hawaii Tag | The Ring Finders

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


 

“”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!

Ringfinder members featured in the Tigard, Oregon news!

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

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!

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

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!

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.

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

“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.

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

“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.

 

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.

Large Diamond Ring Found in Kailua Kona, Hawaii

The latest ring found in Kailua Kona!

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We got the call to find a lost diamond ring – a 2+ carat stone set in heavy gold – at a private residence.
The ring had bounced out the bedroom door at night – and couldn’t be found on the balcony or yard below. Due to the massive rains we’d been having, and the fact that the grass would be mowed the next day, we got the urgent call and luckily could come over the same day.
I looked under the balcony, around the bushes to the side of the balcony, and finally in the yard. About 20 yards away it sat tucked in the thick grass below – the ring must have rolled down the length of the balcony before tumbling off. Another happy ring recovery!

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Two Lost Diamond Rings Recovered in Hawi on the Big Island of Hawaii

Avesta and Hamid with Brent and Sylvie Madison after finding their lost diamond rings in Hawi on Hawaii's Big Island.

Avesta and Hamid with Brent and Sylvie Madison after finding their lost diamond rings in Hawi on Hawaii’s Big Island.

The beautiful lost and recovered rings of Avesta from the State Park in Hawi, Hawaii (Big Island).

The beautiful lost and recovered rings of Avesta from the State Park in Hawi, Hawaii (Big Island).

 

We got an urgent call from a family on vacation who had lost two diamond rings in the water near Hawi, Hawaii (Big Island), while swimming with their children in the ocean.

We drove about 1 hour and 45 minutes to the small State Park of Keokea to recover the rings and met them in the parking lot.

It turns out that Avesta had lost both of her precious rings – one a diamond ring with a whooping 2.75 carats in platinum. The disappointment of both Avesta and her husband, Hamid, was visible at loosing their valuable rings but they were both optimistic at our chances of finding them.

I put my mask on and hit the shallow water with my Excalibur II metal detector. After a 30 minute search we had found a pocket full of coins but no rings. Swinging back into a sandy area, suddenly I heard the low growl of platinum in my metal detector’s headphones. “I don’t want to give you false hope but think I’ve found a ring,” I said.

Sure enough, the basket held a gleaming ring with nine diamonds in a row. Hamid picked it out of the basket, happy, and eager to see if the second ring was also nearby. As I put the detector back in the water, a second signal was instantly in the headphones!  And right there, we recovered both rings, one after the other, where they had been lost and sunken into the sand. The second ring we recovered was a whooping 2.75 carat diamond ring – you can see the joy and surprise on their faces on the video – when getting back their lost – and now found – treasure!

“Lucky me that I found you guys. Thank GOD!!!!!” Avesta wrote in an email the next day.  “Phewwww so lucky I am!! FYI it was our 8 year anniversary the day you found the ring, makes it even more special.”