sifting for shark teeth. When he returned to the beach he realized that his wedding band was missing. He rushed back into the water here he had been and dug with the shark tooth rake hoping to dig up the ring. No luck, so he returned to the beach and goggled for help. He soon found The Ring Finders and we setup a meeting for that afternoon.

Jay and Karen Ganz meet him at the location about 5:00 pm. The water was a little choppy but Karen braved it and began the hunt. She hunted for 2 hours and was battered by the waves as the west winds increased to 15 mph. After 2 hours she was exhausted but got one more target just as she was about to leave the water. She decided to dig the target and then quit. She finally got it in her scoop and walked out onto the beach without looking into the scoop. When she looked in the scoop, there it was. She pulled it out and asked Joe “Is this your ring?” He got a great big smile on his face and said “It sure is”

I believe that is recovery number 88 for the Ganz team. Congratulations on another great recovery!!!!!!!!!

joe ring FullSizeRender