lost wedding band Waikiki Tag | The Ring Finders

This Ring Find began when I got a text from Emily from Ewa Beach last evening who earlier that day lost her Wedding & Engagement Rings at Ulua Lagoon Beach. Her Father In Law shook out a beach chair of the sand and unbeknownst to him the rings were in a cup holder on the chair. They found the Wedding Ring but not the Engagement Ring that was somewhere in the dry sand they hoped. Since it was late and I was going to Ko Olina the next morning we agreed to meet at 7AM. When I arrived Emily and her husband Dan were already on the beach. They showed me the approximate area to search and I fired up the Nox. I started on the high side of the beach and worked towards the water. There were a few coins and a pull tab. I was on the last leg of the grid and looked towards Dan & Emily thinking its not here when I got a strong #9 tone on the Nox. In one scoop I saw Emily’s beautiful ring in the scoop. I looked toward Emily and shook my head Yes and she burst into tears. Dan comforted her of course as she reached into the scoop for her ring. “Dramatic Return!” They both were so very grateful and I said, “Did you have to put me on the final leg of the search to find the ring.” We assumed when the beach chair was shaken to remove the sand the ring must have gotten flung out. No matter the recovery was successful. Aloha to Emily & Dan!

This ring find began when I got a text from Talaya who lives in my neighborhood Kaimuki. While hanging out at Kaimana Beach Sunday with her husband and daughter, Talaya took off her ring to apply sunscreen and set it on a beach chair. She got distracted at the beach and didn’t discover her ring missing until later that day while teaching a work out class. While doing a push up and looking at her hand she gasped, “Where’s my ring?” They retraced her steps back to Kaimana Beach and her husband even sifted sand in hopes of finding the ring. Talaya’s friend told her about ring finders and that’s how she found me. My heart sunk when she told me the ring was lost two days ago. Kaimana Beach is a favorite among local detectorists and I feared the ring would have been found already. I told her I’d take a look after my Dentist appointment. When I arrived around 1PM I was able to find parking and thankfully the area Talaya marked out for me on Google maps was more or less void of sunbathers. I told the lifeguard what I was doing and fired up the Nox. The first target was a loud #10 on the Nox and in one scoop their was the glistening diamond ring in the scoop. Talaya told me the ring was Platinum in her text but this ring said 14K but had the Jewel on the inside she mentioned. I texted her a pic of the ring with the word, “Blessed”, and the response was, “Thank you so much. I am crying.” Suddenly my dental pains went away. Aloha to Talaya!

This ring find began Monday, 13 December 2021 when I got a text from Nacer who was on vacation from Land O Lakes Florida. Nacer explained his ring was loose and he went to put it on a tighter finger when it slipped from his hand and fell to the bottom of the lagoon. He was in 6-7 feet of water and couldn’t see the bottom to retrieve his ring. Anything over neck deep and I use scuba gear. Nacer sent me a pic from the hotel balcony and circled the area he was in. I agreed to scuba hunt his ring the next morning. It was a two hour hunt and I expanded the search out in all directions but the ring wasn’t there. I called Nacer as they were now in Waikiki. We determined after further discussion that the angle the picture was taken it appeared to be much farther North then where Nacer wanted the circle. I told him when he returned to the resort to take another pic from the shoreline and center the area accordingly. This area turned out to be straight in from the public parking lot. With the surf up the lagoon was getting murky so I told Nacer the earliest would be a Friday morning hunt after it cleared up a bit. On Friday I did the exact same routine as Monday’s dive hunt and still no ring. I gave up thinking Nacer might have lost his bearing in the moment of panic from losing his ring and it could be anywhere. With about 700 psi left in my tank I peeled off South under water towards Aulani. In about 8 feet of water I got a screaming tone on my Excalibur. One wave of my hand and a white gold ring appeared. I looked inside and sure enough it was a Cartier. Thank you Jesus! I surfaced and determined it was about 30 yards from the search area. No matter, bottom line the ring is found. As you can see in the pic it is safely home in Florida with Nacer. Much “Aloha” to Nacer and his lovely wife Hajar who kept the communication going throughout the search and return.

This ring find began when I got a voicemail from Elyssa who was on vacation from San Francisco. While throwing a ball in the lagoon her Silver Gucci Ring came off in shallow water and disappeared. Since it was dark I told her I’d return in the morning and see if I could recover her ring. Elyssa told me it was slightly right of where they moor the Catamaran. I arrived the next morning and when the sun finally shone on the water I started my search. First target was a pull tab and then a silver turtle pendant. As I was finishing my fourth grid line I got a loud 36-38 on the Nox and I knew instantly that had to be her ring. Sure enough! I called Elyssa about the good news and she met me at the Makiki Joe’s Rental Hut. Vacation back on track. Aloha to Elyssa!

This ring find began when I got a text from Estrella from Fremont California. She said her husband Efren just lost his Gold Ring in Lagoon 2…could you help? It was 4PM and it gets dark by 6PM so I decided to head out quickly since it was a small area to search. Efren said he was in about 2-3 feet of water playing with his Granddaughter when he noticed the Gold Wedding Ring was gone. Traffic was light so I made it to the resort in about 30 minutes. Down on the beach I followed the “No Lifeguard on Duty” sign straight down to the water as Efren said. I moved several feet to the right and started my grid search towards the left. On about the fourth leg I got a nice 12-14 tone on the Nox in the wet sand and in one scoop there was Efren’s ring in the scoop. They were staying at the resort so when I phoned them the good news they said they could meet me in the parking lot in six minutes. Right on cue…vacation saved. Efren had that ring for 40 years without an issue! Aloha to Efren & Estrella!

