A picture is worth a thousand words – let these speak to the impossible made possible, thank God. A bride reunited with her ring that was lost in the water near a sandbar at Vanderbilt Beach in Naples, Florida.
Over the years, I’ve had my share of looking for rings lost while gardening, throwing things for the dog, or just being lobbed randomly during arguments. This was my first hunt for a ring that had been vacuumed off a finger by a calf!
Luke made contact after reading of my successful hunts, and for me the story was too intriguing! He had been letting the calves suck his fingers in order to keep them tame, and the hand came back minus the ring…
On the day in question, he hadn’t banked on the powerful combination of bovine slobber and suction! Catch was, had it been spat out on the ground nearby, chewed, swallowed and passed through the digestive system to turn up elsewhere in the paddock…or was it still in there?
He was very pleased to see me, and we headed straight out so he could show me where it all happened, also pointing out the calves that I could end up scanning! The ground had been dry, which was good as it meant it was unlikely to have been pressed deep into mud – however the Autumn-flush grass was mid-calf (That’s my calf, not the cow variety) which was going to make it very hard work.
I started at the “Point Last Seen” and nosed the coil in and around the grass in the immediate vicinity with no luck, so I resigned myself to gridding about an acre of very lush pasture.
With my back into the corner of the wire fences, I took the first swing, and was immediately disheartened by the erratic threshold sounds of electrical interference from a buried cable. Not overly bad fortunately. Second swing…. third swing and a golden tone rang through the headphones! I parted the long grass, couldn’t see anything. Out with the pinpointer, it chirped away…but I still couldn’t see anything.
A slight change of head angle and a flash of yellow lit up in among the dead stems. It was already making itself very comfortable in there, and I was glad I didn’t have to use the rubber gloves 🙂
Knocked on the door of the house again, and was met by a huge smile when I held the ring up – That’s when I found out, it’s their wedding anniversary in just a few days.
I woke up this morning and checked my email. I found that I had received an email from Clemens about his wedding ring that he had lost the night before. I asked if he would call me so I could ask him about the loss. He called and described what had happened, and everything seemed to be in his favor, so I told him I would meet him at the beach as soon as I finished my breakfast. Clemens and his family are here from Vienna, Austria, and I knew it would be sad to have to leave such a cherished possession behind when he had to go home.
When I got to the beach Clemens and his young son met me and took me to the spot of the loss. He explained what happened, and I figured there was a good chance of a recovery. I began my grid, and made about 5 passes. I stopped to talk to Clemens when behind me I heard the sound of a tractor. It was the County beach cleaner towing a sifting machine behind the tractor, and he was stopped wanting to begin his pass right where I was looking for Clemens’ ring. Also this was in the wet sand where they never usually clean. Now in all of the years I have been helping people, never have I experienced the greedy audacity of the County employees like today, he knew what I was looking for. This guy wanted to get this ring before I did. I told Clemens not to move and make the County guy go around the area we searching, which he finally did. I made 2 more passes, and boom, Clemens’ ring in my scoop. He was very happy, as was I to be able to hand the ring back to him. Another great day!
If you lose your ring or other metal item of value, call as soon as possible. I will work hard, using the most up to date metal detectors, to help you find what you thought might never be found again. I search, Beverly Hills, Hermosa Beach, Huntington Beach, Long Beach, Los Angeles, Malibu, Manhattan Beach, Newport Beach, Northridge, Pasadena, Rancho Palos Verdes, Redondo Beach, Santa Monica, Seal Beach, Simi Valley, Thousand Oaks, Torrance, Venice Beach, and all parks, yards, gardens, and ponds (to 5 foot depths) in all of Orange County, all of Los Angeles County, and Ventura County.
I had just finished dinner last night when I received a call from Cagil who had lost his car key in the sand at the beach. He had gone surfing, and buried his key at the high tide line so no one could find it while he was in the water. He had marked the area with a stick, in order to find it when he got out. What happened though was that while he was surfing, someone moved the stick, so he was unable to pin point the exact area where his key was. Cagil searched for over 2 hours, and was very frustrated at not being able to find his key, and the tide was rising. He then found me on The Ring Finders web site, and I told him I would be there as soon as I could get there.
