Big Island Metal Detecting Tag | The Ring Finders

Lost Engagement Ring Lost and Found in Water near Mauna Kea Hotel, Hawaii

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“”Team” has a French Ring to It!”

I was in the water, in the middle of a ring search, when my wife called me on my waterproof mobile phone.
Call this number when you’re finished your search! A couple had lost their engagement ring on a small beach near the Mauna Kea hotel.
I raced to the area and ran along the trail to access the beach. The sun was starting to go down and people were hiking out of the area. “Oh, good you’re coming – that lady is besides herself!” called one guy. Another group said, “She’ll be relieved you’re here!” said a group as I walked down to the sand with metal detector and scoop in hand. There seems to have been quite some drama and many people from the beach had been looking with them in the water for their lost gold and diamond engagement ring.
The couple greeted me and we got right in the water and marked out the area they’d been in. The tide was rising so I went as deep as I could stand in the water. Back and forth, I finally hit a target and was sure it was the ring – the couple came racing over and we were all disappointed to see it was a coin. As we were looking at the coin a group of young, French tourists came and in broken English, asked if they could help look. The water was so murky from the surf and low light that any help was welcome!
I kept on my search line and worked around the French “team” as they formed a line and went from deep to shallow with their masks on keeping in a wide line.
Just as we’d exhausted the search area – one of the young men swam up and handed a diamond ring to the fiance. The couple, myself and the French team all burst into shouts of victory – in English and French!
As the French man had broken the line and swam out beyond where we could stand, he’d seen a small flash and swam down to get it – sure enough, the ring had washed out with the tide but was still sitting on top of the hard-packed sand!
We walked back in and got a Team photograph – all giving the Hawaiian “shaka” as our international team symbol of victory. We learned a little French, they learned a little English – and there was a whole lot of International gratitude to all parties involved!

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Ringfinder members featured in the Tigard, Oregon news!

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Recovered small key saves church big funds, Big Island, Hawaii

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THE LITTLE THINGS CAN BE VERY IMPORTANT TOO

We got a desperate call from a woman whose church group had helped organize a concert here on the Big Island – and one of the church’s parishioners had lent his car to the concert’s head performer.
The performer had a few hours to kill before his first concert so went to one of our local beaches. As he went back to get ready for his first performance, he suddenly realized his key – and the only key to the car – had been lost in the sand.
He looked for the lost key and finally had to ask to be picked up or miss the concert!
Some of the church members went to the beach the next morning to search for the key with rakes, carefully combing the sand in the area the musician had been.
After three hours they looked online and we got the call – and went immediately to the beach to join them in the hunt.
The site where the key was lost was quite small and had been scoured with rake marks. I searched the area for about 15 minutes with my Excalibur II metal detector, finding wire, fishing weights – and then hit a big target in the sand.
The car key materialized in my scoop as the sand strained out of it.
A key is such a small thing, but finding it saved the congregation from having to hire a tow truck to come to this remote spot and re-key the ignition.
We were happy to help – and remembered that sometimes the most valuable things are often what seem of least value – until they’re not!

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Lost Wedding Ring Reunited with Owner after Two Months – Brings Hope

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It was a busy day for Big Island Metal Detecting!

Two desperate callers rang within 10 minutes of each other requesting searches for their lost jewelry.

What started out as two recoveries ended with the discovery of a third ring!

Since all searches are time-sensitive, Sylvie searched one beach looking for the lost wedding ring – while Brent searched another beach with his friend for a lost earing.

During his search, Brent found a very large ring under the water with the inscription “Dario Loves Fallon” written on the outside.

ring-1As the ring did not belong to either client, we went to work to track down the owner, a feat we thought would be nearly impossible, especially without a last name to search the World Wide Web!

A Google search turned up only one page that promised a little hope of identifying the owner. A Go Fund Me webpage had the matching names, “…Dario, Fallon’s husband..” The Go Fund Me page was set up to request contributions because Fallon had a life-threatening medical emergency and required immediate surgery. Following the page links and using the new details, it was then possible to then find their Facebook pages – which indeed had photos of them on the Big Island of Hawaii a month earlier!

