Yellow Gold Diamond Engagement Ring Lost in the weeds, Found and Returned Holden Beach NC
On Friday, June 16th, I received a call from Jacob saying he had lost an engagement ring off the back deck into some bushes and asked if I could help. He also said that a friend had gone to rent a metal detector. I told him I’d wait to see if they could find it themselves and I’d check back with him. About an hour later, I called him to find out how they were making out. He told me they had been looking for about 3 hours and hadn’t had any luck and asked that I come on up and help. I told him absolutely and I’d be there in about 45 minutes. Got his address, grabbed my gear and hit the road.
When I got there, Jacob and his bride to be, Peyton, were sitting on the outside stairs. We introduced ourselves and they walked me around the back of the house. I was expecting to see a second story balcony, but fortunately the porch was on the main level. Jacob explained that he was standing at the rail looking at the engagement ring and it slipped right out of his hand. He told me he saw it hit the deck and roll off into the weeds and bushes. He had pulled some of the weeds in his effort to look for the ring. I turned on my Equinox and went to work. At one point I used my Gold Bug, but found it to be useless with all the nails, a few bottle caps and pull tabs, that over the course of time had been thrown off the porch. I thought this would be easier than it was or easier than what I was making it. Finally, after almost an hour and researching the weeds that Jacob had cleared out, I moved left towards the end of the porch. I finally got a double signal. I was looking for a VDI (visual Display indicator) of 8-10. I was getting a signal of around 15 and one at 9 within inches of each other. I turned on the pinpointer and started sorting out the targets from the dirt. Bingo! I pushed her buried ring out of dirt. I think we saw it about the same time and I snatched it up. Jacob said something like “here it is.” Peyton, who had been sitting on the ground very patiently, jumped up. She asked me if she could give me a hug and I jokingly told her it was mandatory before she got the ring back. Seeing the joy and excitement on their faces, made this entire search worth every second.
Jacob and Peyton – Thank you for trusting me to help find your lost treasure. I wish you both all the best in your lives together. Have a safe drive back home.
Jim
Chad and Renee are the nicest people you would ever want to meet. Friendly, outgoing, all around warm folks vacationing at the beach. And while at the beach that day, became local celebrates. Chad accidentally lost his wedding ring, in the Gulf of Mexico, where in sank in the sandy bottom, out of sight. Renee called me for assistance and I told her I could probably help. I got to the beach about 11:00 and started searching, there went lots of people enjoying the beach. I set out flags on the beach to help navigating in the water with Chad’s assistance, then proceeded to search in grid fashion. The setting out flags got everyone’s attention nearby. As I kept checking my longitude I noticed folks talking with Chad and Renee. The search took about two and a half hours and my activity apparently was a source of curiosity and perhaps entertainment for everyone near. There was almost no targets in the water so the maybe two time I set my scoop lots of folks watched. So, when I finally located Chad’s ring, the signal was unmistakable and I knew. I set the scoop extra deep so as not to scrap the ring, looked at Chad and I think he knew also. Don’t know if it was my smile but he was getting out of his chair as I was pulling the scoop from the water. I took the ring from the scoop and lifted in so he could see it was indeed found. People on the beach clapped and cheered and bestowed them with their well wishes. It made my day, found his ring, no more worries, vacation back on!
