Lost Ring throwing football – FOUND in Gulf Shores
I had the pleasure of helping out Joe Hess the other day. Joe and his family were down visiting Gulf Shores from their home in Indiana. Joe had been on the beach throwing football with his son when his wedding ring came flying off and quickly buried somewhere in the sand. Joe and his wife have been married 20 years so everyone began looking for it to no avail. With the tide rising in the afternoon they found me online and had me come over from Pensacola. My wife and I loaded up and quickly made our way over and met Joe on the beach. I started looking in the area he thought it was and quickly realized this was going to be a bigger search than Joe thought. My wonderful wife went to the car to get my biggest coil to cover more ground while I asked Joe more questions. Joe ended up telling me that he was using his left hand to throw the ball because his right was hurt and I worried that he may have flicked his hand awkwardly towards the water. I changed coils quickly and started a search where the water was coming in with the tide. I made one pass and as I got halfway back in the edge of the surf I heard a really deep tone. I took a huge scoop and drug it up on the sand to be safe. As soon as I broke open the sand with my hand I saw Joe’s gold band and turned around with a big smile. I’m so glad that Joe called quickly and we found it even quicker. That ring was too important to lose to that incoming tide. Congrats Joe!
I received a message from Larry about his lost wedding ring. He lost it in about 5′ of water the week before in the bay, and was pretty anxious about possibly having it recovered. We arranged to meet on location about 2 hours later that day when some of the traffic cleared. After I arrived we discussed the details, in which he was adamant on the location where it came off his finger. which is always KEY with a successful water recovery that distance from the shore. Larry said the ring had writing on it which he could identify, and into the water I went. Once I was in the spot he gave me the thumbs up, and I started to search. Just a short while later I recovered a ring, which I didn’t think was his. This ring had writing around the outside, but he never mentioned that. After my arrival on shore, and with many swimmers relaxing in their chairs watching the ring return, I asked Larry more details about the ring. The next 5 min. or so were EXTREMELY comical, then Larry proceeded to recite the writing on the ring, which had never been discussed, and was in Hebrew. It read, “I am my beloved’s and my beloved is mine” Well, I was in total shock at this point, due to the fact we had never really discussed these identifying features. Larry is prob the most comical person I have ever done a recovery for, as I was in a chop busting mood that day, and poor Larry got his share from me. Larry, It was a real pleasure, thank you again, so glad I was able to help.
Dave, my Son-In-Law got a call Tuesday morning from Gina asking could he please help her find her Father’s ring in the Gulf of Mexico. David had to work that day so he asked me to help Gina. Her Father had since passed away and she was overwrought emotionally and ardently sentimental about the loss of his heirloom. To Gina the ring is a significant and permanent connection spirituality with her Father that was on her finger everyday and just had to be reclaimed. The ring was lost in about waist deep water at low tide but the horizontal plain was quiet large, perhaps 300 to 400 feet. Another factor revolved around the weather forecast. A tropical system was forecast to arrive that evening with large surf and gale force winds. If the ring wasn’t recovered before the weather arrived the probability of recovery would be significantly diminished. The beach she visited is part of the Gulf Islands Seashore and Park Management does not allow metal detection in the Park without a Special Permit. I have performed several recoveries of property for Gulf Islands Guests in the pass and contacted Park Staff for a permit only to learn that everyone was gone this day. The Park had an All-Hands-On-Deck wildfire in progress and I couldn’t get in touch with anyone. After several hours I did get in touch with a staff member who said to send an email requesting a permit and (in not so many words) that should cover my back. Because lots of time had passed in travel and permit issue and with weather issues on the horizon and most importantly, because Gina put her trust in me and I couldn’t fathom disappointing her, I arrived on the beach in early afternoon and Gina was their waiting on me. The search took about 4 hours before I heard the unmistakable vivacious, exuberant, resonance of gold. I immediately broke into a wide grin that got Gina’s attention. I exited the water and returned her ring to her hand and she put it back on the finger where it belongs. Both David and I are more that happy that we were able to made things right for Gina that day!