We were excited and emotional at the prospect of having found the owner – and if this was indeed them, then we knew that such fantastic news would be welcome news due to their current, grave situation. Rings can be so incredibly sentimental and in our experience, it can make such a huge difference to have a ring returned that was thought to be gone forever. We sent a message to them on Facebook and excitedly checked the next morning for a response.dario-palavra

Dario Palavra replied, “I’m so shocked that you guys found my ring. We were just in Hawaii in August!.It is my wedding ring – my wife has a matching ring. I figured it was long gone. I thought I lost it in the deep water since I love to swim. I’m so happy that you guys found it – since we got back from Hawaii we been dealing with a lot of health problems with my wife – I almost lost her – she had less than 10% chance of living and now when you tell me you found our wedding ring, that is amazing. Once I get it back it is going to be glued to my finger!!!”

We express mailed the ring to Dario, and soon afterwards got a photo of him wearing the ring he thought he would never see again!

If you’re interested further in this story – or would like to read about Fallon’s Go-Fund-Me page, go to :

https://www.gofundme.com/GoTeamFallon

Big Island Metal Detecting  rings-palavra

 

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Luck of the Irish – Returning a lost ring on an Hawaiian Island beach!

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It didn’t take us long to meet up with newlyweds Paul and Barbara on the beach after we’d gotten their call.

Paul was an Irishman with a new American lass for a wife – but Barbara had done all of the talking on the phone as Paul’s Irish accent was so thick. “Are you Ring Finders?” she asked.

As soon as we heard that Paul hadn’t seen his ring all day we knew we’d have a challenge. And they didn’t know where it could have been lost…!

Paul and Barbara had been married just five days earlier and were enjoying the restaurants and shops near their hotel here on the Big Island of Hawaii. As Paul tried on some Maui Jim sunglasses, he looked as his hand to admire this wedding ring – which was missing!

They’d seen a detectorist in the early morning combing the beach and didn’t want to loose their ring forever – so looked us up online to find and return their ring. We got to their hotel as soon as possible and decided that the small bay they’d spent the morning swimming in was a good place to start. Again, they weren’t sure if it was lost in the water, the sand, the hotel or the shops…!

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Brent Madison of Big Island Metal Detecting explains the basics of the Excalibur II metal detector and how small, lost gold rings can turn into big, found signals for recovery. Big Island, Hawaii.

Paul wasn’t a strong swimmer so we were confident that scuba wouldn’t be necessary though we’d packed our dive gear in the car.

I looked where Paul had rented a stand-up paddleboard while Sylvie searched the sandy bottom where Paul had remembered swimming in the warm, tropical waters of the bay.

Sylvie and I started our grid pattern searches with our metal detectors.

Beaches on the Big Island of Hawaii are so heavily searched by treasure hunters that neither of us hit any of the trash often found on other beaches around the world. We were well into our search pattern – at least 45 minutes – when I heard my name called and saw Paul and Sylvie “high-five’ing” nearby.

Sylvie had been carefully following her search pattern and talking to Paul as he snorkeled and bobbed around her. Suddenly she’d hit a “huge target” in her underwater headphones – then as suddenly, lost the signal. She was so deep in the water that she couldn’t hold the target under her detector and dig the target at the same time.

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Sylvie Madison of Big Island Metal Detecting gears up with her Garrett Sea Hunter metal detector to look in the water for a lost, men’s wedding ring. Big Island, Hawaii.

“Hold the detector here!” she told Paul, handing him her Garrett SeaHunter II, after she’d reacquired the signal. Sylvie dug and nothing. Then dug in the sandy bottom again.

In her scoop was Paul’s lost ring straining out of the sand. Barbara had been watching from beachside and rushed into the water when Sylvie pulled it from her scoop.

We all stood in the water admiring their newly found wedding ring, delighted together in Sylvie’s find. We laughed that Paul could start relaxing again on his honeymoon!

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A platinum wedding ring which was lost and found on the beaches of the Kohala Coast, Big Island, Hawaii.

Not knowing where they’d lost it, it seemed it had been the luck of the Irish to reunite them – a small ring in such a large world! Barbara was quick to qualify the reason – she’d been praying to St. Anthony, her patron saint, since they’d discovered the ring had been missing.

God knows the reasons some rings are found or not – and in the end, Paul, Barbara and us at Big Island Metal Detecting are all thankful that we could be part of the discovery of their lost treasure. Especially so early on in their new marriage!

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Sylvie, Paul, Barbara and Brent give the Hawaiian “shaka” after their successful recovery of Paul’s lost wedding band. Big Island, Hawaii.

