Wedding Ring Lost in Bay, Surf City NJ, LBI, recovered by Edward Trapper, NJ Ring Finder

I noticed a text from Michelle, asking if I could help find her husband Jeff’s lost wedding ring. I asked her to call, as it’s much easier to discuss details over the phone. She explained that they were at the beach with their children when Jeff’s ring had been pulled off his finger. Fortunately, Jeff was certain of the general area where it was lost, as their daughter is young and they had stayed in a fairly small section of the beach. I told Michelle I could meet them shortly, and we agreed on a time.
One concern she had was that they had dinner reservations for 5:30 and didn’t know if they needed to stay while I searched. I reassured her that as long as Jeff could meet me at the beach to point out the spot, they wouldn’t have to stay the entire time.
A short while later, I arrived, grabbed my gear, and we headed out to the location where their chairs had been set up. Jeff suggested we start in the deeper part of the area where he felt the ring had slipped off his finger. We began working in a back-and-forth pattern, covering about a 75-foot-wide area, but after six or eight passes, there was still no sign of the ring.
At that point, I decided to return to where we had started and gradually work my way closer to the shoreline. I could see the concern growing on Jeff’s face as time was ticking, and every search path was coming up empty. After covering such a large area without success, we decided it was time to change strategies. I planned to search a new section further south, but before moving on, I made the decision to do one or two more passes toward the shoreline.
It was a good thing I did because just a few feet into the next path, my metal detector let out a sweet tone that I was almost certain was Jeff’s ring. On the first scoop, there it was! I held it up with a shout of, “I’ve got it!” Jeff was overwhelmed with joy, amazed that I had found the ring after nearly an hour of searching.
Just as his wife Michelle arrived, we all shared in the excitement. Moments like these—seeing the relief and happiness on people’s faces when their lost valuables are recovered—are what make this work so rewarding. Another successful recovery for the 2024 season!
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Wolfie contacted me about locating his brand new wedding ring. He explained that after spending the day at the beach, he notice his ring went missing after they returned home for the day. Unfortunately, this happens quite often with newlyweds, as they are not used to having the ring on their hand, so it hasn’t become habit to notice it missing. I wasn’t able to head right out as I usually do, but assured him I would be out later closer to low tide. I had him do all the essentials in the mean time, pin location in google maps, take pictures of the location, secure the area if possible, and make some kind of identifying mark of the spot just encase all other measures failed. It was very dark that night which limited my visibility, even with the bright headlamp. As I was still maneuvering to the pinned location, Wolfie showed up and put me right on the spot they were set up that day. Within about 5 minutes my metal detector sounded off a sweet low tone, which was consistent with the ring he had described. Sure enough, Wolfe’s ring was now safely in my sand scoop, soon to be back on his finger, just after a few quick pics for my recovery story.