On Thursday, July 18th, I received a call, from Nikki, around 2:00pm. Nikki told me that the previous evening, she and other vacationing family members, had walked from the place they were staying, in York Beach, Maine, down to Short Sands Beach. The group had walked the sidewalks, around the gazebo, in Ellis Park and eventually, down onto Short Sands Beach. They had entered the beach, near the gazebo and had walked , at an angle, down to the rocks, on the southern end of the beach. They then walked along the water and also, in the water, as the tide was going out, to the northern end of the beach. This would be approximately 1/4 to 1/3 of a mile long. They were on the beach, between 8:30pm and 9:30pm, with low tide at 10:18pm. At some point on the way back, towards the southern end of the beach, Nikki noticed that her Labradoite Pendant was missing. Since they had been walking along the water, the group started searching the beach, but it was now dark and not easy to see. Nikki’s three year old daughter was also along, on the family walk and as children do, she was running and zigzagging, on the beach, with Nikki chasing her. There was no way to remember exactly where on the beach, Ellis Park and sidewalk, they had actually walked. The next morning, Nikki and other family members went and searched the sidewalks, park and beach, in the daylight. The Labradoite Pendant was not found. While on Short Sands Beach, Nikki saw two metal detectorists and asked them if they had found the pendant or if they could help her find it. They hadn’t found the pendant and they told her that she should contact, The Ring Finders of Maine for help. Nikki then called me a few hours later. A BIG shout to the two metal detectorists, for the referral. I greatly appreciate it.
I told Nikki that I would need to check the tide charts to see when the best time to search would be. Since she was walking along the water approximately an hour before, low tide, I wanted to search for 2 to 3 hours, prior to low tide, following the tide out, until low tide arrived. Once I confirmed the best time to search was the following morning, on Friday, I texted the information to Nikki and we agreed to meet at the Gazebo at 9:00am, with low tide at 11:31am and as a bonus m the tide would actually be lower that on Wednesday night. This would give us more exposed wet sand to search and I could search from 9:00am to 12:00pm. I told Nikki that because she didn’t know the exact path that was walked, and the area is so large, the chance of a recovery was extremely unlikely. Just too much area, to search, with not enough time, because the tide woGary Hillming in. I told Nikki that I would see if Gary Hill were available and if he was, the two of us would be able to cover twice the amount of ground. I called Gary and he absolutely wanted to help. There is no way possible to cover this much ground, by myself. Actually, there is no way possible for Gary and I to cover this much ground, but we will double the area, I would have been able to cover.
We met Nikki at the Gazebo, a few minutes early and she pointed out the area we should search. I looked out over the beach and thought to myself that a miracle would need to happen, in order to locate this pendant. We could certainly grid search the tide line, as it went out but even Nikki didn’t know where, on the beach, she had chased her young daughter, many times, on the walk. Our best strategy was to split the beach in half, with me searching the southern half and Gary searching the northern half. We found the center of the beach, marked it by digging a hole in the sand. Gary to the north, towards Fun O Rama, an arcade and I headed south. Neither one of us were finding much. Mostly can slaw ((Small pieces of aluminum), foil and pull tabs. I just kept thinking to myself that this was going to take a miracle. A half hour went by, then an hour and all we had to show for our efforts were a bunch of grid lines that we had made to show where we had been. But, we kept going. Another 2 hours to go, before the tide would be working against us. About 25 minutes later, my phone rang and I saw it was Gary calling. I answered and Gary said, “You can stop now. I FOUND IT, come on down”. I turned around and saw Gary waving at me, approximately 100 yards, to the north. I made a beeline towards Gary he held up the Labradoite Pendant and I just said “I can’t believe you found it, UNBELIEVABLE. GREAT JOB GARY”. Gary was just smiling ear to ear. I tried calling Nikki but it went to voicemail. I took a few photos and sent them to Nikki. A few minutes later Nikki called and was very excited, thanking us. She also sent a text after seeing the photo and said “That’s it!!!” She said she would be right down. A short time later, Nikki, her husband, Chadley, and their 3 year old daughter arrived. They were stunned that we found it and I don’t blame them. I was also stunned Gary had found it. After all I had to,d Nikki is was highly unlikely it would be found. I told them that I estimated a less than 10% chance of finding it but someone was looking down on us and them. I could see Nikki was a little emotional and Gary and I were told that she and Chadley considered the Labradoite pendant, as their wedding ring. Chadley had been in Costa Rica, prior to their marriage. He bought matching, or as close to matching Labradoite Pendants as he could. One for Nikki and one for him. When they married, they had “Wedding Rings” tattooed onto their fingers but always wear the Labradoite Pendants, as their real wedding rings. Very cool 😎. After a few more minutes of small talk and thank you’s Gary and I said congratulations one last time and as we were walking away, Gary stopped, looked back and saw Nikki and Chadley embraced for an extended hug. Nikki had tears coming down her face. WOW, such a gratifying moment to witness, for Gary. I hadn’t turned around but wished I had. We search for these sentimental items for moments like this. It’s just the best feeling in the world, knowing we were able to help someone find a very sentimental item. It’s the best job in the world. ❤️🙏
Kara and Will were spending some vacation time on the sandbar in Long Lake. Married just 9 months ago and now he has lost his wedding ring. They were playing in only about 2 ft of water when his ring came off. I arrived and we loaded up in the pontoon boat and headed out to the sandbar. Kara, Will and 4 other friends joined us for the hunt. I had Will mark off a square section in the area with some PVC poles and he did an excellent job because I found the ring in about 15 minutes right in the middle of his square. I got a good signal, looked down in the water and saw the ring laying on the bottom-that is almost too easy. I signaled the find and the pontoon boat erupted in hoops and hollers. What a way to brighten your day!
