Arlene’s day at Island Beach State Park with her family took a frustrating turn when they realized her car keys were missing. As they had spent part of the day digging a massive “moon crater” in the sand, searching for the keys in the fading light became impossible. With no luck finding them, the situation escalated into a stressful evening. They called for an Uber, only to be denied entry at the guard shawl. Leading them to reach out to the park police. Fortunately, the police were helpful, giving them a ride to the guard shack where they could catch a ride home to retrieve spare keys and eventually return to pick up their car.
Arlene called me the next day, hoping I could help her locate the missing keys. I assured her that car keys usually don’t bury themselves too deeply in the sand, so we had a good chance of success. I arrived early at the beach and began searching near a hole I found. When Arlene arrived, she explained that I was in the wrong spot—it was actually further down the beach. She pointed to a few possible locations, but with the beach looking completely different after a day, it was hard for her to pinpoint the exact spot.
We noticed another large area farther from the dune walkover, which seemed like a better candidate for where the moon crater had been. While Arlene reviewed some pictures, I continued my search. Soon, I got a strong signal, and sure enough, her keys were buried over a foot deep in the sand. When I handed them to her, she suddenly remembered that they had been in her pocket, not on the cooler as she originally thought. They must have fallen out when they were filling in the crater, but luckily, they weren’t buried at the bottom of the three-foot-deep hole. If that had been the case, my detector wouldn’t have been able to pick them up, and Arlene would have been stuck with the costly task of replacing the key fob.
In the end, I was thrilled to find the keys for her, especially after the ordeal she had gone through the night before. What started as a stressful situation turned into relief, and it all worked out.
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Pat sent me a text inquiring about recovering his lost wedding ring. He was on the beach the day before, and when they arrived home, he realized his wedding ring was missing. After going over the details, we decided I would head out right after work that day. He had some great photos that would zero me in on the spot they had set up their chairs that day. Pat was a few hours away, so we decided that the pictures and his friend’s information would be all I needed to put me on the right spot. Once I got to the beach, I headed to the area he said they were in, checked the pictures, and looked for some fixed objects his friend said he remembered seeing. Everything lined up so I began my search. After a few times back and forth, I noticed some signs of another detector being there, and my heart sank. Thats never a good thing to see while doing a recovery. Well, lucky for Pat, the other person was not to thorough, and within 10 minutes the ring was safely in my sand scoop. I took some pics and headed back to my truck. I transferred them to a text message, then called Pat. I told him I searched the entire area, and there were signs of another person in the area. You could tell by the tone in his voice, he was not happy to hear that, and then I sent pics and asked him to confirm they matched up to the location. The excitement in his voice when he saw his ring in those pics was priceless, I just wish I could have experienced that in person. We then made arrangements for him to swing by in a few days to pick up his ring.
Pat sent me a text inquiring about recovering his lost wedding ring. He was on the beach the day before, and when they arrived home, he realized his wedding ring was missing. After going over the details, we decided I would head out right after work that day. He had some great photos that would zero me in on the spot they had set up their chairs that day. Pat was a few hours away, so we decided that the pictures and his friend’s information would be all I needed to put me on the right spot. Once I got to the beach, I headed to the area he said they were in, checked the pictures, and looked for some fixed objects his friend said he remembered seeing. Everything lined up so I began my search. After a few times back and forth, I noticed some signs of another detector being there, and my heart sank. Thats never a good thing to see while doing a recovery. Well, lucky for Pat, the other person was not to thorough, and within 10 minutes the ring was safely in my sand scoop. I took some pics and headed back to my truck. I transferred them to a text message, then called Pat. I told him I searched the entire area, and there were signs of another person in the area. You could tell by the tone in his voice, he was not happy to hear that, and then I sent pics and asked him to confirm they matched up to the location. The excitement in his voice when he saw his ring in those pics was priceless, I just wish I could have experienced that in person. We then made arrangements for him to swing by in a few days to pick up his ring.