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Lost Men’s Wedding Ring Found in the Ocean at Beach 69, Puako, Big Island, Hawaii

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“Never Go, Never Know”

Meredith called me and was not happy. Her husband had lost his wedding ring while in the water at Beach 69 just up the road from the famed Hapuna Beach.

They’d waited three days before calling – having spent their time snorkeling to look for it. Should they call me to look for it professionally, or just assume it was lost to the water and waves of Hawaii’s Big Island? They didn’t know what to do. “Was there a chance I’d find it before returning home to Vancouver tomorrow?” she asked.

I’ve found lost rings up to a month after being lost and asked her about the ocean conditions. Beach 69, like Hapuna, can have a vicious west swell so I’m cautious with my predictions due to waves and current.  Conditions were calm and the water clear she assured me. I got to the beach and conditions were excellent – the water was clear and there was barely a ripple.

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A happy client with his lost gold ring – now a found gold ring by Big Island Metal Detecting’s Brent Madison! Beach 69, Puako, Big Island Hawaii.

 

Meredith’s husband met me on the beach and showed me how he’d been throwing a football (he’s left handed) in the water and getting tackled by his brother-in-law. It could be anywhere along a semi-rocky area 100 feet long just off the sandy beach. I started my search at the deepest point in the water that I could reach to beat the rising tide, hoping all along that the ring hadn’t gone flying off his hand into yet deeper water.

I combed the sand-and-stone bottom carefully and as I got shallower, with more breathing room, could get creative. I asked where the guys had gone charging into the water, where the tackles happened and where they’d snorkeled. In the end, I decided to start my search in the general area where he’d first gotten into the water. Back and forth I went, hearing nothing through the headphones – and then a big signal.

I dropped to the stony bottom underwater on my knees and fanned the sand with my hand to expose the target below. Nothing. I did it again, going deeper through small stones and sand. Suddenly a massive gold ring with a central platinum band emerged out of the hole. In only three days in the water, the ring had been buried – deeper and deeper – by its shear weight and the gentle motion of the waves.

I held the ring in my hand underwater and admired it, thanked God for letting it still be there, then surfaced. Meredith rushed out and her sister-in-law started clapping as did others on the beach who’d been watching the search.

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A beautiful, large men’s wedding ring made of gold and platinum found in the water by Big Island Metal Detecting Hawaii for their client from Canada on Beach 69, Kohala Coast, Hawaii.

“I didn’t think you’d find it!,” she said before taking it and swimming back to shore with it tightly in her hand. Her husband swam over from deeper water and congratulated me. He told me they’d thought it would be on the ocean floor forever – that they had called me as a last desperate move, a final Hail-Mary as it were before heading back to Canada.

To find lost rings, we can never know what the final outcome will be – though, my wife Sylvie often says, “Never go, never know.”

 

 

Call us at Big Island Metal Detecting to find your lost ring on the Big Island of Hawaii. We’re Hawaii’s TRUSTED metal detecting and ring recovery service. (808) 430 – 5660.

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Lost Ring?! Call us immediately to help you find it! We’re Hawaii’s TRUSTED metal detecting and ring recovery service.

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Diamond Engagement FOUND after Snorkeling in Hilo, Big Island, Hawaii!

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“Rae of Hope”

We got the call to go to Hilo to find a lost diamond engagement ring on a recent, rainy afternoon. It’s an two hour drive away and the ring was lost at Onekahakaha Beach Park in the public swimming area.

Raelyn met us in the parking lot with her young son and we quickly got the full story. She had tried snorkeling for the first time ever in the large but protected, rock-and-sandy bay. After only a few minutes of putting on her mask and snorkel, she stood up in chest deep water and realized that her precious diamond engagement ring was missing from her finger. It had definitely been on as she’d gotten in the water as, ironically, she’d removed her gold wedding band so as not to lose it!

Finding a lost diamond engagement with Big Island Metal Detecting

A happy moment after finding Raelyn’s lost engagement ring at Onekahakaha Beach Park, Hilo, Big Island, Hawaii.

We retraced her steps into the water along a small sea wall which jutted into the shallow bay with little steps down either side. She showed us how she’d walked into the deeper water, put on her mask and paddled around into deeper water. As the tide was at its lowest, we decided to start at the deepest point she’d been, which was now just over waist deep. As we searched, Raelyn and her son swam and watched us carefully metal detect the sandy bottom. Every once in a while we’d ask her to try and remember exactly where she’d been, or if we were still in the same area she remembered being in.

