Lost my ring Ocean Isle NC Tag | The Ring Finders

First Day of Vacation, Alan’s Damascus Wedding Band Lost in the Ocean, Found and Returned North Myrtle Beach, SC

  • from North Myrtle Beach (South Carolina, United States)

Just as I was sitting down to dinner, I got a frantic call from Alan. He said he had just lost his wedding band in the ocean and asked if I could help find it. Looking at the tide table, it was just coming up on high tide at 8:15 p.m. which was in less than an hour. Alan said he had been playing with his 3 year old son in the water when his ring slipped off his finger. He also said he knew the exact area he lost it. This was looking like it would be a quick search and recovery with an outgoing tide, knowing where he lost it and playing with a 3 year old in shallow water. Well Mother Nature had a whole different plan. I told Alan I’d meet him at 10 p.m. and work the outgoing tide.

I met Alan just before 10 and he walked me out to the beach and pointed to the area he had lost his ring. This is when I realized Mother Nature had reared her ugly head. The wind was blowing straight into the beach causing 2-4 ft swells. The tide hadn’t gone out like I expected and it just wasn’t looking pretty to find a lost ring. Alan said he thought the ring was still another 40-60 ft out in the ocean from where we were standing. I started a parallel grid search along the beach, trying to work the outgoing tide, and then switched to a perpendicular grid. After about 30-45 minutes, I felt bad that Alan was sitting there watching. Knowing that his excitement rose every time I dug a target only to have it dashed when I pulled out a piece of junk. I suggested that he go back to his rental and I’d call him when I either got too tired or I found it, he agreed and left. I kept working the outgoing tide, and was being as careful as possible. It was dark, with a little bit of moon light, waves were still high, and the surf was still a little rough. I had worked my way out where I was about knee to thigh deep and got a great signal on my White’s PI. I was right in line with where Alan said he was, so I started scooping out sand. After 4 scoops of sand, I had the target in my scoop. I let the waves wash the sand out of the scoop and turned on my headlamp. Boom!! I saw a beautiful ring mixed with the shells. I wasn’t sure of what the ring would look like. Alan said it was a Damascus wedding band and was made from silver, copper, rose and yellow gold. What I was sure of is I had a beautiful man’s wedding band in my scoop. I walked out of the water and grabbed my cell phone. I tried to take a couple of pictures that I could send to Alan. It was close to midnight but I sent a picture with a text asking “Is this yours???” I got an immediate response saying “Coming out now!!! That’s it!!!!” I think it took him seconds to show up. He was very excited when I handed him back his treasure. He said his wife had gone to bed but he was going to wake her up and surprise her.

Alan – Thanks so much for allowing and trusting me to help find your lost treasure.

Jim

  

Diamond Stud Earring Lost in the Dry Sand, Found and Returned North Myrtle Beach SC.

  • from North Myrtle Beach (South Carolina, United States)

Just after 4:30 pm on Wednesday, I got a text message saying in part, “This is Vicki H. Can you please come and try to find my diamond earring. Thanks. We are on 6th Avenue. Just down from Maritime.” Instead of texting back and forth, I prefer to call so that’s what I did.  As her phone was ringing, I’m saying to myself, please let this be in the dry sand. When she answered, that was the first question I asked her, and her response was “Yes!”  Got her location and told her I’d be there in 10 minutes. I grabbed my Gold Bug 2 detector and headed out.

When I arrived on the beach, I met Vicki and her sisters Nan and Judy. They showed me the 10×10 ft area and said they had been looking for the earring for about 40 minutes before they called me. I tested Vicki’s other earring to ensure I could get a signal, there was very little metal to try and detect. After a successful test, I started a very slow walking grid line. I could tell that they had been looking for the earring and I was concerned that they either moved it or buried it deeper in the sand. I got a couple of bottle caps and some small pieces of foil but didn’t hit her earring on my first pass over the area. Vicki and her sisters reconfirmed the area and I started my second attempt. I got a faint bleep in the sand and hand shoveled the sand onto a plastic strainer I brought. I re-checked the area and the strainer with the detector and had the target in the strainer.  I started finger sifting the sand trying to feel the earring with no luck. As I stood up to detect the area again, I got a beautiful sparkle as the sun hit the diamond in the sand. I reached down and picked it up, and realized how easy it was to miss it with my fingers. I held it up in front of me and Nan noticed it first and then Vicki. There were big smiles and the “I can’t believe it” words from all three ladies.

Vicki – Thank you for calling me to help find your lost treasure. Enjoy the rest of your vacation.

Jim