Curtis called asking if I could do a recovery in the lagoon behind his house. After going over some details, I told him I would be there soon. He was playing with the dog in the lagoon when his paw accidently broke the chain, and the cross dropped to the bottom before he could grab it. In almost neck deep water I got a faint signal, and sure enough, that was it.
I was out on the beach yesterday evening when a young man about my son’s age walked up and asked if I could help him. I asked what he needed and looked over and saw his family staring hopefully a few yards away. I said that I’d be glad to help and he explained that he had dropped his 14k gold bracelet as they were packing up to leave and it disappeared into the sand. I could still see the hole where their umbrella had been planted so I began to search around it. I got a little worried because I immediately started finding old bottle caps from a previous group and I thought it might take awhile. I made another pass from a different angle as I could start to see the worry on their faces but sure enough I got a clean gold tone and number. I took extra care with the scoop to make sure I didn’t scratch it and out popped Manuel’s bracelet. 😃 They were thrilled as you can see from the smile on his face. Congrats Manuel!!!
Got a call from Ashley yesterday (Saturday) about her husbands lost ring. She explained how Jeff was throwing a football around the tide line when the ring flew off his hand and dropped into the wet sand. After talking a bit, we decided low tide was so late we would wait till the AM low tide to do the recovery, the surf was fairly calm, so it wouldn’t move to much. Jeff did an outstanding job marking the exact location of the ring, which is paramount when doing recoveries. A few swings later the ring was in the scoop.
Cory called me and said that she had left the Outer Banks a few days ago. She had lost a ring in the sound side of the Village of Rodanthe. She had been in a local tackle shop and a gentleman told her to call OBX-Ed; he finds rings for people all the time.
Cory received the white gold wedding ring from her wife not long ago and was devastated to lose it during a volleyball game in the water. They searched for it all day but could not find it and had to leave to go back to their home in near Hopewell, Virginia.
I knew this hunt would be challenging because it is always hard to get the exact spot when the parties have left. First, I checked with local National Park Service personnel, and they said if it was in the village, I was good to go. I headed to Rodanthe and had to get permission from the rental company to be there while the property was being rented.
As I started the search, I did a FaceTime call with Cory to get the right spot. She showed me where it should have been and for the next 90 minutes, I spent time digging lots of trash in the metal-rich area.
I called her back and told her we must think of something else because I had covered the entire area and was running out of ideas. Just then, she remembered her son saying he saw it fly far to the north of the volleyball area. I decided to do some sweeps there and not long after had a great sounding target. It was the ring! Inscribed inside, “All My Love.” I took an image of it on my thumb and texted it to her.
The phone rang. It was Cory. She was so thrilled!
On Friday I got a call from Diamond, who said she was very frustrated. She had lost her wedding ring on the beach and had no peace.
She continued that she had gone to a local hardware store and rented a metal detector. I explained to her that many metal detectors do not do well on the beach because they do not account for mineralization which cause the detector to beep at everything. She responded, yes, that’s what it was doing.
I assured her that I was only about 15 minutes away and if the ring is not in the water, there is a very good chance that we could find it. I arrived at the access point and called Diamond.
I went down to their canopy and met Diamond and Darwin, her husband. He helped me to remove some of the metal items from the search area. I fired up the Deus 2 and began the search in the area she thought she had lost it. I got an immediate hit but it was too deep and not the expected number.
Continuing to the center of the canopy, I got a solid 50. I knew it was the ring. Digging around in the sand with my hand and my pin pointer, I saw diamonds glitter in the sunshine.
I handed the ring to Diamond. Peace regained…frustration, gone! She was exuberant! Hugs!
13 is Kenyon’s lucky number today.
I was on my way off the beach the other day from recovering a ring for a gentleman, I noticed a Lost Wedding Band sign posted. I gave it a quick call to a man named Kenyon. I told him who I was and what I do. He told me he had lost it a week ago while doing butterfly strokes in the water. That it hadn’t been off of his finger in 13 years. I had him send me a picture of the area, and drop a pin where I should search if I could get down to have a look for him. I tried to go a few days in a row, but because of the wind and high waves I wasn’t able to get in the water till this morning.
The Key to Success.
A few days ago I was asked to help recover a ring that was possibly dropped as leaving the beach. Richard Browne a ring finder and myself grid the area to no avail. While searching for the ring I found a key with a tag that looked like it went to a bike lock of some sorts. I didn’t think much of it, till Rick waved me over. He was chatting with Pierre that was on his bike, and he was asking if we had found a key that he had been there searching for it the day before. I told him yes, that I had found a key and sure enough it fit perfectly into his bike lock. Great to save all objects when you can. Un expected return.
Sincerely Leighton
50 Years of Marriage.
Upon getting in from detecting I got a call from a gentleman named Jim that lived very close to me. He proceeded to tell me how he had lost his wedding band a few days earlier. He said he tripped down a few stairs and landed in some Pachysandra plants. His wife of over 50 years their neighbors all searched for it a few times to no avail. I told him I’ll come rite over and have a look. Never any guaranty but let’s give it a try.
When I got there we walked across the street to the neighbors house as he talked about it and that it’s very sentimental to him and his wife Kathy and worth around $4,000.00 to replace it. It was a very small area to search. I only had one signal, and It was a nail, Grrr… we were running out of real-estate fast, but I told him not to give up till he sees me get into my truck and leave. I looked around the corner of the house close to that small patch, and noticed a broken Hydrangea plant stem. He hit it and broke it with his arm when he fell, I spread the bush apart and laying at the bottom of the plant on the lowest stem possible hanging from it was his beautiful wedding band that had two rows of 5 diamonds. No pinpointed needed. I asked him how much does he like me? He started to cry immediately, he knew I had found it. After a few moments he caught his breath enough to Thank me, I said It was absolutely my pleasure, and was so glad he has it back on that finger. Happy Anniversary my friend.
Brayden called me on Friday explaining that he was out in the Gulf throwing football at Pensacola Beach when his wedding band came flying off of his hand. I talked him through what happened and asked him my standard questions about the time of day so I could check the tides, etc. We decided that I would come out the next morning at 7am. I got there and Brayden’s family joined him and explained that the young couple had only been married for 6 months. I said we definitely needed to find it so they could start off with a great story. We made our way to the beach and I got my bearings as I headed out to just over waist deep water. I slowed down and made my first turn as I pushed a big jellyfish out of the way with my scoop handle. I barely went another foot or two and got a great tone. Rarely am I confident on the first tone and first scoop of the search but sure enough, I looked into the scoop and saw Brayden’s gold wedding band shining back in less than 3 minutes. They were thrilled when I walked back up. I think Brayden’s dad said it best when he exclaimed, “we didn’t think it was even possible to find the ring in all that water, much less so quickly.” 😃 Brayden, it was nice meeting you. You have a great family. Good luck and God bless you all.