Man’s Wedding Band Lost in the Sand, Found and Returned Holden Beach NC
This adventure started when I saw a FB post on the Holden Beach FB Group page stating the author Susie’s nephew had lost his wedding ring while playing catch on the beach. I commented on the post saying, “Call me if I can help” along with a link to my Blog in TheRingFinders.com web page. I also sent her pm with the same information. A short time later Susie responded to my pm and we went back and forth with questions and answers. At the end, I told her I was on my way and gave her my eta.
I arrived shortly before 830 pm and messaged Susie saying, “I’m here.” I met Susie’s nephew, Bailey in the driveway and we walked out on the beach. By now it was getting dark, but Bailey was able to show me the suspected area where he had been playing catch. He said that he and his brother had been playing catch and at some point, his ring slipped off his finger. Luckily, he caught it and put it back on his finger. He then said when they were finished playing catch; he went back to where the family was sitting and joined them. The suspected area wasn’t huge, but it was big enough and it was pitch black by then. After 2 hours of doing grid searches in both the suspected area and where the family had been sitting by headlamp, I wasn’t having any luck. I called it a night, thinking I’d be back the following day with a much larger and expanded search area. I didn’t convey my plan to Bailey when we said goodbye. I had a few things I needed to get done the next day and I wanted to make sure I wasn’t making a promise I couldn’t keep.
Today, Thursday everything had worked out and I let Susie know by messenger that I was coming back up, which she agreed to. Then I called my good friend, Burwin and told him what was going on and asked if he wanted to come along. He quickly agreed, which he always does when I ask. We got there shortly after 5 pm and I showed Burwin the 2 areas. I took the Family gathering spot and Burwin started a grid search in the suspected area. While I’m working my area, Burwin was expanding his grid search across the top of the beach along the high tide line. Burwin then started working an east/west gird search down the sloop towards the oceans, which was about mid tide by then. A short time later, I look to see where Burwin was and I see him raising his arm, which only meant one thing – He Found It! Where he found it was completely on the opposite side of the suspected area of the beach. I knew Bailey, Susie and the rest of the family were at dinner, so I took a picture of the ring and sent it to them. Within a couple of minutes, I got a message from Susie saying “OMG!!!!! They are so happy!!!!” I responded that I was leaving the ring under a shell on a table on the back porch. Another happy ending and a vacation saved.
Burwin – Thanks Buddy!! I appreciate you and all your help!
Bailey – Thanks for trusting us to help get your ring back where it belongs.
Jim
While traveling back home from Arkansas over the weekend I had encountered a big mishap at our stop over outside of St Louis on Saturday night.
I was on the road heading home from a recovery, when I saw a message come across from Alan. He lost a very sentimental gold charm, on the volleyball court the day before and was very interested to see if I would be able to locate it with my metal detector. He told me it was a private location, and with that I knew I had some time before I had to get to his recovery. I asked him to give me a call later on in the evening and I would see what other calls I had in that area and try to schedule them together. As it turns out, I was heading up to that area the next morning and told Alan I would do his recovery right after I finished the first one I had already scheduled . I got all the details I needed, as he was 95% sure the Charm was on the volleyball court. Once I got there I made a couple of paths along the one side of the court, when I got a sweet tone from my metal detector, and sure enough, it turned out to be his charm. I sent Alan a picture, which he could not believe that I was able to locate it. He was not in the area anymore, so he requested that I leave the charm with the homeowner. Alan requested to withhold his picture, and I fully understand , some people just don’t want to be on Facebook. Another recovery in the books .
I notice a text from Christopher requesting some help in locating Sandra’s David Yurman bracelet she had somehow lost on the beach in LBI the day before. They were not exactly positive that it was lost on the beach, but figured it was the most likely place it could be. The day before Sandra and some friends were doing some whale watching from the beach, and getting some excellent drone footage of the whales at the same time. That made me just a little nervous, as the whales move rather quickly up and down the beach, and it was very possible Sandra did the same. We arranged to meet at the house and walked up to the beach, while we discussed exactly what area they had spent most of the day prior. I asked Christopher to walk in front of me to box out the spot, as I followed behind, dragging my sand scoop around the perimeter. It was just a short while later, right in front of a group of people, that actually follow NJ Ring Finder on Facebook, where my metal detector got a loud signal, consistent with the bangle bracelet. Sure enough, It was Sandra’s bracelet, safe in my sand scoop, after spending two days buried in the Jersey Shore sand. Another near tragedy turned into memories !!!!
It was a beautiful day at the Jersey Shore, so why not take your dog to the beach??? After all, they love the water just as much as humans. And thats exactly what Lucy did that morning after she woke up. It was quite a few hours later that Lucy had a horrible mishap that you would wish on nobody !!!! She was throwing her dogs toy straight out into the water, when he beautiful Carter Trinity Rings flew off he finger. At that point she went into panic mode as many do, and began franticly searching without any luck. After about an hour she reached out to me. After getting all the details we had to act quickly, as the tide was coming in fast, do to the full moon. Once I arrived, she showed me the spot she believed the rings flew off, and I quickly got to work. I went out deep to start, knowing it would be over my head shortly. Having no luck, I worked 50′ paths back in to about knee deep water. Knowing time was running out, I went back out to about waist deep water. The greenhead fly’s were really having their feast on my upper body, so patients were growing very short. Making short sweeps, from waist to knee deep water, to expand my search area, to see if possibly they flew off to the side a bit. After about 25′ more feet to the south, BINGO !!!!! I got a fantastic hit, which I prayed was not a sinker or military debris, as this particular is littered with. After shaking out all the fine particles from my scoop, there, in the corner under a few shells, were Lucy’s rings. With a sigh of relief, I slowly walked out of the water, telling Lucy I was getting eaten alive. She looked very disappointed, figuring I was giving up, I told her to take a look into my scoop. Its at that very moment that makes doing this so so rewarding ! The emotions really tell a story of their own.
I received a text from Robyn in reference to a St Michaels pendant that was lost the prior day on a softball field. She had said it had extreme sentimental value, and it had been given to her nephew by his grandmother quite a while back. After getting all the details, we agreed on a time to meet at the ball field. If you know about softball, prior to the game, there is quite a bit of workouts that take place. That said, I started my search on first base, one of the locations it may have come off. Then searched the dugouts with no luck. Checked around home plate where batting practice took place, and still nothing. Then down the 3rd base line where lots of throwing and stretching take place prior to the game, yep you guessed it nothing. So, I walked back to the bleachers where Robyn was sitting, and talking with Michael, her nephew, who lost the pendent. After talking with him he mentioned that after playing first base, he went into the dugout, then out to coach 3rd base, the only spot left to search. Guess what, thats right, nothing again. Something is not right, he positively lost it on the field, but one KEY detail we missed. While heading out to coach 3rd base, he noticed the end of the chain hanging way down by his belt, with the cross stuck on the lobster claw clasp. But, everything was already searched. I stood back deep on the grass/clay line where he might have been playing, mumbling to myself, that I covered from the pitchers mound, all the way to the dugout, and even back on the grass a bit. It was then I realized I hadn’t covered right behind the mound where a first baseman would charge hard to make the cutoff on a line drive to second base. It was just a few moments later the pendant was recovered, right where I just mentioned. This is a perfect example of why we ask so many questions when doing a recovery, that one clue of the chain hanging low, could have eliminated all the extra searching. Regardless, another very happy ending.
