Lost Ring from the boat – FOUND!!!
Ryan is a patient man! He called me this morning and explained that he was out on the boat yesterday at a popular place for people to hang out and he was throwing a football back and forth. All of a sudden he caught one that slightly jammed his finger making him flick his hand back and forth. When he did he felt his brand new wedding ring of a few months go flying in the saltwater. He explained that they had looked for hours to no avail and he really needed some help. I told him that I wanted to help but I had to work today but with the storm coming this week he definitely needed to find it sooner rather than later. I told him I would have one of a few people I routinely hunt with call him soon and hopefully they could help him. At lunch Ryan reached out and said he hadn’t heard from anyone so I told him to standby while I made a call. My Father in law had accidentally left his phone and my other buddy was working so I called Ryan back. He asked about renting a detector and I explained why that just wouldn’t work. I finally felt so bad that I told him if he could wait until after work and if I could get a pass from my wife then I would do it myself. Being the patient person he is, he waited for me to finish up the workday and I’m very glad he did. Ryan has a great boat and we headed out to the area. When we got there, he had done a great job marking where it came off and I made my first pass. There was a huge drop off and as I turned back I thought to myself that I hoped it wasn’t any further or I would need a scuba tank. I didn’t need to worry though because as Ryan looked on expectantly from the beach I heard a very clean gold tone. He was already smiling as I very carefully used my scoop to pull out his ring. He said that was exactly where he thought it was and he was amazed I was able to find it. Ryan was all smiles on the way back to the dock and I’m glad I was able to help.
I got a call from Kelli about noon on Wednesday asking if I could find her wedding ring. She and her husband had been married for nine months and the ring was designed by her husband and custom made. She first called my son in law, David Cartee, who wasn’t able to help because of other obligations that day but he recommended She give me a call. Kelli’s ring was lost in a lake off a dock in Andalusia Alabama. It had been a couple day since she lost it. She got in the water up to about neck deep and tried doing a visual search but the bottom was muddy and she had no luck. Listening to her story I felt sure the ring had sunk out of sight in the mud. I told her I would help. I was in the Pensacola area at the time and Andalusia was about 2 hours away. I felt time was of the essence because I didn’t know that lake and fearing the ring might settle deeper in the muddy bottom over time. The lake turned out to be a reservoir used by the power company to generate electricity and the bank was very steep. When I saw how quickly the grade dropped off I began to worry about it having vanished in the deep water or my recovery activity dislodging it to deeper water. It was most important to plan carefully so that would not happen. I took my time making sure the search coil didn’t touch the bottom and to carefully completely search the area before moving my feet to deeper water. Fortunately I got a good signal, the ring had settled on a slope in about 5 foot of water. I set my recovery scoop and both husband and wife stood by in anticipation. I peered into the scoop then looked up at them and smiled, her beautiful precious ring was recovered and returned to her finger. Smiling faces and no more worries all around!
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