Heirloom and Honeymoon Blues – Man’s Yellow Gold Wedding Band Lost in the Ocean, Found and Returned Litchfield, SC
On 7/12/25 just before 11 a.m. I got a phone call from Felix saying he lost his wedding band about an hour before. A quick check of the tide tables and he lost it less than an hour after high tide. Low tide was just after 3 p.m. so we definitely had a great chance of finding his ring. He told me he had been doing a little body surfing as well as standing in knee deep water. At one point, a wave knocked him down and he stuck both hands in the wet sand to push himself back up. He didn’t realize the ring was lost until he and his new bride of a week on their Honeymoon, were leaving the beach. She noticed his ring was gone and asked him “Where’s your wedding ring?” Felix didn’t say, but I assume the panic set in. Felix and I made arrangements to meet up at the beach at 2 p.m.
Because of lack of parking, Felix and I met up in a hotel parking lot. I followed him and we found parking on a side street and walked a couple of blocks to the beach. Once on the beach, we probably walked at least a mile down the beach to where Felix and his bride had been. Felix showed me the north and south border lines, and I and Felix agreed where I should start my perpendicular east/west grid search. It wasn’t a big search area, maybe 25-30 yards across. I was just above the mid tide line and walking out to about knee-waist deep. I was deeper than I needed to be, but I wanted to make sure I over covered the area. I stopped to talk to Felix a couple of times to make sure I was doing what he thought was the right area. At one point he mentioned drying off under a tent, so I wanted to hit that area if I couldn’t find the ring in the wet sand. I also thought if I couldn’t find it in my search area, I’d extend the search up to a little higher on the beach. After doing a low and slow search, the only target I came up with was a bottle cap. I knew with a man’s gold ring the number I was looking for on my machine, which would be between 13-15 depending on thickness and width. With the equinox, pull tabs usually ring up 14 and bottle caps usually ring up as 15. After I finished the search area, I stopped and talked to Felix. He asked me if I’d search a little higher on the beach, so we were both on the same page. I started at the south boarder line and started a north/south grid. As I got to the north board on my first line, I got a loud solid signal that jumped between 13 and 15. I was confident that I hit his ring and looked over at him. The only thing that puzzling me, was the machine was showing the target about 8 inches deep, which the ring shouldn’t have been that deep that quick. It took me 3 scoops to get the target out of the hole. When I got the target out of the hole and dumped the sand on the beach, I spread it out with my foot. Looking down at the sand, I saw the outline of the ring nestled in the sand. Picked it up, bushed it off and handed it to Felix. He was very excited. This is when he told me that not only was he on his honeymoon, but the ring was originally his grandfathers. After time, the ring became Felix’s father’s wedding ring. Now, the ring is his with all the history and stories included.
Felix – Thank you for allowing me to help find your very special lost ring and get it back where it belongs.
Jim
