metal detector expert Tag | Page 5 of 84 | The Ring Finders

Thais, took off both of her rings and put them in a shoe before going out in the water. Good idea! Forgetting that they were in the shoe when leaving, not so good. As you might expect, the shoes were picked up by her spouse Syd and the rings ended up falling out and into the soft dry sand. What to do….leaving at 6am the next morning just 13 hours from then…..so, off to the internet for advice. TheRingFinders.com website to the rescue. I got the call from Syd about 4:30pm about a lost “ring”, grabbed my gear, and hit the rush hour traffic to the North Island Navy Base visitors parking to meet her. We then drove to the beach and walked a couple hundred yards to a distraught Thais guarding the likely drop zone. A couple of short passes later, I got a nice solid 8 on my Equinox 900. Not knowing at the time that more than one ring was lost, I said that this could be the ring, or, some foil. A probe with the pin pointer, and grab with my hand brought a beautiful wedding band out into the sunshine. I thought we were done….not. a second sweep just a foot away and I got a solid 13. I then popped out the even more beautiful engagement ring to Thais’s delight. I asked if there were more and was told no, that was it. They could now sleep easier that night and catch their plane in the morning without having to leave anything behind. A pleasure to meet you both, and thank you for the reward.

Ryan was out in the surf with his children when his wedding ring came up missing. He had tied it to some strings on his suit, but, they came undone and the ring was lost. No amount of looking would find a heavy ring once it hits the sand. A suggestion from a friend prompted Ryan to do an online search which brought him to TheRingFinders and my info. Since it was lost in the surf, I planned on searching during the lowest tide possible to increase the odds of a successful recovery. That meant a search starting at 3am. Ryan wasn’t able to meet at that time, but, sent me a map and some details regarding where he thought the ring came off. After gridding an area bigger than a football field for about a couple of hours and only just one penny to show for it, I was begging to wonder whether someone had already scoured the area and found the ring. Nope, right at one of my turn around spots on my grid, I got a nice solid 21 on my Equinox 900 and after one scoop, had his ring in my scoop. The next day, my wife and I were going to be in the general area of where Ryan worked at a local fire department, so, we dropped it off to him. A pleasure to meet you Ryan, and thank you for the reward.

Roy was body surfing at La Jolla Shores when a wave stripped his necklace with 3 silver pendants off over his head. He had worn this necklace since childhood, so, it had lots of sentimental significance. Several days later, he contacted me for help finding it. Since that beach is probably the most detected beach in San Diego, I told Roy there was a good possibility that it had already been found, but, I was more than willing to try. We met at 11pm so I could benefit by a very low tide a couple of hours later. We walked out into the search area as I got the information I needed. He defined the search area as being between two lifeguard stands. Wow, that’s a big area. This beach is very shallow, so, when the tide drops a foot, it  can open up another 50 yards of wet sand. This was looking to be several football fields in size. We were just standing out in the middle discussing this when Roy wished me good luck and headed home to get some sleep before and early work day. I fired up my machine and walked maybe ten feet and got a banging 82 on my Equinox 900. One scoop and I had his necklace with pendants! One of most incredibly lucky finds I’ve ever had! This should have taken hours and hours to cover all this ground, if it was even still there. I called Roy back before he left and he was amazed that I had found it already (as was I). Roy will now sleep easier. A pleasure to meet you and thank you for the reward.

Shawn and his family were spending the day at the beach in Coronado. He had placed his tantalum wedding ring in the pocket on his beach chair for safekeeping. Later when they decided to leave, the chair was folded and the ring ended up in the dry sand. They searched and even contemplated getting a metal detector to find it, but, instead, they contacted me about conducting a search. Knowing that beach gets detected often, I planned on going there immediately, but, nobody was available at that time to show me the search area, so, I went by a map and some photos that were taken the previous day. It was mid afternoon on a summer day, so, the beach was fairly crowded. I just had to weave around between those camped there and just do the best I could until people started leaving. I was able to go by one photo to get a good line in one direction, so, I was able to grid a linear path. Without a cross photo or landmark, it was a pretty long path. 2 hours later and having expanded the search area significantly and much closer to the water than I expected the need to detect, I was walking next to a huge sand castle that a man was building. I swung my coil as close to him as I dared without being too intrusive and got a good signal. Dug down a couple of scoops and bingo! Shawn’s ring. Now the fun text and plans to reunite the ring with Shawn the next day. A pleasure to meet you and thank you for the reward.

Luke was body surfing at Pacific Beach when a wave washed over him taking his family heirloom necklace off over his head. It had a special gold turtle pendant on it too. The good news is that the necklace should still be in one piece. The bad news is that it was lost in waist deep surf. We met at a low tide late at night where he showed me the search area. He had taken a few photos of the search area for reference which helps a bunch. I picked a center line as a starting point and worked a few passes to the south without success. I then chose to do the same to the north. On about the third pass and closer to the shore than I would have thought, I got a nice solid 14 on my Equinox 900. One scoop and I had his necklace and pendant in the scoop. A pleasure to meet you and thank you for your generous reward.

Mitch and his wife were in town for a convention and spent the day at the beach in Coronado. Mitch managed to lose his wedding ring in the dry sand in a very popular area both for people who sunbathe, and also for detectorists to search for buried treasure. It had been lost more than a day when I got the call, so, it’s always possible that someone could have already found it. It was still worth a try though, so, off I went to give it a go. Since Mitch was at the convention, I met up with his wife (who Ubered over from their hotel) at the site and started my grid in the area they had been camped. Several minutes later and not a single target, I was beginning to think the area had already been cleaned of targets, but, then I got a nice low tone I had been wanting to hear. Sure enough, it was Mitch’s ring! They had a lunch planned soon, so, I drove both of us over to their hotel so they could make their lunch date. In my hurry, I forgot to take some photos, but, Mitch’s wife was nice enough to send me this photo. A pleasure to meet you, and thank you for the reward.