25 July 2026.

About 6:30 PM, as I was sitting contently on my back deck, basking in lazy late afternoon sunshine with a cold drink in hand, the phone rang for the third time today.  Chelsea was calling from Bowerman’s Beach (where I always leave a Ring Finders card) in hopes that I could come and recover her lost gold band.  Having been in the water for much of the day, and it now being high tide, I naturally asked when and how deep in the water the ring was lost.  To my relief Chelsea assured me that the ring was in dry sand, lost where she had been relaxing ashore near the beach house.

The beach is only a few minutes away from my home, so I arrived not long after Chelsea’s call.  The sand had been smoothed out a bit over the general area where she had been sitting, which made it easier to swing my detector.  It took only a couple of swaths and a couple of minutes to recover her ring.  The band was  fine and slender, half of a pair of twins.  It gave a lighter signal than the usual chunkier versions, but the signal was plenty strong enough to leave no doubt that it was a good, ring-like target.  Following some happy conversation and thanks from Chelsea and the beach manager, I headed home, detector secured, for the fourth time since sunrise.

And that, my friends, concluded a very productive and gratifying day!

 

 

25 July 2026.

Following the successful search and recovery of Helene’s ring I headed home, had some breakfast, and then opted to pursue an ongoing search for a men’s wedding ring that had been lost at New Silver Beach.  I started that search two weeks ago in a very large, poorly defined area that presumably was between a pair of jetties.  Subsequently I’d managed two more trips, expanding the search area when wind & tides permitted and I was not traveling.  I hoped that today’s effort would bring a successful conclusion.  Unfortunately that was not to be and I reluctantly have to close the book on that venture, at least for the time being.

After exiting the water I found a message from a lady who’d lost her wedding ring back at Old Silver Beach (a busy beach today!).  When I called I learned that she’d been able to contact another Ring Finder who was on his way from the Outer Cape, so hopefully she will have her ring recovered by late afternoon.

In mid-afternoon I received a call from Cody, who’d lost a Tiffany platinum ring in dry sand while racking a kayak at Saconesset Beach.  This promised to be a much simpler task than those involved in the prior experiences of the day, and I arrived a short time later to do a search.  Cody felt that the ring was within a 2’-3’ area; the only problem was that the area had beach-rose bushes and heavy beach grass.  After some probing with a pinpointer I opted to check the surrounding area with my detector, and within a minute I recovered the ring from an adjacent path where it was covered by only a half inch of sand.

The story was that the ring belonged to Cody’s buddy, who had asked Cody to hang onto it for him while he went in the water – a wise move, especially with a ring made from heavy platinum.  Cody stored the ring on his finger, up against his own wedding ring, which gave it uncertain purchase and facilitated its escape as he racked the kayak.  Cody, of course, was crestfallen when the ring slipped away.  Fortunately he learned about the Ring Finders from other folks in the immediate area and gave me a call.  I’ve recovered two rings for others there in the past two years – word gets around!

Yes, a good day, and I returned home for a snack and drink on the deck on a bluebird late afternoon.  But there was still more to come….. (continued in Episode 3).

 

 

25 July 2026.

Sometimes ‘when it rains it pours’.  It began yesterday afternoon with a call from Helene.  She was deeply upset about the loss of a wedding ring in the water at Old Silver Beach and she asked if I could come search for it.  I arrived within about 15 minutes and listened to her story.  Helene, her daughter Bella, and her companion were taking a swim out to the buoy centered offshore when the ring in question, which was on Bella’s hand, slipped off in about belly- to chest-deep water.  The particularly poignant element of this story is that the ring was incredibly special, not because of any intrinsic value but because of its source.  It had belonged to Helene’s mother, who had passed away less than a week ago.  Needless to say, this was a heartbreaking tragedy, even more so than in many other situations where I’ve been called for help.

After determining the facts about the likely location of the loss, I followed Bella into the water to begin the search.  Unfortunately, it quickly became apparent that the water depth at the presumed location was well over the 6’ top of my head, and a search at the current level of the incoming tide would be impossible.  I headed back to shore, where we had a discussion that suggested the loss may have been somewhat closer to shore and thus in shallower water.  I pursued a search there, working from deep to shallow, until I was clearly out of the loss area.  It was nearly high tide.

Back ashore, I reviewed the story once more to get the best possible information about where the ring could be.  I was determined to make a recovery as soon as possible, especially because Old Silver is a popular beach for metal detecting and the ring could easily be found by someone else and ‘vanish forever’.  Fortunately, the next-coming low tide would be in the middle of the night – a very unlikely time for anyone to be detecting – and the following low would be late morning today, meaning that I could search fairly early this AM on an outgoing tide.  I told Helene to have faith, and that I’d be back early this AM to continue the search.

This AM I arrived at the beach about 0745, set out a pair of buoys to mark an edge of the search area (I use half-gallon milk cartons anchored with heavy lead fishing weights otherwise found while detecting), and began my search.  It only took about 4 swaths and 20 minutes before I had that beautiful ring in my scoop, in chest-deep water.  Relief, happiness, maybe a tinge of disbelief – I reveled in those special emotions that make it so satisfying to me to pursue this effort of helping folks when their spirits are low.  But the best part of course was yet to come – a phone call to Helene with the good news, a meet-up with her and Bella at the beach, and the ensuing joyful, shared emotions and conversation.  This was a hugely satisfying start to the day, but there was more yet to come!  Read on in the following posts.