Lost Wedding Ring Found! – Cedar Grove, WI
When it comes to rings, the North American Great Lakes rank high as ring-eating monsters. And Lake Michigan gulped down yet another precious love token the week of June 24th when Petersburg, Illinois, residents Joe and Alissa Bilyeu were vacationing at Amsterdam Park near Cedar Grove, Wisconsin.
Somewhere during the construction of a sandcastle, Joe’s platinum wedding ring was slurped off his hand into the abyss of sand and water. A frantic search proved fruitless. The couple departed for home with heavy hearts at having lost the precious token of their recent marriage.
I received a text message from Joe asking if I might conduct a search. My work schedule prevented doing so immediately; the soonest I could make the 63 mile drive from my home in Waukesha to Cedar Grove was late on Friday. My wife, Kathleen, came along for the ride. Upon arrival at Amsterdam Park, Lake Michigan was pounding the shoreline with waves approaching 3’ high. Only faint traces of Bilyeu’s sand castle remained. The throbbing deluge had nearly obliterated all signs of it.
First I checked the shoreline dry sand. Then I switched machines and bracing myself against the waves I began searching the lake bottom with my trusty Minelab Excalibur SCUBA detector. After nearly an hour working against the punishing rollers a faint signal in chest-deep water invited excavation. But the wave action quickly filled the hole making it necessary to work quickly to gain on the target. At last, the Lake Michigan Monster was forced to relinquish its treasure; Joe’s platinum ring lay safe in my sieve.
I quickly texted a photo to Joe in Illinois. His response? “Holy Cow that’s it!! OMG thank you so much!!” And arrangements were made to send the ring back to its happy owner.
Thanks, Joe, for the awesome privilege of retrieving your ring. It’s just one more ring the Lake Michigan Ring Monster won’t get to digest. May your ring’s story continue for many, many happy years together.
Marcia called me on Saturday wanting to know if I was available to help her look for her lost rings. While she and her husband were enjoying swimming in the ocean they got to talking about getting tan lines and Marcia wanted to see if under her rings she had any tan lines. She was in waist deep water at the time and she pulled her rings only slightly down her finger to see if she had any of those dreaded “tan lines” and then the unimaginable happened. Her rings simply slid the rest of the way down her finger and into the churning surf. She could not believe what had just happened. She and her husband frantically began searching the water but her rings just seemed to vanish.
Received a call from a young man who was helping an elderly women. The gentleman was sitting on a bench at Loyola Beach with his girlfriend when he observed an elderly women frantically searching on her hands and knees for her sentimental engagement ring in the sand. It was yellow gold with two Diamonds and a Ruby. He helped her by marking the spot with some small stones and a buried t shirt. He went online with his phone and found the Ringfinders website and my name. The woman does not own a cell phone. He called me and explained the situation. This call was received in the late afternoon today. I knew that if I didn’t come out right away, the stones and marker would probably be gone in the morning because of the raking machines they use every morning on the beaches. He gave me the woman’s landline number and we met at the beach. The marker was still intact. In less than 30 seconds, with just 1 swipe of the coil, I found the ring less than a foot from the marker. It came up as 12/05 on my CTX 3030. The woman was in shock that I was able to find it. She had already given up any hope of finding it. People nearby saw that I had found it and came running over in disbelief. Another GREAT DAY to be a RINGFINDER!! I couldn’t have been happier for her so I had my picture taken with her.
