This little adventure started Wednesday around 3:30 pm with a text from Kelly saying, “Hello is this Jim Wren? I was just searching online and came across Ring Finders which lead me to your contact. My name is Kerry, a poor soul who lost his dang wedding ring here in North Myrtle Beach. It popped off while throwing a football around in the shallow water where the tide comes in just outside our hotel. Just curious if you might be available Jim? Feel free to respond via text or call. I’m here until Saturday this week. If not, it’s no problem at all. Thanks for your time, man.” I immediately checked the tide tables; low tide was just before 2 pm.  I then called Kelly to discuss the circumstances. He said he had lost it about an hour prior to his text and was in thigh to knee deep water.  I told him I’d be there in about 15 minutes, grabbed my detector and was on my way.

When I got to the beach, I met Kelly’s brother when he came up to me. He introduced me to Kristen, Kelly’s wife. As we were talking, Kelly came up and showed me the area where they were throwing the ball. Luckily, Kelly is right-handed, so the ring didn’t get thrown off. I was 2 hours behind the tide change, but the ring should be in water no higher than my waist. I started an east/west perpendicular grid search, going low and slow with the detector. I wasn’t picking up any targets at all. As the tide was coming in I was working in deeper and deeper water.  I was finally up to my chest when I got a great signal. The signal was what I expected for a man’s yellow gold ring. I was able to get a scoop of sand out, which was empty – no ring. As I find the target again with the detector, I wasn’t paying attention and got hit with a big swell that knocked me backward. From that point, I wasn’t able to find the target again, even though I tried. To get me back in the area on my return, I walked off the steps back to the beach and even with a drainage pipe. Total of 89 steps, give or take with me getting pushed by the current. I wasn’t able to do a good search, so I told Kelly I’d be back the next day, Thursday and called it a day.

I showed up around an hour before low tide so I could get a head start. I met Kelly and Kristen to let them know I was there and went to work. I walked off the 89 steps, plus another 15 or so steps. I’d rather search too much area than not enough. I started my east/west grid and extended my north and south boundary lines. I was getting nothing! The ring should be right there, but I wasn’t finding it. I then started a north/south grid line running parallel to the beach. For me, parallel grids are more difficult because it’s harder to keep a straight grid line. Still with no luck, I took a break to refocus. After my break, I started another east/west grid, tightening my grid lines. I finally hit the target I found the day before and dug it out of the ocean sand. Boom, it was a cap off an orange juice bottle. I had a few choice words and continued. I took another 4-5 steps and got a very iffy signal with the numbers jumping all over the place. I dug the target, shook the wet sand out in the water, and when I looked inside the scoop and there was Kelly’s yellow gold wedding band looking up at me amongst all the shells. I walked up the beach to where Kelly and Kristen had been sitting all day. I was exhausted but made it look worse than it was so Kelly and Kristen would think I was done. I had slipped Kelly’s ring on my index finger and when he was talking and looking away, I held my hand up and when he turned towards me, he saw his ring and froze. I got him! After I gave him his ring, I learned that his and Kristen’s rings were very special and sentimental to them. Both rings were custom made and each of their rings had 3 stones in them that they got from Kelly’s mother and grandmother. Priceless!

Kelly and Kristen – Thank you so much for trusting me to help find your very special ring. Enjoy the rest of your vacation, have a safe trip back home to Ohio, and I wish you two only the best in life,

Jim