Suncoast Research And Recovery Club (SRARC), Author at The Ring Finders | Page 37 of 42

Beer Can Island, Tampa Bay Recovery

Alex, his wife Lindsay and their daughter Charlie were spending the day relaxing in their boat at Beer Can Island in Tampa Bay. Lindsay was catching some sunshine up on the sand and Alex and Charlie were standing knee deep in the water next to the boat. Alex decided to move his wedding ring from one finger to the next and to do it had smeared suntan lotion all over his knuckle. As he pressed against the ring it slipped up over the knuckle and flew off into the water.

He immediately called out for the sand sifter that Charlie had been using up on the beach. They dug and dug trying to find the ring but could not find it. After a while they decided that it was just gone. They jumped into the boat and headed across the bay toward home. On the way, Charlie (5 years old) was setting between her Mom and Dad. She looked up into her Dad’s eyes and sweetly said “Don’t worry Daddy, Mom and I well go to the jewelry store and get you a new one.” That just melted Daddy’s heart. When they got home Alex went about cleaning the boat and Lindsay and Charlie went into the house. Out of desperation Lindsay posted what had happened on the Beer Can Island Facebook support site. Soon she got a reply from someone we had recovered a ring for last winter. She told Lindsay to contact “these guys, they are great.”  Lindsay contacted us on our Facebook page and soon we were scheduled for a hunt.

Alex met Rick Magyar, Rick’s wife Judy, and Mike Miller at the boat ramp along with two of his Fireman co-workers. What a bunch of great guy’s. They ferried us out to the island, showed us where they thought the ring had dropped and we went to work. After about an hour, Mike found the ring. He turned around and gave Rick the “thumbs up” signal. Alex was right next to Rick and Rick decided to mess with him a little bit. Rick said loudly that he was giving up and that we would not be able to find the ring. Alex bought it hook, line, and sinker and his head dropped in disappointment. When he looked up he saw Mike doing a jig down the beach and instantly realized what was up. We all got a great laugh out of game and then I dropped the ring into his hand. The laughter turned into handshakes, hugs, and great big SMILES.

What a great day with great people

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Clearwater Daycare Diamond Stud Earring Recovered

Vanessa was out on the playground supervising the preschool children during recess. As kids will do they were running around and having a good time chasing each other. Vanessa knelt down and one of the children run up to her and gave her a big hug. She stood up and moved to another location to keep an eye on some of the other children. Sensing something was amiss, she reached up to her ear and felt something hit her hand. She looked down and there was the back to her Diamond earring. She frantically looked for the earring and asked the rest of the staff and children to help her look. They found nothing. Vanessa went to a store and purchased an inexpensive metal detector and soon discovered that she didn’t know how to operate it. She searched the internet for help and found SRARC, She made contact with Mike Miller and he put together a team which included Rick Magyar, Ed Osmar, Chris Duerden, and  Tom Jones. They searched that afternoon until the rain ran them out. The next day they returned and hunted for another hour and all of a sudden Mike got lucky. We are so happy that we were able to find and return Vanessa’s Diamond Stud and she was nothing but smiles when we dropped it into her hand. The kicker is that in the process of hunting we found a ring and pendant that had been lost by other staff members and were able to return them as well. Great Job Team!!!!!!

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Lost Ring Clearwater Beach, Florida…Found!

Adam and his wife Lori had just moved to sunny Tampa from rainy Oregon and we’re taking in a gorgeous February day with relatives at the beach.  During a game of volleyball Adam spiked the ball and then watched as his ring flew off his finger into the deep sand.  Quick thinking and a Google search lead him to our SRARC ring finders sight.  Lori spoke with team member Tom Jones who gave Stan Flack a call to see if he could give it a go.  Fortunately for Adam he saw exactly where it went in to the sand.  A 30 second sweep by Stan and bingo.  Welcome to Florida Adam and Lori.  Go Ducks.

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Sarasota Horse Ranch Golden Good Luck Recovery

Ann was working out on her horse ranch all day and when she finally got to go in for supper she noticed one of her wedding rings was missing. She has out lived two husbands and always wears both of her wedding rings to honor each of them. The missing ring was a horseshoe with diamonds in the shoe. She thought about were she had been and retraced all of her steps but could not find the ring. The next day she mentioned that she had lost one of her cherished rings to a neighbor. The neighbor did a Goggle search and found us at the Ring Finders site. She contacted Mike and he set up a hunt for Monday morning. The only other hunter that could make it was Rick. They met at 10:00 am and Ann explained that it must be in one of two locations. There was a small hay barn where she had fallen while loading hay for the horses and then the manure pile from where she had cleaned out the stalls. The barn was too small for two hunters so Rick took the hay barn and I started searching the path to the manure pile. I was in no big hurry to get to the manure pile so I took my time searching the trail. Before I got half way to the manure Rick came around the corner holding up a ring and yelling ” Does the ring look like this”. Ann yelled out “Oh Yes Yes!!!!!” From there on it was nothing but big smiles, High Five’s and Hugs. What a great day.

