Lost ring Hanauma Bay Tag | Page 32 of 35 | The Ring Finders

How fitting that my 50th ring find service is to a fellow US Navy Limited Duty Officer such as I retired in 2003. This started with a phone call from Todd who was looking to buy an inexpensive metal detector. I asked him if he lost something and just needed someone to metal detect for it. He told me his 4 year old daughter took his wife Jennifer’s White Gold Wedding Band and threw it out in the front yard from the front lanai. He didn’t get to her in time before she threw the ring he only heard a “tink” of the ring hitting the concrete sidewalk. The front lawn is Hawaiian Crab Grass and it can hide a ring with ease. To make matters worse the lawn crew was coming in two days and if we didn’t find the ring heaven only knows where a weed wacker or lawn mower could send that ring. I started my search closest to the house thinking a 4 year old couldn’t throw a ring very far. I had to deal with the side walk re-bar but other than that the grass was sterile. First target was a Lincoln cent. Working away from the house I found two more underground targets using my pin-pointer so I moved on. I was beginning to think this ring took a weird bounce and might be in the bushes close to the house. That was going to be a pain. I decided to do one more arc of the search and near an irrigation pipe I got a nice tone. I put the pin-pointer into the grass and got a signal. Even with the pin-point it was hard to see the ring in the grass. Todd and I joked it was time to get his daughter into baseball because she had quite the arm. The ring was a good 20+ feet from where she threw it. Todd said he would have never thought to look that far away. With a handshake and a Mahalo the ring wasn’t going to be launched by the lawn crew. Aloha to Todd & Jennifer!

After a morning hunt I returned to my truck at Hilton Hawaiian Village and there was a voicemail waiting for me. My wife Wendy called and said I had a ring find and she had a number for me to return a call. I called Chris from Makakilo, Hawaii who told me his wife Michelle lost her engagement ring in the sand at Aulani Disney Resort. She had taken her rings off and set them on a towel on her lap to apply suntan lotion. When she finished and stood up the rings fell out of the towel. One landed on her lounge chair the other was no where to be found. Chris & Michelle carefully combed the sand most of the rest of the day and Chris came back the next morning still with no luck finding the ring. Then he searched YELP and that’s how he found me. He asked if I rent metal detectors and I said no I do the search myself. Unless you have experience using a metal detector in Hawaii I don’t recommend renting. Too many variables. Use a ring finder expert. Chris agreed and we decided to meet at the Disney resort after Chris & Michelle ate breakfast. I met Chris in the public parking lot and we walked down to the beach where the ring was lost. Fortunately the tourists occupying the seats Chris & Michelle had used the day prior were so accommodating and moved so we could get the metal lounge chairs out of the search area. Chris demonstrated how Michelle lost the rings. The Wedding Band landed on the lounge chair but the Engagement ring disappeared. Since the rings were together on the towel I looked immediately in the sand below where the other ring landed. No such luck. Next I started a grid search in the 10 by 15 foot grid. Surprisingly there were five targets 3 cents, a dime and a piece of foil but no ring. I decided to expand the search down slope and that’s when I got a faint but excellent tone. Two scoops down and there was Michelle’s gorgeous solitaire diamond Platinum ring. It was tiny no wonder the tone was faint. It was about 10 feet from where the other ring landed. Either during their search or the initial fling threw the ring down slope. Not always as we imagine. Chris and I met Michelle in the parking lot he hadn’t told her I found the ring. She thought she was going to meet the detectorist. When Michelle arrived after an initial greeting Chris couldn’t hold back he held up Michelle’s ring to her pleasant surprise. She gave him and I a warm hug and a sigh of relief was obvious. Nice way to end my Saturday. Aloha to Michelle & Chris!

While Metal Detecting the lagoon for a Gold Wedding band I was approached by a gentleman named Joey Sparks who said his Brother-In-Law Brian from San Clemente, California lost his Platinum & Gold Wedding Band in chest deep water not too far from where I was hunting. I told him if I found it I’d track them down. Joey said they would be around the pool all day. I continued on my search. After about five minutes I got an air raid siren of a tone while I was in neck deep water. It was all I could do to stay in position to dig the target. After about the fourth dig I had the target in the scoop. As the scoop broke the surface of the water I could see Brian’s huge Platinum & Gold ring in the bottom. Great I went to the area Joey said they would be and no one was around. I continued my hunt and after about thirty minutes a man called me from the shore, “Are you Brian?” I asked. Yes, are you Joe and did you find my ring? Yes, and matter of fact I did. A look of relief came over Brian’s face and he told me he had looked for a very long time the day before. I let him know his ring was buried and no way he would have seen it. We shook hands and I knew another tourist was going home with a smile. Aloha to Brian and Joey for finding me.

