lost ring in sand Tag | Page 3 of 6 | The Ring Finders

Holly and her husband were on a quick get-away anniversary vacation to Nantucket for a bit of fun and sun. All started well then slight rain dampened the day but not the spirit for some beach fun. John was in the water in a flash with Holly following a more slowly. That would not be as much fun as was having which gave him the idea of a quick attack, on his wife and launching her into the air with a water landing, his idea of FUN! Yes he thought, but not so much as he felt for the ring on his left hand that had been there for 8 year, it was gone.

After a long search, a local person with a metal detector was asked to search for the ring, Many targets, but not ring were found. Gone forever John and Holly returned home. Holly just could not give up on a very sentimental item. After a bit of Googling TheRingFinders, my name came up. She thought it would not hurt to reach out without telling John. During the call I had to assure her the ring was still where it was lost and if anyone could find it I was a good choice. I also said to double the chances I should have another Ring Finder, Leighton Harrington, go on the search with me. Holly agreed. That set the wheels in motion. Timing of tides and ferry schedules and weather forecasts narrowed the date down to the25th. It turned out that was John’s birthday.

After a 5am meeting with Leighton for the 6am ferry ride, a walk to the ferry, the ride to the island another walk to the beach, a cup of coffee and snack on the way, we were on the beach. We put our gear together and headed for the water, marking the sand with lines to show the most likely area the missing ring would be in. As I put my feet into the water OOPS I forgot to take off my shorts. I took care of that shortcoming and back in the water Leighton had his first signal, an earring he wanted to show me. I took three steps toward Leighton and had a signal of my own. Bingo! The birthday boy’s ring was in my scoop, Happy Birthday John.

We has planned for up to 6 hours to search for the ring. We now had almost all that time to just enjoy the rest of the day, our main reason was in the pouch. Our return ferry ticket were for the 4pm sailing.
We made good use of the time detecting three beaches we had never been to before.

Back home arrangements for the ring’s return via the USPS was set. Another great day enjoying a wonderful hobby and making others smile was coming to a close. A peaceful night’s sleep without worries of a missing ring will be had by all, except John who will not know of the find until the surprise reuniting is completed by Holly. I only wish I could be there, I know it will be emotional and a day to remember.

Matt took one dive too many. On the second dive his grandfather’s wedding band which is now worn as Matt’s wedding band slipped from his finger into the depths of Nantucket Sound. It was about 3pm and I was getting ready for Leighton’s arrival for an afternoon of detecting fun. It was then when Matt called and relayed the information of his lost ring. What luck, Leighton was on his way, not need to call him. Two searchers are definitely better to have searching than one.

We met Matt on the beach, got the run down on how and were his ring was lost. Leighton asked Matt to go to the spot where he thought he lost the ring. I was following when I heard a signal that was from a pull tab. Continuing on, my second signal proved to be the object of search. I call all to come to the beach where the ring was verified as the missing ring.

Matt removed the ring from my scoop, smiled and was very thankful as you can see from the picture below. All this in less than 2 hours from the time the ring slipped from Matt’s finger. This return was made only 75 feet from a ring return the previous week. Just loving this hobby.

Three times was the number of detecting hunts it took to retrieve Oleg’s three pieces of jewelry. During the first try I thought my skill was lacking because I had a ring in my pouch but could not locate either of the other two pieces of jewelry. It was time to call it quits for the evening and give Oleg the ring and apologize that I had not found the other to pieces. I was feeling bad, but not as bad when Oleg told me the ring I found was not his. And to make things worse, it was his 12th anniversary.

I requested that he not replace the items for at least two weeks. I wanted more time to locate the jewelry. The second try was not much better except I found an Apple watch series 5 – see the related story. Then it happened, I got stung by a jelly fish. OUCH!!!!!!!!! But still no ring.

Two days later Leighton Harington (also a Ring Finder) and I were meeting for a get-together hunt. As so, this was the perfect chance to end the madness of looking for Oleg’s lost articles. About 30 minutes into the hunt I found Oleg’s ring and a minute later the cross. Leighton came to the area and because the detector he was using was more sensitive to small link chains he had a better chance at locating the chain and he did. The bad part of the hunt was yet to come. And it did with a painful outcome for both Leighton and myself. We both were stung by jelly fish.

So much for the found items. It is time to return them, but how? A friend could pick them up, I could hold onto the item until Oleg could return to the Cape, or the dreaded USPS. I convinced Oleg to trust the USPS service. And the pieces were posted with tracking number and expected delivery day as Friday. The package was delivered a day early, but to the neighbors mail box. The mix up was rectified and Oleg face was smiling once again and his heart filled with happiness.

After a day of 6 hours of searching for a wedding band I was hoping for a day of relaxation before the tides would come around to the point I could get back into the water for another search. Then the phone rang while I was out mowing my yard’s grass. Rachel at a local resort called and left a message that a vacationer had just lost his wedding band on the beach. When I returned the call I spoke with Katie. Yes, she and her father needed my help. However, my pork chop would not wait, I had to eat. There is no telling how long a search may take and I needed the energy packed food, the ring was not going anywhere. It was being well looked after. Well in 45 minutes I was on the beach and searching.

Dave had been watching over a covey of fun filled relatives. One niece, Erin, tossed him a football, that did it. Dave’s wedding band was flying over the beach, dropping onto and then vanished into the soft sand. An hour of crawling on and moving the sand around did not uncover the ring. I arrived to a very warm welcome and cheers not only from the one group but others that had been watching Dave doing his thing on the beach while looking for his ring. I was told watching Dave was quite amusing. Sorry I had missed his antics, I was there to find the ring.

The ring was either gold, white gold, silver, platinum. OK, it was agreed on to called the ring silver in color. That meant my detector could display a wider range of ID numbers on my detector, but that would not keep me from finding it. After three signals from aluminum bottle cap pieces a solid 58 rang up on the detector. The ID number was within the white gold range. I had only been searching for about two minutes before I had a wedding band in my scoop. One of the lovely relatives verified the ring was Dave’s. I would not let her take the ring from the scoop, that was to be Dave’s pleasure.

After a few stories, congratulations, Thank Yous, many other coo dos, and photos, I was on my way home to my waiting desert. Not quite a day without detecting, but it is my hobby and I just love seeing a traumatic time turn into a terrific story to tell along with the others of a great vacation on Cape Cod.