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