Metal Detector locates ring at Laguna Beach
Joseph called me asking questions about how my service works. He had been considering buying or renting a metal detector to find a promise ring that his fiancé had lost at Cresent Bay Beach in Laguna. Metal detectors work well to find rings, but some do not work on the beach with the saltwater conditions. Metal Detectors also take some time to learn to operate. Many conditions effect the operation and the way that the person using the detector has to consider : Soil conditions, type of metal, tide condition, other metallic trash, electrical interference , timing (ASAP), good reference points., and many more. Finding a lost heirloom is not a Do It Yourself project, if you really want to find the item.
Joseph and his fiancé , Bella were at Cresent Bay two days before. Bella put her ring in her hat with her other things on the upper beach while the went into the water. When they returned she picked up the hat then realized the ring had dropped into the soft sand. They did the dreaded ring search crawl, running their fingers through the sand for a couple hours. I don’t even try to pick a ring out of the sand with my fingers. It’s amazing how the rings just keep slipping through your fingers without feeling them.
I was willing to go to the location that night at the next low tide, but Joseph could not make it. I called him back with the best time to do the search in the morning. He could not make it, but I asked him to send me a Google map with the drop pin to mark the general location. I told him, he had to trust me. I don’t need any more rings. When I got to location I thought I was looking for a stainless steel ring. 10 minutes into the search up popped a nice man’s wedding band. I took a photo of it and sent it to him. It was not his ring. It’s odd how I can go for weeks without finding a ring when I’m just doing a little recreational metal detecting. Then I find two rings within 10 minutes. He sent me a picture of the ring and after another 50 feet , Bella’s ring was in my scoop. Called Joseph and he drove and hour to meet me on the beach. He told me that he had not told his fiancé, Bella that the ring had been found. They will be celebrating their second year anniversary next week, so he will surprise her.
Just Remember: “Your ring is not lost, it is just waiting to be found” I want to think that is an original thought, but I’m sure somebody has posted it somewhere.
I received a call from Evan asking me if I could help him find his 18kt gold wedding band. I was a couple miles away so it was just a few minutes to get to the park where he had lost the ring the yesterday. He and his wife were sitting on a curb along the side of a service road in the park. They realized they were sitting on some ants. When he stood up he swatted the ants off his pants with his hands and felt his ring fly off his finger. He actually heard the ring hit the asphalt, but it had bounced off the side of the road. Heavy leaf and ivy covered the side of road and the edge of road was a steep slope. It could of bounced 20 feet or more down the embankment . After crawling around in the leaves and ivy I moved 50 feet down the road from where Evan had been sitting. A few swings with my CTX 3030 about 12 inches off the edge of the road laying in the leaves and rubble was Evan’s ring. The ring was not only special because it was his wedding ring. His dad had made the ring for Evan. It was a special search with some tuff conditions. Another time that I was thinking about coming back tomorrow with some other search coils and equipment. A couple more swings outside the main search area proved to be the solution to making this a successful search. And a lot of luck.
