“”Team” has a French Ring to It!”
I was in the water, in the middle of a ring search, when my wife called me on my waterproof mobile phone.
Call this number when you’re finished your search! A couple had lost their engagement ring on a small beach near the Mauna Kea hotel.
I raced to the area and ran along the trail to access the beach. The sun was starting to go down and people were hiking out of the area. “Oh, good you’re coming – that lady is besides herself!” called one guy. Another group said, “She’ll be relieved you’re here!” said a group as I walked down to the sand with metal detector and scoop in hand. There seems to have been quite some drama and many people from the beach had been looking with them in the water for their lost gold and diamond engagement ring.
The couple greeted me and we got right in the water and marked out the area they’d been in. The tide was rising so I went as deep as I could stand in the water. Back and forth, I finally hit a target and was sure it was the ring – the couple came racing over and we were all disappointed to see it was a coin. As we were looking at the coin a group of young, French tourists came and in broken English, asked if they could help look. The water was so murky from the surf and low light that any help was welcome!
I kept on my search line and worked around the French “team” as they formed a line and went from deep to shallow with their masks on keeping in a wide line.
Just as we’d exhausted the search area – one of the young men swam up and handed a diamond ring to the fiance. The couple, myself and the French team all burst into shouts of victory – in English and French!
As the French man had broken the line and swam out beyond where we could stand, he’d seen a small flash and swam down to get it – sure enough, the ring had washed out with the tide but was still sitting on top of the hard-packed sand!
We walked back in and got a Team photograph – all giving the Hawaiian “shaka” as our international team symbol of victory. We learned a little French, they learned a little English – and there was a whole lot of International gratitude to all parties involved!