This ring find began as I returned from work and noticed I had missed a call on the road. I called and Andrew from Santa Barbara California answered. About two hours prior his White Gold Wedding Band went missing at Kalama Beach in Kailua Hawaii. He knew it was between where they were sitting on the beach and some sand snowmen about 50 feet away. Andrew agreed to meet me at a nearby church and we would walk down to the beach for the search. Traffic was very light and I arrived about 30 minutes later. Andrew told me they left a red towel on the beach in the area I needed to search and it was still there when we arrived. I asked Andrew to remove the towel and I’d hunt that area first. I turned on the Nox and after three swings I got a loud number “13” on the Nox. Amazingly it took four scoops to recover the target which was Andrew’s ring. He looked at me in disbelief as he figured the ring would probably be more towards the Snowmen. Vacation saved. Aloha to Andrew and welcome back to the Islands!

This ring find began as I was taking my good friend Alan metal detecting on the South Shore of Oahu. As we were leaving his house my phone rang and it was Edwin who was on vacation from Manteca, California and staying at the Aulani resort. He told me his three year old son was playing with his Palladium Wedding Band on the 14th floor balcony of their room at the Aulani. The ring rolled off a chair onto the deck, then plunged the 14 stories to the trees, bushes and land cover below. Edwin went down to see if it was an easy find and realized it was practically hopeless. I told Edwin that my friend Alan and I would reroute our trip and see if we could find the ring and it would be about 15 minutes to get there. When we arrived Edwin met us on the beach and escorted us to the area the ring was lost. I noticed when we arrived the ground cover was so thick and about a foot high this would require a thorough Pinpointer search and a lot of visual luck. Alan thankfully brought his Pro-Find 35 so I used that to scour the under brush and Alan swept the areas he could with his detector. Unfortunately the pinpointer kept going off because the irrigation system had metal everywhere. I decided I’d just have to go grid by grid and clear all the targets. At least the ring would be on top! After about 15 minutes and a few junk targets I moved a shrub branch with the pinpointer and lying on the leaves was a silver colored ring. I grabbed it and squinted to read Pd 950 and a date on the inside. BINGO we got it. We called Edwin and told him the good news. As you can see in the pick another smile for my book and vacation saved. Aloha to Edwin!

This ring find began when Yumi from Aiea called and said my fellow detectorist Brian referred me to her. He told her if anyone can find your ring it’s Joe. I appreciate the confidence Brian has in me but I thought the same of him. Yumi and I agreed to meet at her friend’s house where she lost her ring at 1:30 PM. today. When I arrived Yumi demonstrated how she walked up to a bench after finishing up washing dishes from the Food Truck flicked her hand once and both rings flew off. She didn’t notice which direction they went but she heard a “Ting” sound which sounded as if the ring hit the chain link fence. The way she flicked her hands and the rings being on her left hand I figured they would be to the left. Yumi & Rosie hunted extensively for a few days and a freak heavy winter storm flooded Rosie’s home and there was a fear the ring might be washed away. I started on the bottom level and worked towards the top. The Nox was practically useless with all the chain fence pieces, pull tabs, bottle caps & coins. The area was mostly dirt so I was thinking this should be an easy eyeball find with a bit of assistance from my pinpointer in the grassy areas. After 45 minutes of a thorough search I was about to give in. We covered it all at least in the left direction. Yumi admitted to raking a bit and that opened up the search in the other direction. No luck there either. Then as I was about to leave, I asked Yumi if we had moved the hose and she said, “NO!” We moved the hose from near the house pillar where the grass was the highest. I turned on my pinpointer and started moving the grass. Just as the PP went off I saw the beautiful Heirloom ring come into view alongside the Pillar surrounded by tall grass. Yumi screamed in disbelief and tears started to flow. I got a huge lump in my throat seeing how relieved she was that I found the ring. We all hugged and laughed thinking how her ring could have ended up where it did. The Rake…maybe so. No matter the other White Gold band remains and after they get a chance to remove some high grass along the fence it might be in the same spot. Aloha to Yumi & Josie!

This ring find began when I received a call from Cherie who was on vacation from San Francisco and staying in Waikiki. Her boyfriend had just bought her earlier that day a Platinum and Diamonds Ring. While sitting on the beach, a sudden movement of her hand and the ring fell into the sand and disappeared. With her friends, the four of them combed the sand with no luck. Cherie’s friend Frank agreed to meet me at the Waikiki Police Station so he could show me where they were on the beach. It was dark already. When I arrived Cherie drew a box in the sand where she thought the ring would be and I started my hunt. After ten seconds I got my first target a loud “7” on the Nox. One scoop and after sifting all the sand the tiny Platinum & Diamonds Ring was lying in the bottom of the scoop. I reached in and retrieved the ring and handed it to Cherie. I heard a sigh of relief from all her friends and sincere “Thank you so much” from Cherie. Some pics and hugs followed and Cherie can enjoy the rest of her vacation. Off to Maui tomorrow. Aloha to Cherie and her friends!