Rose gold Star ring lost at South Beach Miami Beach , Florida… found and returned to the owner
I was Metal Detecting on South Beach Miami Beach , Florida When a woman approached me and asked me to help her find a ring that her husband lost a few moments earlier. I immediately found it and returned it to them within 10 minutes.
Keanna spent the day at the dog beach in Ocean Beach with friends, both human and furry. Sometime during her stay, her phone came up missing. She and her friends sifted through the sand trying to find it, but, we know the results of that effort…..nada. After an online search with her friend Kristen’s phone, The Ring Finders website came up and my info. Kristen contacted me on her phone asking for help. Being early afternoon on a Labor Day weekend, trying to make to their location right away would be almost impossible, so, since they planned on being there for a while, I told them I’d come later in the day when people started to leave the beach and I would actually be able to drive to the beach and find a parking spot. I arrived a bit after sunset and met up with Kristen in the parking lot. We trekked over to the area where the phone was lost, and where I met Keanna and the gang. Maybe a minute went by on my search and I get a fairly deep and large signal on my detector. Not wanting to accidentally damage her phone, I used my pin pointer to probe into the sand for the target. I wasn’t surprised to find her phone, as this was the signal I expected, but, I was surprised that it was 8-10 inches deep. We guessed that with the dogs digging and other activities around the camp that it must have ended up in a hole that got covered. The phone was still up and working, so, a happy Keanna and her friends could head home after a long day at the beach. Pleasure meeting you all and thank you for the reward.
I received a call from Carolyn requesting my service to locate her earing lost in her back yard! Carolyn was kneeling on the lawn when her dog jumped up and tried to chew her ear. He tugged on the earring and took off with it.
I met Carolyn this morning and she showed me the area. Thankfully Carolyn had left every thing the way it was when it happened which made my search easer. After tweaking my V3i to her other earring I began my search. After about an hour of searching I found her earring. I called Carolyn over to show her how well covered with grass her earing was. She was very happy to have her earring back!
Another Happy Client.
Sometimes everything comes together and no matter how lost something is, it’s just bound to be found. That was the case for this young lady on the beach yesterday afternoon who had lost a very important ring. It was already very late after work but I decided to hit the beach anyway. I had already gone to one parking area but after I walked all the way to the water I realized that I left my battery in the car. I walked all the way out and decided that I should head down the beach a bit because of a storm that was on the way. When I got there I decided to turn towards the rain cloud so that if I got caught in the storm, I would have the wind at my back running to the car. All of these things seemed to innocently transpire all to have BrieOcea come running up to me after only about five minutes on the beach. She asked if I was holding a metal detector and she looked hopeful when I told her I was. I asked her if she had lost something and she replied that she had dropped a ring that had been in her family for generations. I told her that I would be glad to take a look and asked her what the ring was made out of and when she lost it. She said it had almost been a week and that she thought it was silver. I think she saw me start to lose some confidence because she quickly assured me that it was a very small area. I asked her a little more about the ring and she said that there was a large black stone with a diamond in it. I made a note to dig everything because while possible, especially on older rings, diamonds are usually not on silver. I started gridding back and forth and it wasn’t long before she came over and said that her boyfriend had called from the condo and told her that we were slightly in the wrong spot. I made the adjustment and went back to the search. I found a coin or two and got my hopes up. Then I got a signal that could be trash but I knew it could also be gold. I went ahead and dug it because of my earlier thoughts about the diamond. I am very glad that I did because I pulled out a beautiful gold ring with a black stone and a diamond in it. When I called her over, she placed it back on her finger and she was just thrilled. She mentioned that she had made up her mind to not worry and let things work themselves out. When I told her the events that led me to her she said God must have sent me her way. Indeed! I am so very glad that I could help reunite you with such a special ring. 😃
Amy located me through theringfinders.com website. She lost her wedding ring and really wasn’t sure where. Her family had spent the day at the beach/park in Lake City Minnesota. While dining out that evening at a nearby restaurant, she noticed her ring was missing. They quickly backed tracked to the beach and parking area to search. As they talked to other people and park officials, they were informed of the ring finders website and Amy promptly called me. After talking about the scenario, we decided the best hope was on the beach or in the water. I met Amy’s husband Matt at the park and we did a quick search of the beach and water edge area. No luck. I suited up for a scuba search as Amy was swimming in water approx. 12 feet deep. It was a pretty large area to search and the water was murky with no visibility. When I get a hit on my metal detector I have to use feel to find the object. There was a lot of trash, I had to bring two full bags of trash back to shore and Matt would run it up to the trash can. After 3 hours underwater I was just about out of air and out of confidence. I don’t know what it was, maybe divine intervention? Though, I was just getting out of the water and something told me to turn back I try one more time. Within the next few seconds I got another hit and there was that beautiful ring. It truly was an incredible search and find – One I will never forget.
Congrats to Amy & Matt!!! I’m so glad I could help recover your lost valuable.
Darrin
I received a phone call from the mother of a friend of a gal that had lost her ring in the Apple River. For those that are unfamiliar with the Apple River, its about a 3.6-mile meandering river through the Wisconsin countryside. It has a couple of tubing companies that rent out tubes and will bring you back following your floating adventure. The summer weekends are always busy with floaters from all around. When floating it is always possible to drop something along the way.
Its not uncommon for people to get separated from some their possessions while enjoying a leisurely float down the river. If what you have lost floats you might be able to recover it quickly. Many people wear sandals and one gets knocked off, you can yell to a buddy to grab it or keep and eye on it and you will be able to recover it. Other times people may drop jewelry and not know where on the river it came off. When I received a phone call saying that a person had dropped a ring, I thought it would be almost impossible to find without a known location. Even with a location it is exceedingly difficult to find something like a ring. I mentioned to the mother that without a known location there is no way to find it.
Later the next night, I received another call, this time from Colton the fiancé of the Maria that had lost the ring. He said that he did have a known location and it happened to be where everyone gets out of the river following the ride. In the process of getting off the tube trying to get her feet under herself with the current and slippery submerged boulders under foot, she saw the ring slip off her finger and fall into the river. She was also trying to stay upright while catching some tipping coolers and contents. That night the group of friends ran to a local store and bought some snorkels and masks. They searched well into the night without finding the ring. That’s when they looked up Ring Finders and came across several of the Ring Finders in the area. They did call Ring Finder Darrin Gray. Darrin has been in Ring Finders the longest and has the recoveries to prove it. This one was further away for Darrin and he suggested them to call me Paul Nolan being closer to the location of the missing ring. I must give a shout out to the Minnesota Ring Finders and Darrin in particular; he works very well with the other Ring Finders in the area to help facilitate successful recoveries.
I arranged to meet Colton, Maria’s fiancé out on site to go over the particulars about the location for this recovery. I started out getting acquainted with the flow of the river and trying to determine how far out she was into the river. In the middle of the river the current is much swifter and moving quite a bit faster than near the edges. So the difference in 8-10 feet makes a huge difference on where the ring would end up on the bottom.
I jumped in with my Garrett AT Pro metal detector in hand and my pro point pin pointer. Both are water resistant up to about 10 feet. I start out generally making a primary search of that covers the area most likely to have the lost item. In this case there were all kinds of obstacles that were going to make things much more challenging. The current, other tubers coming down tied together in a big flotillas. The river is about 3-4 feet deep with a lot of large boulders hidden underwater. These boulders are covered with a slippery surface so walking in the river becomes incredibly challenging. Searching between the scattered rocks and with small debris from years of floaters like, rivets from jeans, bathing suit zippers, pop tops, and parts to glasses scattered about. All these metallic objects set off a metal detector. So I worked the area from a semi standing position, slipping and falling many times trying to locate the ring. My chins and legs where getting banged up by slipping on rocks. I think I spent 4-5 hours out on site the first day. The only reason I left that night was it was getting dark and I was the only one left. I decided it was just too dangerous being alone. So I packed it up for the night.
I went back out again the next day changing my approach slightly and brought goggles and a handheld pin pointer but now I switched over to a secondary search. This is a more methodical search of a grid area. You start out with 4×4 blocks and you search it and move over and search the next 4×4 grid. One trick I did was to turn off all other metal from what I was looking for. So knowing I was looking for a Gold ring turned all the other metals off and was running a very tight band. I did this for about 3 hours when my gear started getting waterlogged. A little water seeps in past some rubber o-rings and causes your equipment to become erratic. I also broke the plastic armrest on the detector fighting the current was putting so much pressure of the armrest. Adapting to the changing environment I spent the next 3 hours diving with goggles searching between rocks a looking in all the places that a ring might get lodged in. I had searched and area about 18’ x 40’ with some very strong current over half the area. Still nothing. I packed it in for the day and would go home and heal my legs and figure a way to modify the equipment to best work for the environment I was searching. So I dried everything out and went to work on making a new much shorter handle. I also switched to a smaller coil “the end of the detector that picks up the metal signal” The smaller coil allows me to separate out multiple targets that are close together. With the newly designed detector in hand I went back out for a third time. The detector with the shorter handle worked out OK. I could read the detector while operating it, it could be shortened a little more.
At this point you change again to searching the grid with all discrimination turned off and pick everything within reason. When you get a hit of a target you can read some information on the detector like type of metal, and how deep it is. If it is 4-5 inches down with a hard base you can rule those out. But if it is close to the surface you may have to dig those. I again worked for about 4+ hours and came up with nothing. This last day of searching was on a Monday morning when fewer people would be out. When I did show up I was met in the parking lot by a guy that had been around while I was searching. Only this time he was is in a wet suit with mask and snorkel. He had been searching for the ring and was telling me that it was not there…
A lot of people were finding out about the lost ring from various sources. This is not a good thing. You just never know if someone had come out and found the ring on you. About this time all kinds of questions start entering your head, was the ring really lost in this area? Did someone else find it? How am I missing it? Is it an equipment setup issue.
I heard from the Darrin and we were consulting about maybe having him come out with dive gear and search using scuba. I had also heard that Maria and her father were going to go out and searching for it on Wednesday. So I planned on meeting up with them on site and give this another go with information from the person that lost the ring. When I arrived Maria and her father were on site in the river with wet suits metal detector and snorkel and masks. I brought out a another ring and had Maria drop the ring in the same location and follow the ring. We did tie it off with some lite fishing line to help follow it to a resting place.
After locating the ring – Now this is where I had the search, so again I methodically started going over the area and picking everything that came up. The more targets that I removed the better it is. After about an hour and half I was picking up targets that needed to have hand sized rocks moved away to get to those targets. It also had about 3 inches of sand on the bottom. With the water current moving past you could wave your hand over the sand and could get it to wash away. After clearing an area I would move 3-4 feet and do it again. First wave the detector over the area and find locations of targets then go try and locate each target. The last target I waved my hand and thought I had seen a pop top pull tab circle. Whoa, it was to shinny for that waved my hand past it again and there was a shinny ring laying on the bottom of the river. Was this a bling ring that had been tossed earlier by Maria and her dad? Was this the ring we were looking for? I popped up and asked her father, he was trying to look at it and tried to take it off my finger still in the river. I clinched down and said not until we get to shore. Maria had meet us at the shore and could not believe what she saw. It was her ring. The ring held a lot of sentimental value being it held her grandmothers diamond that could not be replaced. She was in shock. What a happy reunion. She gave me a big hug. So thankful. I didn’t have my camera with because I didn’t want it stolen while I was in the water. So I asked that they send me a couple of photos later, and I would let them enjoy the moment. Maria was on the phone right away “ I cant believe he found it” That was music to my ears as I turned and walked back to my car gear in hand. Some finds are very fast, and some take time. This one was one of the most challenging finds I have ever had.
