Frances was enjoying a swim with her friends at Uretiti Beach, near Whangarei after a round of golf.
While in the water, she suddenly felt her very sentimental gold ring slip off her finger. Looking down, she could see it although couldn’t get to it. After repeated efforts she finally lost sight of it – Gone.
She was understandably very upset when she phoned me, the emotion of losing an obviously very special item was clearly evident over the phone and she wasn’t entirely convinced it would be worth trying to find it again.
I assured her that after hearing the details I didn’t consider it irretrievably lost, and made arrangements to drive down the following morning.
Onsite, we walked down to, and along the beach a little way.
She had taken a photo of the dunes, which helped narrow down where they had been – Nothing boosts the odds in your favour like having an accurate start point!
I walked down the beach and straight into the tide – with a 150km drive each way, I needed to ensure I found it on this visit.
The waves were small today, which was a pleasant change for this ocean beach
After about an hour and a half, I lifted the scoopful of sand and there was a lovely gold band. I held it up to show Frances who was up by the dunes and waded in.
On handing it to Frances, I joked, “This where you say it’s not yours” with a chuckle.
I stopped grinning as soon as she replied, “It’s not mine.”
“What?”
Back into the tide.
Thirty minutes later, another ring. The reaction when I showed Frances was enough to tell me that this time it was definitely the right one.
That job done, I now start the sleuthing to locate the owner of the other ring…