When I got to the beach, I met Cagil’s friend Easy, who contacted Cagil, then we all went out to the spot where Cagil remembered burying his key. I began my search with no signal whatsoever. Cagil then directed me to another spot where he thought the key might be. I searched one side of the area with nothing, then I moved to the other side, and on the first pass got a solid signal. I scooped, and shook out the sand. There in the bottom of the scoop was the key. Needless to say, Cagil was very happy, not only because all of his belongings were in the car, but also the parking lot closed after dark, and he would have gotten a substantial ticket for having his car there. Well he was also able to finally get out of the wetsuit he had on for hours. It was very nice to be able to help him out last night, and see him happy when I left.
If you lose your ring or other metal item of value, call as soon as possible. I will work hard, using the most up to date metal detectors, to help you find what you thought might never be found again. I search, Beverly Hills, Hermosa Beach, Huntington Beach, Long Beach, Los Angeles, Malibu, Manhattan Beach, Newport Beach, Northridge, Pasadena, Rancho Palos Verdes, Redondo Beach, Santa Monica, Seal Beach, Simi Valley, Thousand Oaks, Torrance, Venice Beach, and all parks, yards, gardens, and ponds (to 5 foot depths) in all of Orange County, all of Los Angeles County, and Ventura County.
It was a little bit before 10 p.m. when I saw an email from Jennifer saying she had lost her rings and wanted to know if I could meet her sometime the next day and possibly look for them. I immediately sent her a response saying I could be there in 20 minutes and to call me. If at all possible, when I get a call on a lost ring, I want to start the search as soon as possible. There’s a lot of things that could go wrong, the longer the wait. Jennifer called me 20 minutes after I sent the email and we agreed to meet. We met at a McDonalds since her and her family were staying in a gated resort and I’d need an escort to get into the resort area.
As we’re riding in the elevator to get from the parking garage to the main level, Jennifer filled in all the details of her losing her rings. She told me that her future son-in-law, Noah, had previously asked her and her husband’s permission for their daughter, Aly’s hand in marriage. Tonight was going to be the night Noah was going to propose. The family was on the beach and Jennifer, who’s a photographer, was snapping pictures of the kids, waiting for the big moment. Jennifer had been laying in the sand taking some pictures, and when she stood up and started brushing the sand off the front of her pants, her rings went flying. The temperature on the beach was in the low 40s, so her hands and fingers had swiveled up making her snug rings fly off her finger. She continued telling me that she spent an hour searching with other members of her family to no avail. Jennifer said that Aly was thinking this might be the big night, and this was all part of the surprise, and she’d end up finding her new engagement ring. Jennifer had to convince her that her rings really were lost. At some point during the search, Aly and Noah went to Bass Pro and bought a metal detector, which proved ineffective. After another hour of searching and freezing, Jennifer googled lost ring and found me through The Ring Finders website.
We made our way out to the beach and Jennifer showed me exactly where they were all at when she felt her rings come off. It was obvious they had been searching hard because the soft sand was all dug up and thrown around. I started a north/south grid about 10-15 feet from where Jennifer said she was standing and on the first pass got a great signal. Dug a couple of scoops of sand, shook out the scoop and saw the 14K white gold wedding band staring up at me. Jennifer came running over to me to see what I found, and I handed her the ring, she was very excited. Ok, now to find the diamond engagement ring. I continued my grid search in the small 15 by 15-foot square working towards the area where Jennifer had been standing with no luck. So I went back to my starting point and moved one step in the opposite direction and BAM! Dug a scoop, shook it out and WOW!! I walked towards Jennifer and let her remove the ring from the scoop. She was completely surprised we found both rings and elated we had. Big hugs. Total search time was around 10 minutes.
Jennifer said she was very disappointed that during all this, Noah didn’t get to pop the question. Since he didn’t get to ask Aly, Jennifer asked me to hold off on posting this story until after the kid’s big moment.
Jennifer sent me a text tonight saying Noah popped the question and Aly said yes and when Noah proposed, Aly didn’t drop her ring in the sand!
Jennifer, thank you for entrusting me to help find your lost treasures. It was a pleasure meeting you, and I wish Aly and Noah all the best in their future endeavors.
Jim
Aloha,
On Saturday March 10th 2018 I noticed on Craigslist a lost Gold necklace and ring which was LOST at Waimea Bay on the North Shore of Oahu. I was previously there hobby hunting but in the water earlier that morning. So, I replied to the post and I got in touch with Jessica. Jessica was more than happy to give me the info needed so i could narrow the search area as it is 9:45 in the evening and visibly would be poor. I packed up the equipment and kissed the wife and kids good night. I arrived at Waimea bay and start the search. almost 2 hours into the search and after many coins and rubbish I FIND THE JEWELRY! I was so excited to text Jessica while standing on the shoreline for a meeting the very next day. She agreed and we met up in Salt lake Where I was able to return her precious items. This hunt was very spontaneous and yet Successful. Thank you Jessica for allowing me to reunite your MISPLACED ITEM… Happy to find it but excited its back in the rightful owners hands. Below is a clip of the journey!!!
