Lost ring in sea Tag | The Ring Finders

Gold and Diamond Ring Lost at Coopers Beach – Found

  • from Paihia (New Zealand)
Contact:

Jess and family were up in Doubtless Bay yesterday, and went for a swim at Little Cable Bay.
As her husband waded into the water, he got caught by a wave and his brand new gold and diamond wedding ring was swept from his finger.
Jess’ mum posted on the local Facebook group pleading for help, and I threw the kit into the car and started the 70km journey north.
Low tide was approaching so I focused first on the waters edge, before switching to the submersible kit to clear out a bit wider before that area was lost to the incoming tide.

Another metal detectorist turned up to search a little later on, and I was grateful he didn’t interfere too much with my search pattern.
Unsure of his intentions (a lot of detectorists are what I refer to as ‘ring collectors’), I was keeping half an eye on him which was a distraction.
He didn’t last long though and headed away again after about an hour, this is where my success rate comes from – I don’t give up.

As the sun set, the family had to head away to put their young child to bed, so we shook hands and I carried on.
Night fell as the search continued, eventually overlapping the other detectorists grid, when I got a signal that could only be it – located under the other guys footprint in the sand!
The scoop went in, and about 4″ down I saw the edge of a ring in the sand
Lifting it out it was definitely the one. Job done.
As it was late, I wasn’t able to catch up with them that night, so  this morning, I met up with them for the handover as they headed south for home.

Their Christmas is now much brighter than it had been 12Hrs ago.

Tags:
Category:

Gold Ring Lost at Cable Bay, NZ. Recovered Quickly by Experienced Ring Finder

  • from Paihia (New Zealand)
Contact:

MyJanne contacted me one evening a couple of days ago, she had been swimming in Doubtless Bay, NZ earlier in the day and had lost her gold ring in the water.

Fortunately, she contacted me straight away and I was able to be on site after work the following day to catch the falling tide.

The sea had picked up quite a bit since she lost the ring and I could see a lot of sand being moved in the shallows, there was potential for the ring to go deep in conditions like this. Time was of the essence if it was in this mobile soup of broken shell fragments.

MyJanne arrived shortly after and indicated out in the water where she thought the ring might be, I kitted up and waded out.
The initial area was a blank with only the occasional skeletal remnant of a long lost toy car or old decimal coin.
The grid was therefore opened up to go wider and further out into deeper water.

After about 90 minutes, I got a clean tone. Second scoop captured it and there, in with the seaweed and shell, was Myjannes lost ring.
MyJannes prompt call to an experienced ringfinder with a proven track record on water recoveries meant she had the very best chances of getting her ring back.

Tags:
Category:

Ring Lost in Surf. Found after 3 Weeks, a Cyclone and Tsunami !

  • from Paihia (New Zealand)
Contact:

Ring Finder – Ring Recovery Specialist…Lost ring? Lost necklace? Lost keys?… Metal Detector Service – Call ASAP 021 401626

Three weeks ago, Ray was on Tokerau Beach in Doubtless Bay engaging in that iconic Kiwi summer pursuit, digging in the sand for Tuatuas.
Regrettably, his sentimental gold and diamond ring did what so many other lost rings have also done while gathering these tasty shellfish, it slipped from his finger into the sand, and vanished.
A week later he left me a phone message asking if I was able to assist in finding his lost ring.

I arranged to meet him the coming weekend and see if I could get his ring back to him.

That’s when nature intervened with a double whammy in the form of Cyclone Cody pumping waves up to 5+m onto the coast.
Then one from left-field, the eruption of Hunga-Tonga (which I heard in New Zealand, some 2,400km away!) which sent tsunami surges out across the entire Pacific.
….I decided to reschedule the ring recovery for the following weekend!
There was real potential for substantial sand movement with these combined events, but my safety always comes first.

The appointed morning arrived and I thanked Ray for making the effort to meet me on site at dawn in order to catch the low tide. As he referred to photos taken on the day to sort out where he had been, I got kitted up to get wet.

I set up a ‘beat’ of around 60m width to try and allow for any positional errors in Rays recollection, and waded out into the break.

While the sea was calm for this surf beach, the storm had brought in tonnes of loose weed which instantly wrapped around the detector adding massive drag. It wasn’t practical to keep lifting the coil out of the water every few seconds to shake it off so I had to put up with it. It felt like I was mopping the ocean floor and had to change arms every few minutes.
Added entertainment was the water being infested by loads of Eagle Rays feeding on the Tuatuas in the turbid water. When I got too close, or accidentally clipped them with the coil, they would take off through the wash like jet fighters. I love these guys, but having to do the ‘Stingray Shuffle’ through the weed was really fatiguing…

I had completed about three or four sweeps across the search area when the detector sounded off on a faint target, there had been no trash for once, so in my mind this was going to be the ring.
The hole went deeper and deeper, only to reveal an old lead fishing weight! I shook a basketball sized lump of weed off the coil and continued on, disappointed.
15 minutes later, another quiet tone in the headphones could be heard over the waves and wind.
Quiet, but crisp.
The scoop went in, missed it, another bite went deep into the bottom of the hole – Check and the sand was quiet. Whatever it was was in the scoop.
I shook the sand and shell out through the scoop when I heard that familiar clatter of a ring.
I secured it and slogged ashore through the weed and rays.

The sequence of reactions, I have seen many times.
Initially resignation in their eyes as they saw me walking up the beach after apparently giving up, changing to disbelief when I removed the ring from inside my glove – then amazement that the ring had actually been found, and was back on Rays finger.

Some detectorists collect rings, I prefer to collect smiles 🙂

Tags:
Category: