A Tearful Call and a Surprise Recovery at St. Paul Beach
A Tearful Call and a Joyful Reunion at St. Paul Beach
On a busy Friday evening, I was just pulling into work when fellow Ring Finder Darrin Gray called. A young woman in St. Paul was in tears—she’d lost her ring at a local beach and needed urgent help. I was only 6-8 minutes away, so I agreed to meet her, despite not having my usual gear with me.When I arrived, I remembered a small handheld detector tucked behind my truck’s seat. With traffic heading out of town at a standstill, driving home for my full setup would’ve taken 2-3 hours—time we didn’t have. The handheld unit hadn’t been used in two years, and I had zero expectations the battery would even work. To my surprise, it powered on!I waded into the water in my jeans, armed with the little detector and its 6-inch coil. The search area was about 60×60 feet, and covering it with such a small coil was slow going, sweeping a path just 6-7 feet wide. Back and forth I went, determined to give it my all. After two and a half hours of meticulous searching, I finally got a solid signal—and there it was, her ring!The woman had left to take her toddler home, just three blocks away. I called her with the good news, and she was overcome with joy, to say the least. She rushed back to the beach, tears streaming down her face again—this time from happiness. The look of relief and gratitude as she was reunited with the ring she thought was gone forever made every minute of that search worthwhile
Jason asked if I could look for his wedding band that he was sure was lost forever. Gave it a 3% chance of finding but had me look anyway for closure. He estimated it was lost on a sandbar in the gulf about 50 feet off shore and within a 250 linear foot sandbar. I Started a grid and found it just about in the center of the area. Jason was attending to his baby back at the condo when I found it but the rest of his family and in-laws were watching my progress from the beach. Everyone was impressed with the recovery thinking that the search was a folly. Jason was extremely happy and I’m sure the rest of his vacation was regret free. Glad I could help! 
Sue lost her wedding ring set at Gulf Shores a couple day before calling me for help. She didn’t know where to go and it took a day or so to find someone who could help. I told her i would be there first thing in the morning. I met her where she and the family were staying and we walked to the beach area she thinks it was lost. She wasn’t sure how it was lost, where it might be or if it was even on the beach but felt hopefully it was on the beach. She talked about the day it was lost and her activities and locations. The house and car had been searched and it wasn’t there, so logicly it must on the way to the beach or somewhere on the beach. She showed me the various places they were on the beach and the routes to and from those various places. With that information I put together a search plan and proceeded. After about 30 minutes and after digging several other targets I got a very good signal and knew i found something good. I dug it and showed it to Sue who shouted you found it! She was very, very happily. I’m glad I found it for her, it made both our days. 
Jason lost his wedding band in the sand at Pensacola Beach on Sunday. He called that evening and i said I would help and agreed to meet first thing Monday morning at the beach. Jason had a fairly large area identified as the target area. There wasn’t anyone on the beach and the weather was comfortable. I started a grid and searching it pretty fast while Jason was working the phone lining up his days business. Fortunately his ring was in the area he designated. I found it in record time and it was back on his finger and he back to work on time! 
I was called to find a ring on Robinson Island late Saturday afternoon the day before Easter. The ring was lost in the water near the their boat when the owner threw the anchor to set a stern line in about waist deep water. By the time I got there the party and most of the boats had gone home, so it was easy to maneuver while searching except for the pop tops and pull tabs. When you’re hunting jewelry you can’t depend on knowing the metallurgy so you have got to dig everything. I wasn’t counting but I’ll bet I dug over 100 pull tabs. That said when I finally located the ring the data from my detector was unmistakable. Ring was recovered, we got back to the dock with a little sun left and the the family was all happy.
This nice lady lost her beautiful wedding ring in the woods across the street from her home. But she wasn’t sure where. I searched using a detector with a small coil so I could check in weeds, brush and around trees. It took about an hour to find it in some weeds it fell into, out of sight, next to a pine tree. The detector was telling me right where it was but I couldn’t see it. It had fallen down to soil level in a tight clump of weeds. She couldn’t believe I found if. I wa happy too because it could have been anywhere. It was quite different from a beach search.