Thursday evening, Paolo decided to go into the ocean, so, he removed his wedding ring and gave it to his wife Celine for safekeeping. Celine placed it on one of her fingers and waited on a berm in the dry sand for his return. As the sun was setting, they got up and left the beach. Once they reached their car, it was discovered the wedding ring was missing from Celine’s finger. They returned to the area where they had been, but, in the failing light and acres of sand, the search was fruitless. Fast forward to Tuesday when I received an e-mail from Celine who relayed the sad story and asked if I could help find it. We made arrangements to meet the next morning at 10am. Being several days later, I explained that many different fates for the ring could have occurred. It’s a popular beach for other detectorist to search, so, it could have already been found, the beach grooming machines usually go through the area early Monday morning, the high surf could have washed over the area and buried it, etc. I met Celine up on the boardwalk and we hiked down to the search area. She was a little uncertain of the exact area where she was sitting, so, I searched many spots one by one, eliminating them all. I then started running a grid from where she was sitting to the stairs where they exited the beach. After 4 passes and about an hour and a half, I finally got a likely sound and reading on my E-trac. One scoop and I pulled up Paolo’s ring. Celine was amazed that it was found, as, she figured it was a long shot. It was just a matter of time on this one. I was finding other good targets in the area, so, I knew nobody else had detected there. I just had to keep expanding the search area until I ran across it. They had been married for just a month, so, I was happy to get this ring back to them, so it can add another chapter in it’s story. Celine decided not to tell Paolo right away, but, instead to surprise him at dinner! I bet he will be!
