Maitai Bay Tag | The Ring Finders

Wedding Ring Lost in Doubtless Bay, Found at 2am

  • from Paihia (New Zealand)
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Marys husband was fishing at Whatuwhiwhi while on holiday in the Doubtless Bay area.
He was doing quite well, and landed a nice Kahawai.
While he was cleaning the fish in the tide, his wedding ring slipped off and was lost.
Mary later posted on the local Facebook pages asking for people to keep an eye out for it – I know the beach well, and knew it would be unlikely to be exposed on the surface until a favourable erosion event took place – if ever.
On the basis of this, and with an earlier “Pay it Forward” recovery in-hand, I decided to make the 100km trip to Tokerau peninsula to catch the next low tide…at 3am.
It was a pleasant night, clear skies meant that I was able to work the beach by starlight and the light breeze coming off the sea carried the smell of seaweed.
It doesn’t get much better than this.
I had a rough start point, so started to work back and forth along the beach as the tide dropped.
With a campground nearby, the usual aluminium can tabs were present in good numbers though.
An hour passed, then in the wash at the waters edge, I got a double-thump in the phones.
The broken shell sand was loose enough for me to push my hand into it and my fingers closed around a familiar shape.  I glanced at my watch, it was just after 2am.
I took the Trophy Photo and, as it was such a pleasant night, carried on detecting on spec.
Until the novelty of can tabs wore off.
I waited until a reasonable hour before messaging Mary, unfortunately she didn’t see it before I had to head back south.
About a week later we were able to meet up and I could hand her husbands ring back.

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Special Ring Lost in Sea at Rangiputa, Doubtless Bay – Found after 2 days

  • from Paihia (New Zealand)
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Rangiputa on the Karikari Peninsula bordering Doubtless Bay is a pristine white sand beach with crystal clear ocean waters, a popular spot for holidaymakers year round.
And Justine was no exception.

Two nights ago, as the water was so calm, she went for a midnight swim out into the bay…  It wasn’t until the following day that she realised with horror that her bespoke handcrafted garnet ring was missing.

Made to mark her 50th by a local jeweler, she was understandably distraught and as with most rings, it was the sentimental value rather than the monetary.

She got hold of my number and gave me a call about midday today – the tide was already rising, and they were due to head home in the afternoon.
I gave my apologies to my long-suffering wife, left my lunch and loaded the car.

A little over an hour later I was pulling up at Reef Lodge where she was staying. We are well on the way to winter here in New Zealand and even in the Far North the water temperature was already cool enough to warrant the light wetsuit, especially as I could be in the water for 4-5Hrs.

Rangiputa has an almost flat contour along the inner coast, a plus as there is minimal sand movement to bury the ring although the major downside is that the potential area becomes huge.
I started out wide and began working my way ashore, systematically covering every square inch with the coil. Just one less than diligent swing might see the ring missed.
This is where the discipline and methodology of an experienced Ringfinder comes into play and what gives me my exceptional hit rate…Even if it takes many, many hours.

A strong signal came through, the scoop went into the sand and…a fishing weight. The search continued. A short time later another likely target turned out to be a piece of foil, likely from some beach cooking many years ago – the heart rate subsided and I continued on.

About forty five minutes later a good double tone came through the headset and the scoop went in once again, the white sand drained out through the holes leaving a layer of small shells, and a ring.

I held it up to Justine sitting on the shore, and started to make my way in.

The wonderful reactions people have when I hand them their ‘Lost Forever’ items is the core of what really drives me as a Ringfinder.

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Gold Signet Ring Lost on Tokerau Beach, Quickly Found

  • from Paihia (New Zealand)
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Diane phoned me yesterday, her son had just lost his ring in the sea at Tokerau Beach in Doubtless Bay, NZ.
Fortunately it was at high tide, and the water was only a metre deep when lost.

I arrived a few hours later for low tide. Diane and Dan were there to meet me and we went through the usual twenty questions.
Diane told me that she had paced out to roughly where the ring had been lost – Textbook stuff to help your neighbourhood Ringfinder.

Both of them marked their respective “X” in the sand where they thought it might be and I started the search pattern, half an eye on the motorbikes and four-wheel drives roaring past (Tokerau Beach is classed as public highway, it’s supposed to be limited to 30km/h, but…).

It was nice to be out of surf and on nice open, flat, hard sand for the first time in a long while.

After about a dozen lines, I got a solid tone – could only be one thing.

It was about 5cm down – Dan’s face lit up as I showed it to him.

… Mums mark in the sand was the closest 🙂

 

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