Lost gold ring in Lake Killarney, Winter Park, Fl….Found and Returned!
Nichole called me about a special ring her boyfriend lost while swimming in a lake. Apparently Trevor dove off of a dock and as he hit the water he realized he had his gold signet ring on his pinky finger. After he surfaced he began treading water and carefully removed his ring and put it in his back swim suit pocket and reconnected the velcro flap. Feeling it was safe he continued to slowly swim around enjoying the cool water. He was in the water for only a few minutes and had to swim to a nearby boat that was parked at another dock in order to climb out of the water using the ladder. (Neither dock had a ladder!). As soon as he climbed out of the water he felt for his ring and it was gone. Trevor had actually done a somersault in the water just before climbing out and as we talked, that spot seemed to be the obvious area where the ring came out of his pocket.
Thinking that he could retrieve his lost ring himself, he borrowed his brother’s scuba tank and BCD (vest) and tried to locate his ring but the bottom was so full of aquatic plants of various kinds.
Knowing that it is very difficult to search underwater when the visibility is very limited I opted to put together a submersible PVC grid frame measuring 5 feet by 20 feet. (I first saw this idea by another member of theringfinders who lives in Houston, Texas…a mister John Volek and also Jeff Morgan from Seattle, WA. gave me some extra tips on putting it together…thank you gentlemen!). This apparatus really is a game changer when doing underwater searches and I experienced it first hand!
I met Trevor at his apartment complex and loaded up all my gear on my handy beach fishing cart and we headed to the lake. It took a little while to get all set up but by 11:00am I was in the water and descending to the bottom. I could not believe just how thick the weeds and growth were and there was absolutely no way for me to use my Tesoro Tiger Shark metal detector! So I opted to use my 6 inch Pulse Dive Scuba Detector which proved to be the perfect tool for the job. Thankfully I had put a 12 inch foot on each corner of my PVC grid and that allowed me to inch my way along as I pushed and shoved my small hand held detector in and through the mass of weeds. It took me over an hour just to cover the grid inside and along the outside and I was getting very tired and plus I had not found Trevor’s lost ring. I surfaced to get a drink and rethink why Trevor’s ring was not in the target area…where he had done the somersault. We stood on the dock talking about the details of how he dove in the water and promptly put his ring into his back pocket and I repeated my earlier question about there being no holes in his pocket….and I actually leaned back and looked at his pocket and low and behold there was a factory made button hole slit…to let water out! Trevor was shocked as he had assured me his pockets had NO HOLES! Bingo! We had us a new search area! He showed me exactly where he dove into the water, where he surfaced and where he was when he put the ring in his back pocket. So I moved the PVC grid and within 20 minutes I had Trevor’s lost gold ring in my hand! What a relief and thrill it was to present Trevor with his special ring! Again I thanked God for directing me and giving me success and encouraged Trevor not to swim with his ring on! Lost something? Call ASAP!
Mike McInroe…blessed to be a member of theringfinders.com
I received an email from Omar stating, “I just realized this morning that I lost my wedding ring. It probably happened at Toronita Beach yesterday evening. The tide was high and I was boogie boarding. Please call me if you think there is a chance that you can find it.” It was close to midnight when I read Omar’s plea for help and I answered immediately wanting to encourage and instill some hope. I always start by asking some very pertinent questions like…What time of the day were you in the water? Did you feel your ring come off? How large of an area did you swim in and how long were you in the water? How deep was the water where you were boogie boarding and how far out did you go? Thankfully Omar responded early the next morning and gave very descriptive answers to all my questions regarding the how, when and where! And one key piece of information about their boogie boarding was he and his daughters were trying to see how far they could ride the waves all the way to the wet sand. With that knowledge and the fact they were in the water at “high tide” put the target area in a much easier part of the beach to metal detect, especially at low tide!
Amy emailed me to see if I could help locate her husband Matt’s custom made white gold wedding band, which was lost as he swam in front of their Hopkins Pond Camp, in Clifton, Maine. Despite very clear water and minimal bottom silt, the search area was challenging due to being strewn with rocks and boulders. Upon exhausting my first tank of air, I began to fear the ring may have slipped into one of the many deep crevices and out of detector range. Shortly after starting my second dive, my Minelab Equinox 600 located the ring in 9 feet of water, buried in a thin layer of silt. A portion of the generous reward received will be donated to The Landing Place in Rockland, Maine to help their efforts to combat homelessness of local teens and young adults.
I was contacted last night by Andrew who had lost his gold signet ring whilst mucking about with his mates on a riverbank , arranged to meet this afternoon, and after a stroll through water meadows we arrived at the riverbank the ring was lost on , my Equinox 800 soon hit on a steady repeatable 17 , a quick fingertip search and there was Andrews lost signet ring , who was amazed at the speedy recovery, as he was pretty certain the ring had come off in the water after been dragged into the river by his mates .