Most Recent Discovery Category | Page 394 of 444 | The Ring Finders

Late Sunday night I got a call from Steve from Huntington Beach, California. While throwing a football in Turtle Bay lagoon his ring flew off. He wasn’t sure if it went forwards or backwards but marked his spot with a large stick in the sand on the beach. Forwards could have been 6 feet deep and backwards 3 feet deep. I told Steve we had to meet early Monday morning if we wanted a chance at finding his ring because many detectorists hit Turtle Bay regularly and early. I arranged to meet Steve at 6 am sharp. I brought my scuba gear just in case it was more then chest deep. When I got to the beach access parking I phoned Steve and he met me in the parking lot. We walked down to the beach and the tide was extremely low. Also thinking back when Steve lost the ring it was on an extreme high tide. Full moon in effect. I started about 5 yards to the left of center and started my grid search. On the third leg I got a loud tone but it was two quarters side by side. Continuing on about the fifth leg I got a screaming target in knee deep water. It took three scoops but there it was one of the most stunning designed Cartier rings I’ve seen. I asked Steve to tell me the design again and it was his ring. Steve told me he had only been married for 48 hours so the relief on his face was so very apparent. Another honeymoon ends well. Aloha to Steve.

This ring find began Tuesday 24 May when I was called by Keith from Sulphur, Louisiana. While on his honeymoon in the water at Turtle Bay lagoon in chest deep water his gold wedding band fell off. He knew where it fell and he tried to find it by snorkeling. As with many other places on Oahu the fine white sand consumed the ring from sight. I searched for over an hour and a half only finding a dime & a rivet. The tide was bringing the surf in so I had to abandon my search. I assumed some metal detectorist had found it. Turtle Bay is detected quite heavily because so many tourists lose jewelry in the water there. I put a post on my Facebook page in hopes someone would come forward with Keith’s ring. It was inscribed 14K CLASSIC. This ring had tremendous sentimental value as it came from Keith’s Grandpa. I notified my fellow detectorist Mike who is very adept with the Surf PI Dual Field. If for some reason Keith’s ring was just buried too deep for the Excalibur Mike is my go to guy for deep targets. Mike had detected Turtle Bay the previous weekend and said it was fairly sterile. So on Saturday while eating lunch with an old Navy buddy Mike called and said he found the ring. He decided to go back to Turtle Bay and give it a spin. I thank God he did. It so happened Mike found the ring further out and more to the left then Keith had thought he dropped it. I’m sure it was low tide and Keith didn’t realize how far out he really was. About 2 foot difference between high & low tide can be a big difference when hunting for rings. Had it been calmer and a low tide I might have found the ring myself. I met Mike near Pearl Harbor and he transferred the ring to me so I could get it back to Keith. I immediately took a photo when I got home and sent it to Keith. Within just a few minutes I got a text saying “That’s it I’m so appreciative” Ring finding teamwork is always great. Mahalo Mike for being such a committed and determined detectorist. We both send Aloha to Keith.