Suncoast Research And Recovery Club (SRARC), Author at The Ring Finders | Page 39 of 43

Apollo Beach Recovery

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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

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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

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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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Wedding Rings Returned at Fort Desoto North Beach, Florida

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Maria and Dimitriy are visiting the area from the Netherlands. They were at Fort Desoto North Beach enjoying the beach and Sun. When the decided to go swimming, Dimitriy put both his and Maria’s wedding rings into his shorts pocket to keep them safe. After they returned from swimming they laid out in the sun warming up and tanning. Soon it was to hot so they decided to move back on the beach to where there was a shade tree. Later when they decided to leave Dimitriy put on his shorts and reached for the rings. They were no longer there!!!!!! They searched in the sand over the whole area they had been playing in, but had no luck. Dimitriy used his smart phone to search for metal detectors and soon found SRARC through The Ring Finders. Tom and Mike responded and after searching for about 10 minutes Mike found both rings hiding in the sand. They were very happy to have their wedding rings back on their fingers.

 

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Sand Key Platinum Wedding Ring Returned

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We took a trip to Clearwater in September, and one of the highlights was getting to take our 18-month-old son to the ocean for the first time. His experience was great, but after an hour of wading in the surf and walking up and down the beach I noticed that my wedding ring was gone. We did some halfhearted searching, but really didn’t expect much luck finding one small item in the ocean. That night we posted on Craigslist. That also seemed like a long shot, but we figured that the ring has a specific inscription, and if someone else found it and wanted to contact us Craigslist might give them a way. In the morning we had two responses — one from Stan at Ring Finders saying he’d be happy to meet us and search together, and a second from someone else saying “you should take down your ad and contact Ring Finders”.

 

Timing was tough for us. This was the last day of the vacation, and we had to navigate the toddler’s sleep schedule and make it to church before we left town. Still, Stan said he had a 95% success rate if we came and helped narrow the search area, and while that sounded impossibly high it gave us enough hope to give it a try. So we met Stan back at the beach, explained where we had been the day before, and let him start searching. He suggested that we stick around for an hour in case any other memories came to us, and after that he’d spend another hour before bringing others down to help search. We discussed the location a little more, and decided, based on landmarks like “this hole here, and that sign over there”, that he was in about the right spot. We were just explaining that to Stan when he said, “hold on, I’ve got something right here.” He scooped up some sand, drained it, and handed my ring back to me with a smile. We couldn’t believe it. The total search was maybe 15 minutes, which turned out to be especially important that day. We’re adopting a second child, and that same afternoon we got word that the mother had gone into labor early so we took the next flight out. Without Stan’s quick response, his availability to meet us right away, and the short search time, our window would have closed and we would have left town without ever finding the ring. He was exactly the right person at the right time. Thanks Stan!

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Clearwater, Florida Park Recovery

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It all started with a friendly tournament of volleyball with my company to raise money for the American Diabetes Association.  What was a very fun event unfortunately ended with park full of people searching for my wedding band.  On the last game of the day my ring flew off after an attempt to set the ball.  We had been playing in the rain so a wet hand made it that much easier to launch my ring into oblivion.  After about 30 minutes of approximately 30 people combing the court for my ring with no results, I needless to say a little bummed.  One of my co-workers presented a possible solution.  He had previously lost his ring as well and his wife handed him a metal detector to search for it.   I borrowed his metal detector and searched the court for another couple of hours in the rain.  Sadly enough I yielded no results.  Five days later I searched for possible metal detector services and came across the SRARC website.  I sent out my email for help at 1am in the morning.  To my surprise, I received a phone call hours later at 7:30am  from Stan.  We arranged to meet at the park where I lost my ring.  Stan had texted me when he approximately five minutes away.  I had run across the street to grab some orange juice and a banana for breakfast. By the time I got back Stan had already been on the volleyball court.  He proceeded to ask me about where I may have lost my ring and for me to describe what it looks like.  As I was describing my ring, Stan held up my ring in his hand. “Does it look like this?”  I cannot say thank you enough to Stan for making my day.  Despite my wife trying to make me feel better by being so wonderful and understanding, deep down inside I was sad that my ring was gone.   The service that Stan and the SRARC provided is priceless and deserving of much recognition.  Thank you Stan and SRARC.

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Found and Returned at Siesta Key Sarasota, Florida

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On Labor Day weekend, Eduardo and his family had just one hour left before checkout time at their hotel on the Gulf of Mexico. They decided to take a last quick swim before packing up and leaving for the trip home. He was standing about waist deep and decided to kneel down to cover his upper body with cool water. As he went down, his hands pushed into the sand and when he stood up, he had lost his 19 year old wedding ring. The family looked for as long as they could before having to leave and check out but could not fine the ring.

