Heather and quite a few friends decided to spend the day on the Barnegat Bay. They had rented pontoon boats, three to be exact, and headed out onto the calm waters of Barnegat Bay. They decided to go down to a local boaters hangout called Tices Shoals. It’s a beautiful area on the eastern side of the bay with a beautiful white sand bottom. They were doing the normal things that you would do when you’re out on the water like throwing the football, jumping off the boat, swimming, floating around in tubes, etc. When Heather looked down on her hand with total shock, her beautiful engagement ring and wedding band were gone. She was positive they were there just a few seconds earlier, so it had to have come off when they were throwing the football. The three pontoon boats were anchored up very close to one another, and they knew exactly where they were when they were throwing the football. They looked for quite a while and had no luck. That’s when they decided to reach out to me to see if I was available. They told me they were in the same location, the boats hadn’t been moved, which was fantastic. I asked them to mark the location with the GPS and send it to me. I could be there in a half hour. I grabbed all my gear and my wetsuit and headed out. They were quite a ways from the beach, roughly a half a mile walk. When I arrived, they showed me where they thought the ring had come off, and that’s where I started my search. As with most party spots, many items are dropped in the water, which makes it hard to do recoveries, due to the amount of targets you will come across. I spent about 45 minutes in the one area and had no luck. I came up alongside of a different boat, and I recognized the person who was a very experienced boater. We talked for a while, and I asked him about the wind direction, what it was doing earlier in the day. He said the wind had come around about 180 degrees, which meant the boat was nowhere near the location where the rings came off. The water is a vast area, and as the breeze changes, the boats can swing all over the place. So I made a few adjustments. We pulled the boat around the other direction. They had said they didn’t let any anchor rope out. So that’s where I started my next search. I had Heather stand there as a marker, and I worked between her and the back of the boat. About 10 minutes later, after starting the search in the proper location, the ring was in my scoop, and Heather was in total disbelief. As a matter of fact, nobody in the party could believe we located the ring. Water hunting is extremely difficult, and gps locations are almost a must for success.
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buried 4 inches deep in the wet sand , they were understandably overjoyed to be reunited with their precious ring .
