Steve Thomas
Dunedin Ring Finder lostringdunedin.com
“It’s Only Lost Until I Find It!
Lost a ring or other metal valuable at the beach or in a grassy or sandy area? Jewelry slip off of you while working outside, playing with the dog or swimming? Please contact me ASAP at (843) 995-4719 or @dunedinringfinder. I offer a FREE metal detecting service, reward optional but appreciated upon recovery!
Honeymoon Island State Park had recently reopened after some hurricane cleanup and visitors were beginning to return. Dave and his wife Tina are snowbirds who live in Dunedin, Florida during the winter and Deadbroke Island, Ontario the remainder of the year. They, along with niece Jenn, her husband Stephen, and nine month old son Nico, as well as niece Emma and her partner Ian were enjoying the beach late one afternoon when Stephen asked Emma to hold onto his wedding ring while he and Ian dug a hole for Nico to play in. Emma put the ring on her finger and later went down to the edge of the water to wash her hands in the surf when the ring slipped off of her finger into the ankle deep water!
After a frantic unsuccessful search by all to locate the ring in the surf, a lady who was sitting near the family mentioned my name to them so Dave googled my contact information and called me. I told Dave I would be at their location in about 45 minutes so I rounded up my gear and headed for Honeymoon. When I arrived, Dave pointed me to the area where the ring dropped in the surf which was now about shin to knee deep with small waves and a 60 degree temperature. The water was cold for this part of Florida especially without a wetsuit and it was only about an hour prior to sunset but I began my search in the wet sand out to almost waist deep, gridding lines the best I could perpendicular to the shoreline. After about 15 minutes, I received a strong surface signal with a mid 30’s number on my Minelab Equinox 900 detector in shin deep water and began to try to scoop the target out of the rolling surf. After about five unsuccessful attempts, I moved away from that promising target thinking that it must be deeper than my reading and I sought other targets close by. After another 15 minutes, I had only dug an old pull tab so I began to work my way back towards the original target. I found the mid 30’s target once more and I was determined to scoop it out the second time. On about the third scoop, I had the target out of the water in a scoop full of small shells and sand and instead of rinsing the sand out in the water, I brought the scoop to shore and dumped it on the beach, hoping that the ring was there for the family to find as they were all very excited! At first as the sand and shells were spread, nothing appeared so I swung my detector coil over the material again and told everyone that what I had dug was in a small lump of sand and shells. As the sand and shells were spread in that area, out pops Stephen’s beautiful gold wedding band with the wedding date of 12/31/23 inscribed inside! Obviously we were all overjoyed and especially Emma!
Dave and family, thank you for trusting Steve Thomas, Dunedin Ring Finder to find and return Stephen’s ring! Enjoy the rest of your vacation!