Annabelle was at La Jolla Shores surfing when, while ducking under an incoming wave, her hard earned graduation ring popped off her finger and plunged in the waist deep surf. After an online search, Annabelle’s mother Ginny, called me about an hour and half later to see if I could help. Do beaches eat rings? Sure I could! At least I would give it the old college try! Surf hunts are never easy, and with a storm southwest of us causing some bigger surf, this was going to be an extra challenge. I picked 11:30pm as a time to meet, as low tide was going to be coming up at 1:15am. Annabelle lost her ring about and hour and fifteen minutes from +5.9 high tide, so, with a -.01 low
tide coming up, the ring should only be in very shallow water or wet sand. I met with Ginny, Annabelle, and her two brothers on time and we proceeded to the search area. As I suspected, the surf was not going to cooperate. Rouge waves kept blasting up the wet sand wiping out my grid marks, and after a half hour and a few tries going from beach to breakers, I gave up on that plan and tried running parallel to the shore where I was able to take some bearings from lights off in the distance to help keep me on a straight line. After another 15 minutes and not finding a single non-ferrous target all night, I got a nice solid 10 on my Equinox in ankle deep water. One scoop later, and I see a nice looking ring in the basket. I walked over to Annabelle and Ginny and asked if this was THE ONE. Annabelle picked up the ring in relief, joy, and disbelief. A pleasure to meet you all, and thank you for the reward.
I got a call to find a white gold wedding band by a man. he wanted to wait to go to find it. I thought that it was ok to wait. Due to bad weather conditions and the fact that it was a state park. He was reviewing his videos of his outing at the park to see exactly where he lost it. he changed the search location slightly by one exit . Then back again to the original. I then found it after about 10 minutes of searching . I was soo happy That I was able to find his wedding band.
Losing a wedding ring can turn a joyful occasion into a frantic search, especially when it’s only been a few days since saying “I do.” Karin’s distress was evident when she reached out to me, seeking assistance in locating her lost wedding ring at a Ventura beach near Marina Park. With just eight days of marriage under her belt, the sentimental value of the ring was immeasurable, and the urgency to recover it was palpable.
Upon arrival at the beach, I scoured the area for any potential markers left by Karin. While bird feathers initially caught my attention, they turned out to be a common sight, seemingly placed by numerous beachgoers. Undeterred, I persisted, meticulously searching through sand and debris. After encountering several bottle caps, crusty pennies, and bits of foil, a promising signal from my Equinox 800 metal detector emerged—a solid indication of Karin’s lost ring.
With the ring safely secured in my pocket, I awaited Karin’s arrival. Upon meeting her and confirming the ring’s description, I delivered the long-awaited news—a moment of pure joy as Karin was reunited with her cherished wedding ring, restoring a sense of happiness to her week-old marriage.
If you find yourself in a similar predicament, don’t hesitate to reach out. Time is of the essence when it comes to retrieving lost rings. Call or text me at 805-290-5009, and let’s work together to ensure your precious jewelry is safely returned to you.
Cynthia and her husband Juan were cooling off in the waters of Mission Bay. Cynthia’s ring was bothering her finger, and when she adjusted it, it came off and sunk into waist deep water. Try as they might, they couldn’t find it. An online search brought them to TheRingFinders.com website and my contact info. We arranged to meet an hour before the afternoon low tide at 1pm, which should be low enough to where the ring might be just in the wet sand instead of waist deep water. That makes searching much easier. I arrived a bit early and a short time later Cynthia and Juan arrived and found me down by the water. They directed me to the search area and I proceeded to start a grid pattern from lower slope out into thigh deep water. Some time,
and lot’s of good sounding junk targets later, still no ring. Being a hot Sunday afternoon, there were lots of other people and children playing in that area too, so, it could be I may have missed it in dodging around them. I then started a grid 90 degrees from my last one. I started up on the slope and worked my way into the water. In ankle deep water, I got a sweet sounding 11 on my Equinox, sifted the sand out of the scoop, and saw Cynthia’s beautiful ring in the bottom. I looked over to where they were sitting, gave them thumbs up, and held up her ring in triumph. An emotional Cynthia fell into her husband’s arms, people on the beach were amazed, and I ended up answering many questions about our service. Cynthia and Juan were high school sweethearts, so, it was wonderful to help continue the ring’s story for them. A pleasure to meet you both, and thank you for the reward.