WATCH THE VIDEO!

Several times when retracing her movements she mentioned swimming away from shallow, brown stones. I thought it was an interesting thing to remember and asked her to show me where the brown stones were. Just near the entrance of the swimming area, where she’d first put on her mask, was a small field of algae-covered, cannonball-sized stones. I decided to try my luck and started searching the area using a newly purchased Minelab Excalibur. Sylvie faithfully continued hunting the deeper water with her Garrett SeaHunter. Looking over at Raelyn, she was now sitting on the nearby sand talking to her husband on the phone while her son played in the shallows. A glint of white gold peaked out from under the sand in about knee-deep water as I turned back. I’d found it!

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A beautiful, recovered diamond engagement ring from the shallow waters of Onekahakaha Beach Park, Hilo, Hawaii, found by Brent and Sylvie Madison of Big Island Metal Detecting.

 

I signaled Sylvie and Raelyn then turned on the GoPro to film it coming out of the sand, “live”! Both ladies rushed over and I pulled the ring out out of the sand and handed it to a jubilant Raelyn! She held her hands over her mouth for a moment in disbelief. “I’d just told my husband on the phone I didn’t think we’d find it!”

There IS always a ray of hope when looking for lost rings – and we’re so happy when it shines down on our clients.

 

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Contact us immediately if you’ve lost your ring or other valuable! We’re Hawaii’s TRUSTED metal detecting and recovery service.

 

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Ring Recovery in Water at the Fairmont Orchid Hotel, Mauna Lani, Big Island Hawaii

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Happy vacationers on the Big Island of Hawaii celebrate their found wedding rings at the Fairmont Orchid Hotel with Brent and Sylvie Madison.

 

HAPPY WIFE – HAPPY LIFE:
Wedding Band Recoveries in the Water at the Fairmont Orchid Hotel, Mauna Lani, Big Island Hawaii

Logan and Samantha had been swimming in the lagoon at midnight after a work conference at The Fairmont Orchid Hawaii on the Big Island, Hawaii. They, along with friends and colleagues, had been having fun in the water after a work wrap-up party.

Sam realized her wedding band had slipped off her finger into the dark water. But she quickly realized she’d lost not just one but two rings! Her engagement ring must have come off first – but she had no idea where that had been lost – in the water, on the shore – where?!? Her wedding band now also seemed lost in the dark forever.

We got “the call” the next morning and arrived at the small bay an hour before noon to search for the lost rings. Sam looked distraught and Logan looked really unhappy at the situation of his unhappy wife!
We started looking right away, with Sylvie searching the shallows with her Garrett Sea Hunter and me going a little deeper in the water with my Minelab Excalibur II.

The Fairmont Hotel has little water movement so our biggest concern to recovering the ring was that fact that it was so late in the afternoon already – maybe the beach had been searched earlier that morning and the rings had been found by treasure hunters!

After an hour of carefully detecting back-and-forth I suddenly hit a strong signal. There had been no other solid signals until then, deepening our fears that the area had already been detected. I scooped the signal in the water – nothing – then scooped again. A diamond-encrusted wedding band was in the scoop! Logan ran over and while happy for the find, was now concerned to find the second, more valuable engagement ring. We continued to search – going over and over the area we thought it was in.

Sylvie expanded the search area and signaled that she’d found something under the sand. Her detector does not discriminate between metal objects like mine does, so she dug in the sand (under about 2 feet of water with her long-handled scoop), not sure if she’d be pulling out a bottle cap or a ring.

Sylvie looked into the basket of her scoop and grabbed something and held it high for Logan and Sam to see who were down the beach. The entire beach – even the beach bar – all started clapping! Sylvie held a large, gleaming two-carat engagement ring in her fingers. The beachgoers must have been watching the long hunt and the applause was great, but seeing Sam reunited with her treasures – and Logan’s praise and relief were worth a million!

Sylvie always says that we’re in the Business of Saving Marriages This time it really was our own ‘married teamwork’ that saved the day with one ring-recovery each!

Follow our Big Island Hawaii adventures on our Website and Facebook too:

https://www.facebook.com/TreasureBeachS/

http://bigislandmetaldetecting.com/

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These gold and platinum rings were found and returned in the water by Big Island Metal Detecting. A whopping $30,000 was the combined cost of these beautiful treasures!