Eduardo was devastated and brooded for about a week before remembering a story he heard about someone’s ring being found and returned after three years by a metal detectorist. He began looking for someone who might do the same for him. On September 15 he found the SRARC on Ring Finders and sent an email requesting our help. Mike Miller put together a team, Jay and Karen Ganz, and they met Edwardo and his family at the site on September 21. After 2 1/2 hours of hunting and dark approaching we gave up and gave the bad news to the family. We had not found the ring. We let them know that we would return and hunt for the ring another time but that of course did not lift their spirits much.

On the following Monday Mike returned and began hunting slightly North of the previous hunt and within an hour found the ring. He contacted Eduardo and had him come to the club meeting that evening. We returned his ring at the meeting and as you can see he was surprised and delighted.

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Another Smile on St Pete Beach

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Dustin and friends were down from Georgia to attend a wedding. After the ceremony they all had a great time relaxing at the beach. In the evening they got a couple of Volleyball games going and when Dustin went to clean up for dinner he noticed in the shower that his wedding ring was missing. The whole group searched for hours in the sand around the volleyball court but with no luck. The next morning, Dustin was searching the internet for places to rent metal detectors when he stumbled on The Ring Finders site and found SRARC. He contacted Mike Miller and Mike organized a quick hunt as they were preparing to leave for the trip back to Georgia. Chris Duerden was able to join Mike and the each took one side of the volleyball court. In about 5 minutes Chris yelled “Here it is”. Dusting was as happy as could be, Way to Go Chris!!!!!

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Family Heirloom Returned at St Pete Beach, Florida

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Who would have thought that a wedding band lost in the Gulf of Mexico would ever have been found again. This is a story with a wonderful ending thanks to the wonderful guys at SRARC.com. My husband an I were just married in April of 2014. My husband is very close to his family and especially a grandfather who has since passed away. He had his grandfather’s wedding band that had WM to BW 1946. They got married right after he got back from WWII. They were married for 46 wonderful years. We took the gold wedding ring and “soddered” it in the middle of two white gold bands from me. So there was an heirloom from his grandfather and a piece of me, we then added our own inscription to the existing inscription. CB to WS 4/2014. We had our own special love story. We dated for two years in NY and then I moved to Florida for work – Long story short, Bill stayed in NY, he was a teacher and wrestling coach and had a great teaching job in NY. We spent every holiday and vacation back and forth between Florida and New York. Bill showed up one day unbeknownst to me when I was visiting my father in Orlando to say he was here to stay, he was teaching in Tampa. We were married ocean-side in a beautiful ceremony just a few months later. I was so happy to put that ring on his finger.

So, on labor day, we spent a beautiful Monday at my favorite place, St. Pete Beach. We were in the water and all of a sudden I heard Bill say words that put my heart in my throat. “My ring just fell off in the water”. I knew too many people who have lost their rings in the water forever. We looked for hours and could not find it. Leaving the beach that night was heartbreaking. It felt like that was it, we will never see it again. We went home and got on the computer and after only one search I found the SRARC group. Stan contacted me really quickly and we made arrangements to meet in the eve. So I could show him where we were. After they asked me a whole bunch of questions which would help them ascertain where we were, they started looking even before I got there. Chris was already looking when he ran into Stan. I got a phone call later that day from Chris – he found the ring. If I could have kissed Chris on the spot I would have! I was elated!

When I went to pick the ring up, I met Chris and his wife. Two very lovely, sweet people. I did actually hug Chris. I was so happy, I was actually shaking. My husband had just started a new job and couldn’t be there to pick it up, but believe me he was more than ecstatic.

Who would have thought a ring in an ocean would ever be found and found the very next day. I am forever indebted. Not only did they find my ring, but the club does it for free. I did donate to the club itself, but nobody would take money individually. What angels you guys are!

I said a Novena to St. Anthony that day that it was lost – and he sent me you guys! Thank you

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Ft Desoto, Florida Double the Fun Recovery

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Marcus was enjoying Labor Day weekend with friends and family at Ft Desoto Park and he and a friend decided to toss the football around in the water. After a couple of throws Marcus noticed that his wedding ring was missing. He had stayed pretty much in the same place so he had one of his friends bring him some swim goggles and he started to look on the bottom for his ring. Keeping his wits about him, he had his friend stand in place so they would keep a good reference point. After a few minutes Marcus had a brilliant idea. He borrowed his friend’s wedding ring and proceeded to dive under water and set the ring on the bottom so he could see what it would look like when he searched for his own ring. You guessed it!!!!!!!  The second ring instantly disappeared and he could not find it either. So now we have two wedding rings, one gold, the other platinum lost in very close proximity. After a short while they decided that they had better establish some good landmarks and then find someone with a metal detector. Marcus contacted Ringfinders and we met him at the location the next morning. Four ringfinders, Tom Jones, Paul Hill, Mark Prue, and Mike Miller started the hunt at 9:00 am and by 9:15 am the rings had been recovered. Great work Team!!!!!!!!!. The smile on Marcus’s face says it all.

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