ALOHA…
What a great night recovery. I got a call tonight from Debbie about 7:30 pm very worried about her daughter Lyndsay’s class ring. It turns out that earlier in the afternoon on Pensacola Beach Lyndsay was trying to take a sunset picture of her gorgeous Texas A&M solid gold class ring and she dropped it straight down into the sand. As is often the case, even though she thought she knew exactly where it was, she and her family couldn’t find it because of the way the sand moved the gold deeper and deeper. They finally called me and were wondering if they should buy a metal detector. I explained why I didn’t think that was a good idea and after a quick chat decided that I would head out to the beach to meet them immediately. It was a cool night but things went great and I was able to recover her ring for her in less than 15 minutes in the dark. Not bad for the first recovery of Spring Break 2018. 😊
Louise`s daughter and friends were out of High School enjoying the recent snow fall when she realized she had lost her mothers gold ring and her silver finger splint. Louise had 6 school friends out three times searching for the rings, they even used a metal detector to no avail. I was out of country, but as soon as got home my wife gave me the message and I arranged to meet Louise at the location. It had been almost 2 weeks since the loss, she gave me the story and showed me the trail they took from the school to the park, and were they played throwing snowballs, I told her that would be the prime location, take me there. Once we arrived at the location low and behold we looked down and there was the gold ring melted out of the snow, the silver finger splint took a little more searching but we were successful. I made another friend.
Last weekend, Corianne was digging up bait shrimp during lowtide at her family-owned vacation rental, The Log Castle Bed & Breakfast, https://www.vrbo.com/1015151 when she realized she had lost her custom made white gold and multi diamond wedding ring! And since the sand was like quicksand while digging, it could be very deep in one of the holes they made digging up sand shrimp…
She emailed me after purchasing a detector and having no luck searching with her husband. Unfortunately my schedule wouldn’t allow me to hunt for it for at least a week after she had lost it. The soft sand and tides could really engulf it in that time, but it was worth trying.
After a week, I was able to take a road trip up there, and after searching for about 3 hours, surrounded by bald eagle nests and at least 3 eagles and about 25 seagulls watching me work… I found it!
It was an emotional reunion and a great location to hunt at, despite the quicksand like conditions… and I will be camping on the property as an added bonus! Maybe some bald eagle photos to follow…
Diamond dazzler!
Lowtide @ Log Castle … LOCATED!
When Frank called me it was about 7:30 pm. He and his wife, Lana were in panic mode because she had lost her white gold and diamond wedding band somewhere at 1000 Steps Beach in Laguna, Beach CA.
It was cold and dark but we still had a couple hours before they lock the upper entrance gates at 10 pm. I met them at 8pm with the objective to get a general idea of where they had been incase I had to resume the search the next day. Frank and Lana live 50 miles away which would be troublesome for them to lose a days work to return the next day.
As we walked down the 200 plus steps to the beach I asked the questions that could help me put together a strategy for the search.
Lana only remembered seeing her ring when they parked their car about 4pm. After that they had walked down to the beach and walked about a quarter mile to a cave at one end of the beach.
She didn’t remember doing any activity except running a bit on the wet sand. They did say that they had set down for about 15 minutes on the sand to watch the sunset. It was just before starting up the steps that she noticed the one ring missing. Her engagement ring was still on her finger.
It was not sounding like an easy search but if they could find the location where they sat on the beach, we could eliminate that area. Frank was able to direct me to the exact spot where they had been sitting. My head was telling me that tomorrow was going to be a long day searching an almost impossible expanse of sand.
Trying to stay positive I began to search a 12’x12’ area. First target was a small piece of tin foil. Second signal also sounded like tin foil but a quick dig with my sand scoop revealed Lana’s ring. Boom !!
They were both extremely excited, stating over and over that they could not believe that their cherish sentimental wedding ring was not lost forever. This was even more special because they are newlyweds and had only been married one month.
This is what makes me grateful that I have the skills and time to be able to help people like Lana and Frank.