Uncategorized Category | Page 418 of 497 | The Ring Finders

John called me at around 7:00PM tonight and by 8:15PM his ring was in my scoop.  He was playing with his kids in the water when he felt his ring fly off.  They were right by a buoy, and he was sure the ring had to be within 10ft of that.

After searching the right side of the buoy without luck I moved to the other side, and about 3ft away I got a good hit.  When I told John I had a good signal he came closer and was able to reach in the second scoopful and pull out his prize.  He gave me a big bear hug and almost broke my rib.

Another successful hunt-I really love this job!

Brent, Maria and son Chase were on a short vacation from Indiana with friends.  They took a hike up to the summit of Mt. Baldhead, and afterwards Maria discovered her car keys missing-the only keys they had for their car.  They had been in her backpack at the start of the hike, but going down the other side of the dune she had fallen, and assumed that is where she lost the keys.

The easy part of this hunt was actually finding the keys.  Getting to the spot where Maria fell was another matter entirely!  We climbed the 302 steps to the top of Mt. Baldhead, then hiked down the other side of the dune in soft, loose sand for about 60 yards to get to the spot where she had fallen.  Scanning the area I got a faint signal–and there were her keys.

As you can see, the trail behind Maria is pretty steep and we had to go back up that way and then down the 302 steps back to the cars.  It was a hot and humid day, but Maria still had a smile on her face.

Mr Owen Jones of Winchester was very upset to lose his Platinum Wedding Band when playing catch with his son in his garden recently. Even though he had felt the ring be launched from his finger the good news was that both he and his wife heard the ring land close by hitting a wall. This information to all ring finders like myself is very reassuring as the search area is narrowed down and time spent reduced. This though however… turned out not to be the case.
A couple of days after receiving the call I arrived to find a small neat garden with wood chip borders and grass neatly cut. We reenacted the moments leading to the rings loss and focused on the area they had heard the ring land. The search of the garden bore nothing so the search continued over the garden wall and into the dense undergrowth. After nearly two hours in driving rain still nothing and we were quite perplexed as to its whereabouts.
Though a ‘quick look’ around the neighbors garden had been done and the ring was heard to fall elsewhere I decided the neighbors was still worth another look. We knew the ring had made a ‘dink’ sound so I began to look for hard objects it could have struck. Without even turning the CTX on my eye was drawn to a clay pot where at the base of it lay the ring.
Those first few seconds after you find what you’ve been looking for is a feeling of relief and excitement, I wonder how relieved our clients must feel?!
Mr Jones was extremely relieved to have the ring back as was I after such a difficult job detecting through the undergrowth in the pouring rain. My charity, Margret Green Animal Rescue received a generous donation from the Jones family.
Oh…. the ‘dink’ sound the ring made and the search of the wrong garden??? I put this down to the echo they received of the ring landing against the pot in the neighbors garden.

Gregory – reunited with his gold men’s wedding ring. His ring was lost during his honeymoon while snorkeling in the tropical waters off of Hapuna Beach – and found by Big Island Metal Detecting – while thousands of miles from Hawaii! We were happy to reunite him with his lost treasure! Hapuna Beach, Big Island, Hawaii.

“A ROLLING RING GATHERS SOME MOSS…”

Turns out that even gold rings gather moss.

We got an email from Gregory asking us to hunt for his lost ring at one of the Big Island’s most hunted spots by metal detectorists – Hapuna Beach.

Gregory had been on his honeymoon and snorkeling in shallow water. At dinner, his wife noticed his ring was missing – and they were gutted to think they’d never see it again! (We hear many stories of newly-weds having their lost rings discovered at dinner…!)

It took Gregory a week to find us and there were some major hurdles working against finding his ring : The first was the fact that it had been over a week since he’d lost it! The second strike was that he’d lost off of one of the the most-treasure-hunted beaches in Hawaii. The third was he wasn’t here to retrace his steps or point out the most probable places it was lost! As we discussed the area, he was on the other side of the Pacific Ocean, thousands of miles away, in Oregon…!

As I searched for the ring, I checked every crag and rock – including the little urchin holes – trying to imagine I was him on my honeymoon; an adventurous man, yet “not a strong swimmer,” as he’d described his own foray into the water. I worked from the sand – through the water, rocks and eddies made by the shifting tides. Nothing but a few pieces of junk.

As I got to the deepest point I could search, I turned around and retraced my steps back to the shallows, following the Google Maps points Greg had noted, as well as I could remember. The water was a slurry mix of fresh and salt water which causes one’s vision to blur.

Blurry but free of moss, I put the gold hammered ring back in place to take this image where I found it in the rocks surrounded by sharp sea urchins. Hapuna Beach, Hawaii

The lovely, tropical bay where Gregory’s ring was lost. We found it – and returned it – a beautiful hammered gold men’s wedding ring!

 

A mossy circle grabbed my attention between two sea urchins jammed in the rocks. A piece of pipe most likely. The blurry water and the swaying moss growing on the object felt almost dream-like as I pulled it out of its home between the sharp spines of the urchins.

I often put men’s found or recovered rings on my thumb to keep them from being lost again!

Almost as a magician had waved a wand, the object shed all of its camouflage as I pulled it close to my mask to inspect it – from green moss to brilliant white and yellow gold – the ring glimmered into reality in front of my eyes!

 

I took a moment underwater to thank God, appreciate this beautiful, ornate and heavy ring, and contemplate what it would mean to Gregory and his new wife that I’d found it.

A Hawaiian “shaka” with Gregory’s found gold men’s wedding ring. Big Island, Hawaii.

 

The ring had been hidden but it had almost jumped out at me as I passed even though it had “grown” moss over the week it had been lost. We’re so glad to have been part of this story in their new marriage. Mahalo for trusting us to find your treasure!
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A beautiful men’s gold wedding ring – lost – and found – at Hapuna Beach by Big Island Metal Detecting. Big Island, Hawaii.

Big Island Metal Detecting is Hawaii’s TRUSTED ring-recovery service and a proud member of Hawaii’s Kona-Kohala Chamber of Commerce. See more of our details at www.BigIslandMetalDetecting.com

Yesterday, one Ringfinder guy was busy and referred this to Gregg Larabel who was also busy.  That left it up to me.

Picked up my fellow Ringfinder, Chuck Raison, to accompany me on the 3 hour ride up to Thumb Lake.  Katrina was playing in the lake with her two boys when she noticed her engagement ring was missing, but her wedding ring was still on her finger.

She was sure it must be in the water, so that’s where Chuck and I searched first, but without success.  Finally I made two passes over the spot where they had been sitting on the beach itself, and there it was.

Katrina was on vacation in the area and was feeling quite blue about the bad turn her trip had taken, but we brightened up her day.  Her smile tells it all, but our smiles were just as big!