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Newlyweds’ Lost Wedding Ring FOUND at the Hilton Hotel, Big Island, Hawaii

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SEE THE FIND-Movie!!! Finding Vans Ring

Van and Ellie called us with bad news and good news.

The bad news was that Van had been swimming in the Hilton hotel’s lagoon in Waikoloa and lost his new wedding ring! He’d put sunscreen on and within minutes of getting in, felt it fly off as he moved his hand through the water. The good news was that since he had felt it slip off – he’d marked the precise location, time and depth before calling us.

There were no waves in the lagoon, the deepest part of the lagoon was shoulder depth and within a controlled space (as opposed to a public one – so someone who may have seen them searching couldn’t return and keep Van’s ring if found).

We met them at the entrance to the main lobby where the hotel had also arranged security to log us in and bring us to the lagoon. We were relieved for the buggy ride as the hotel grounds are huge and we’d brought two underwater detectors as well as light scuba gear in case…

Van climbed over the rocks and went into the water with me while Sylvie gave me (and Van’s wife Ellie) moral support from the nearby shore. Sylvie didn’t get in as I thought it would be a quick find – since everything was going in our favor – it was almost an “ideal” location.

One and a half hours later, I was starting to worry… We’d gone over-and-over the square he’d marked the moment his ring was lost. I continued to expand the search at every pass. Sylvie called over, “Should I gear up and bring in the Sea Hunter?” We use the pulse induction Garrett Sea Hunter MkII with a big coil in clean sandy-bottomed areas.

“I think so…” I replied not sure how I – or my Minelab Excalibur could have missed the ring. I was getting cold  and frustrated that something seemingly so right had gone so wrong.

Just as Sylvie started walking over to get the other detector I suddenly heard the loud clear tone that tungsten makes in my headphones. “Cancel that!” I yelled over to Sylvie. Van looked up. He was holding the Go Pro and started filming. I stuck my head in the water, scooped and looked into the basket. “Does it look something like this?!” I asked, picking the ring out of the mud and stones.

Van and Ellie were so relieved to have their precious ring found!

And so were we – Phew!

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Lost Men’s Wedding Ring Found at Makalawena Beach, Big Island, Hawaii!

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I got a phone call in the late afternoon from a woman asking if I were “that Ring Finding guy”.

“That’s me!” I replied and another lost-ring story unfolded…

Marina and Sergey had been down on the remote Makalawena Beach taking photos while on their honeymoon. The couple, visiting from Oregon, had only been on the Big Island of Hawaii for a few days.

After applying sunscreen, the two posed for fun photos, playing in the wet sand near the water. One photo Sergey had his ring on – then the next –  he didn’t! They literally showed us photos in the series on-and-off!

“My ring!,” he’d exclaimed. A heavy, tungsten ring, it had vanished without a trace in the deep sand. The group spent the rest of the afternoon digging for it to no avail.

The next morning Sylvie and I picked up Marina and Sergey and their cousin in our truck and started the long, bumpy 4×4 trail that headed down to the remote beach.

Once we’d hiked to the spot along the beach, my heart fell. Though we’d checked the tide charts, high tide was on its way in force – washing higher and higher over the spot Sergey had noticed the ring had gone missing.

Switching the detector on right away I got a target signal but digging the spot only hit lava rock below a thin layer of sand. Sylvie scanned the beach above the tide line in case the ring had been washed up there during the night’s high tide. I came back and back to that same place where I’d gotten the signal, fighting the water and waves as they got higher.

Sergey had tried digging with his hands while I showed him the place. Our long-handled scoop was useless as it was blocked by the lava rock buried beneath the sand – the water came in waves too strong and too rapid to have a chance to get to it. Sergey was on his hands and knees. “Try to feel under the rock and in crevasses for anything that moves,” I told him as both his arms were buried in sand.  Almost two hours had passed at this point and we’d all lost hope that we’d find it.

Suddenly, Sergey stood up and yelled, “I got it!” – He’d felt under the rock and took hold of what moved in his fingers. If it had slipped, the ring would have been sucked out into the now-heavy surf.

All of us jumped around and celebrated. “This ring couldn’t be replaced,” explained Marina. “It was blessed by the church and we believe that we can only get one of these in our lives!”

Better get it resized!

 

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bimd-sm-biz-card--with-bleed-legAlso check out www.BigIslandMetalDetecting.com for more photos!

Click here for a Google link to pics of the beach.

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