Lost Ring Found at Navarre Beach
Alex, his wife Andy along with their two adorable children were vacationing for a few a days on Navarre Beach. Alex was careful to put his wedding ring in the beach bag before playing with the kids in the sand on Sunday. Some where in the outing his ring fell out of the bag maybe while removing something or perhaps the bag fell over. In the mean time the kids were having serious fun digging in the sand. Alex was an Army Vet whose last duty station was in Alaska, had since separated and now the family lived in Tennessee. So as you could imagine, the kids were absolutely loving the beach. Andy called me Monday morning to see if I would come recover Alex’s ring. I said I would and arrived about 10:30. Both Alex and Andy showed me the area they were at the day before, but maybe two thirds of the areas sand looked like the kids had dug holes filled some, made mounds and generally had a great time in the process. As I started my search they were still digging. After 30 minutes or so and digging several targets, a fish hook, a stainless bolt, a piece is iron, a couple of pop tops and a a hair pin, I got a encouraging signal but it indicated it was almost off the scale deep. I dug anyway. The first scoop came up empty, the second try I pushed the scoop as deep as it would go. As I shook the sand from the scoop I could hear something heavy shaking around. I smiled and that tipped Alex off that this target was a good one. I reached in and handed his wedding ring to him. Everyone was all smiles. As I like to say, no more worries and no regrets, time for the vacation to continue!
Loran and Rika are the nicest folks your ever want to meet. Loran called me on a Monday evening asking if I would find his two lost rings on Pensacola Beach. He lost them Sunday evening and was afraid he would never see them again. Both rings were sentimentality very important to both him and Rika. I was afraid than someone may have found them Sunday evening or Monday but I would give it a try. I ended up getting to the beach about two hours before sunrise so I’ld have time to search before umbrellas were set up and towels laid out. After about an hour and a half, while still dark, I got an unmistakable signal from my detector and recovered his rings, both were within a foot of each other. I texted the pictures to Lorna then settled back to enjoy the sun rise. Later that day I returned his rings. Both He and Rika were super happy and all smiles and that made my day!
I got a call from Kelli about noon on Wednesday asking if I could find her wedding ring. She and her husband had been married for nine months and the ring was designed by her husband and custom made. She first called my son in law, David Cartee, who wasn’t able to help because of other obligations that day but he recommended She give me a call. Kelli’s ring was lost in a lake off a dock in Andalusia Alabama. It had been a couple day since she lost it. She got in the water up to about neck deep and tried doing a visual search but the bottom was muddy and she had no luck. Listening to her story I felt sure the ring had sunk out of sight in the mud. I told her I would help. I was in the Pensacola area at the time and Andalusia was about 2 hours away. I felt time was of the essence because I didn’t know that lake and fearing the ring might settle deeper in the muddy bottom over time. The lake turned out to be a reservoir used by the power company to generate electricity and the bank was very steep. When I saw how quickly the grade dropped off I began to worry about it having vanished in the deep water or my recovery activity dislodging it to deeper water. It was most important to plan carefully so that would not happen. I took my time making sure the search coil didn’t touch the bottom and to carefully completely search the area before moving my feet to deeper water. Fortunately I got a good signal, the ring had settled on a slope in about 5 foot of water. I set my recovery scoop and both husband and wife stood by in anticipation. I peered into the scoop then looked up at them and smiled, her beautiful precious ring was recovered and returned to her finger. Smiling faces and no more worries all around!
Hal called me about 4 in the afternoon to see if I could find his wife’s lost wedding ring. He and his family were staying near the Alabama beaches and decided to take their boat out to a secluded beach in Florida called Johnson Beach. Johnson Beach is part of the Gulf Islands National Seashore and the ring was lost on the intercostal side of the beach. Hal sent me a location and there wasn’t a way for me get to them by car without a 3 or 4 mile walk through the National Seashore which doesn’t allow metal detecting for archeology reasons. I tried calling the Park service for a permit but I think everyone was off work and I got a recording. I discussed this with Hal and he said he would come get me from a marina several miles away. By the time I got to where the ring was lost the sun was getting pretty low in the sky! his wife was afraid she would never see her ring again. the area to search wasn’t that big but the water was dark from recent rain. I ask lots of questions about what they were doing to try and pinpoint the location to start the search. His wife and daughter described at one point they were in the water doing cheers routines and animated with their arms the activity. It was the clue I was hoping for and asked about where they were. They identified and areas about 10 foot wide and I started the search. Within 10 minutes I got the unmistakable tone of a gold ring. Ring recovered, everyone happy and I didn’t get arrested by the Park police, a good day all around! 
I just returned to my vehicle after water testing my detector at Pensacola Beach when I received a call from Suzanne. She and her family were on vacation at Orange Beach Alabama, it was high tide and surf was about 1 to 2 foot. Her daughter in law lost her beautiful wedding ring in waist to chest deep water somewhere about 40 or 50 yards from shore in a area about maybe 40 yards wide and asked if I would find it! I said I would do my best and I would be there in an hour. It was a large area and the surf made it very difficult to make sure every square foot was hunted. I ended up setting my scoop on every step so I could reposition if moved off track by the surf. The family had made friends with just about everyone on the beach so there was a good audience. Everyone was wishing me luck on my hunt and some didn’t think it was possible to find a little ring buried in sand underwater! It took me maybe two and a half hour to search the area with no luck. I went back to the family and together we reaccessed the area to search. Suzanne waded to the area and distance off shore she thought was the spot making a vertical line and her son stood on shore at the spot he thought was right and set the horizontal line. Between the two spots I started a search grid and overlapped by about ten feet in either direction as I slowly moved closer to shore a foot at a time. Suzanne stayed close while I was searching and we talked a bit. Suddenly I got a signal and called to her “this sounds like a good signal” and carefully set my scoop to prevent damage or a scratch to the ring. She was there before I could raise the scoop anticipating the wayward ring, anxiously waiting the sand to drain from scoop and suddenly a glint of gold, then she had it in her hand. She raised her arms with ring in hand and announced her daughter in law’s ring was recovered!!! The family and their many friend cheered. Everyone in the family was smiling and relieved, emergency over, no more worries. I was happy I was able to make everything right again, made my day!
Tess lost her absolutely beautiful wedding and engagement rings while vacationing at the beach. She and friends searched the beach for hours, sifting the sand with no success and it was getting dark. She called me at 9:30 that evening asking if I could help. After discussing details of when and where, it was the best guess than it was lost either on the sandy beach or in the water. I said I would help and I would be there at daylight. Tess met me just as the sun was up enough to see and reviewed the area to search. It was a fairly large area. I decided to search the beach first before lots of people showed up and before the umbrellas went up. The search took about 2 hours. When looking for a gold ring, depending on the metallurgy it could mimic just about any other commonly found metals. Because of that fact I had to dig every signal. I did lots of digging on that beach and did not find her ring. Next step was to search in the water. Fortunately there was not that many signals in the water. I think I dug about 10 targets before coming upon a weird signal, the target data kept jumping around suggesting a soda can but the signals could have been a gold too, so I started digging. Digging has to be done with care to avoid and damage to precious property. It took me three gentle scoops before the target was in my scoop. The entire time I was saying to myself this is a soda can, I know it’s a soda can, but knew I had to dig everything. To my amazement Tess’s cherished ring was there safe and sound. I learn something new just about every time I do a ring recovery, her ring was really three rings probably with different metallurgy!