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Platium and Diamonds recovered at Anna Maria Island, Florida

Ed Osmar and Rick Magyar, were  metal detecting on Anna Maria Island at Holmes Beach. Ed went North, Rick went south. Soon Rick was approached by a woman and asked if he could look for a lost ring. ($1000.00 reward if found). Rick went to get Ed and get his wet suit out of the car so he could go in deep water.  Ed went in shallow water. Fifteen minutes later the ring was found by Ed.  About 2 hours later the ring was returned to the owner’s mother-in-law. She was prepared to give us a check for $1000.00.  We would not accept the gift; however we did suggest she might make a donation to our club, Suncoast Research and Recovery Club, if she wished. It turns out that she was the mother-in-law of the owner so we texted a picture of the ring to the owner so that he could identify it as the one he lost. Needless to say, he was quite happy! She will be returning the ring to the owner who lives in Michigan.

We at SRARC are very proud of both Rick and ED for a great recovery.

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Wedding Band Returned at Indian Rocks Beach

Howard Metts got a call from a National Geographics for the recovery of one of their camera crew’s lost wedding bands. The crew was filming reenactments of shark attacks and the cameraman was in waist deep water shooting the action when he felt his wedding band slip off. SRARC got a Ring Finders recovery crew together and scheduled a meet at the filming site the next morning. Six volunteers, Tom Jones, Howard Metts, Chris Duerden, Ed Osmar, Rick Magyar, and Mike Miller showed up and began the hunt. After about 30 minutes Howard Metts found the ring.

Taylor, the camera man, was extremely excited and overjoyed to have his wedding ring back. We were happy to see the joy on his face when it was put into his hand. Awesome job Howard and thanks to all who found time to join in the recovery.

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Longboat Key Wedding Band Recovery

Steve, his wife Nancy, daughter Nicole, and son-in-law Aaron came down from Chicago to escape the cold winter weather up north. Aaron was setting in a lounge chair enjoying the sun and decided it was time to get some sun lotion on. He pulled his wedding band off his hand and set it on his lap and proceeded to spread the sun lotion on his body. Before he could finish he received a phone call and was deep in conversation when he stood up and began to pace in the sand. Suddenly he realized that he had forgotten about the ring in his lap. He and the whole family searched frantically in the sand and Aaron even dug a deep wide hole where he believed it should be. They searched to no avail for a couple hours until it was time for Aaron and Nicole to leave for the airport.

Steve and Nancy stayed and later that day were talking to one of the pool staff about losing the ring. He mentioned that they should Google the internet for someone that might have a metal detector and would come and help search for the ring. Steve found Ring Finders and then picked SRARC to contact. Tom Jones called Mike Miller to see if he was available and Mike responded right away. Steve and Nancy meet Mike at the site and had an area of about 20 sq. ft. marked out in which they thought the ring must be. In about 10 minutes Mike heard the sound of a ring and sure enough out it came on the first dig.

There were lots of smiles to go around. Steve called Aaron right away and he was very happy and relieved that we had recovered his ring. I just never get tired of seeing the smiles when we are able to return a sentimental piece to the owner.

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Apollo Beach Recovery

Jana had just returned from an outing on Tampa Bay in her kayak and was getting out at her floating dock. As she stepped from the kayak to the dock she felt her wedding band slip from her finger and watched it drop into the water at the edge of the dock. She dove down and looked for any hint of a shiny object but her feet stirred up the bottom silt and there was nothing to be seen. Next she found someone with scuba gear and tried diving without stirring up the water but still could not see her ring. She made a query on Facebook and someone in her area suggested she contact SRARC. We responded with a small team because of the small area to be searched. Paul Hill and Mike Miller arrived at 7:30 am to catch the low tide. Paul went in with his brand new dry suit and within 5 minutes had the ring. Jana was surprised and very pleased to have her wedding band back on her finger in such a short time and we were happy to have been a part of returning it to her finger. By 7:45 am we were on our way back home. Awesome job Paul !!!!!!!!

I also want to thank our other Ring Finder members that volunteered to come on this recovery but were not needed because of the small area of this hunt. We really appreciate your willingness to help in our recovery efforts.

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Another Happy Ending in Pinellas County

Danielle  called at 9:00 am on the 17th of November asking for help finding a wedding band belonging to her brother, Chad. He had lost it off the seawall behind his home on Saturday, November 15th and was upset thinking that it would never be found. Danielle found the Ringfinders and called Tom Jones and asked if they could help in any way.

A large storm with a cold front following was coming in off the Gulf of Mexico that afternoon. With this in mind Tom headed out to the beach and met Danielle. After 45minutes of hunting through oyster shell and various metal targets, Tom found the ring and returned it to Danielle. Her brother Chad did not have any idea that she had found us and that we had found the ring.

She said that he was going to be so surprised when he got home and got his ring back.

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Thrown Away Wedding Ring Returned in Tampa, Florida

Bridgett was sitting on her front porch talking to her husband on the phone. She was a bit upset that he left for work without his wedding band.  The emotions got the best of her and she ended up taking her ring off and throwing it into the front yard! She and her husband searched the entire yard and could not find the ring.

Lucky for her she went to the internet and looked up “how to find a ring in the grass”. SRARC’s Ring Finder number came up.  She made the call and a team was put together.  Mike Miller and Paul Hill arrived about 1 pm that very day.  After about 30 minutes or so Bridgett went inside to check on her two little ones and started to cry thinking that they would not be able to find it.  Shortly after she returned to the front porch Paul Hill asked her “if it looked like this?”  She was so excited and relieved. What fun it was for us to be able to return a smile to her face.

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