It was 7:00 in the evening when I went to get my cellphone off the charger, I turned on the cell and had missed a call 40 minutes prior from Jonathan a local Wedding photographer. While setting up the final scene where he puts the couples two Wedding bands on a starfish in the sand a rogue wave washed way up on the shoreline and erased the scene. In utter shock Jonathan and his lovely assistant Imi immediately started searching for the scattered rings. Of course they were no where to be found. Jonathan then googled “lost ring” on his cellphone and that’s when he left a voicemail. I returned the call immediately but no one answered. After about 15 minutes Jonathan called back and said he was returning the unfortunate couple back to their hotel in Waikiki. I told him we had to look tonight as the next high tide could displace the ring forever. Waimanalo has a very steep shoreline and is difficult to detect in the water this time of year. We met at a local high school and drove back to Waimanalo Beach Park. It was pitch dark now and thankfully I remembered to bring my dive torch. Jonathan and Imi took me to the beach and the tide was out which made the search area dry and easier to hunt. There was a basket on the beach and we speculated others at the beach that knew the rings were lost tried sifting the sand for the rings. I marked the extreme ends of my grid and started the search. My first screaming target was a Great Basin Nevada State Park quarter. I continued on. The area was sterile clean white sand so the search was quiet. After about 5 minutes on the fourth leg I got another low and high tone signal. One scoop down there was the rose gold band. Another scoop down and there was the white gold band. Jonathan & Imi were ecstatic with joy. Can you imagine how they must have felt when they lost the couple’s rings. Imi immediately took some pics with her cellphone and texted them to the couple in Waikiki. This honeymoon was going to be very memorable. Aloha to Jonathan & Imi.

After spending the morning metal detecting I was waiting for relatives to arrive for a Father’s Day Party. As relatives were arriving I received a call from Ken who lives on Oahu. Ken said that while he was playing volleyball in the water with his family as he went to strike the ball his ring popped off into the water. His daughter saw where it landed but like usual the soft lagoon sand consumed the ring. Ken immediately marked the spot in 3 feet of water with coral and stones they found laying around. He contacted his friend at Four Seasons Resort which put him in contact with Duke from Aloha Security and that’s how he found me. It was 5:30 and the sun was setting fast. Ko Olina is 30+ miles away and I wasn’t sure what traffic was going to be like so I told Ken I’d be on my way but not sure how long it would take. Thankfully traffic was very light and I made it there in 40 minutes. Ken was standing in the water next to the pile of coral & stones. He introduced me to his lovely wife Jackie (whose name you can see inside the ring) and his daughters who were waiting on the beach. I quickly started a circular search pattern working out from the pile. On the third leg about 20 feet from the pile I got my first target. It sounded good and one scoop later I pulled Ken’s ring from the scoop and handed it to him. Hugs, handshakes, thank yous and pictures all make this hobby so rewarding. Aloha to Ken & Jackie!

This ring find starts 7 May while I was looking for a lost ring in Ulua Lagoon. I was approached by a gentlemen named Terry who said his recently married Niece’s husband Reymhar from San Jose, California lost his ring in the next lagoon over while paddle boarding a few days before. I told Terry if he could show me the supposed area I would give it a hunt. Terry knew it was in the Northern third of the lagoon but not exactly where. After a brief ankle to neck deep search without a ring find I asked Terry to put me in contact with Reymhar so I could get some more details to the lost ring and it’s probable location. After contacting Reymhar he wasn’t sure exactly when the ring came off only in the Google map picture he sent me he drew a wedge of where he was paddle boarding. I went the next weekend and did a scuba dive for the ring. The deep area was very silty and it was hard to keep track of where I’d detected so it was sort of a willy nilly hunt. The next weekend I tried again and this time I was careful not to stir up too much silt. Yeah right! There were sand clouds everywhere I dug. I found a nice Palladium band with a neat inscription that hopefully remains true today. When I was about down to 600 psi I figured I’d have about three more lines to grid from 4 feet to the deep end of 15 feet. I started an out bound leg and near a plate size rock in 7 feet of water I got a nice solid tone. With one scoop of my hand Reymhar’s ring exposed itself with a triple sparkle of diamonds in the sunlight. That was a wonderful sight to see. I looked heavenward and thanked Jesus. That was one of my hardest searches too date. As soon as I got to my truck I texted Reymhar that I found his ring. Uncle Terry is going to be back in Honolulu 11 June and I will be turning the ring over to him so he can hand deliver it back to Reymhar in San Jose. Aloha to Reymhar and his wife Karen!