July 4, 2015 three in the afternoon, I was getting ready to start the Bar-BQ and had the fireworks on display so all the neighborhood kids could see what was going to happen at dark. We throw a 4th July party in our cul-de-sac, it has become a very big party and yearly tradition, this was no exception.
The phone rang and a soft hesitant voice asked, “Is this the ring finder?” to which I replied “yes, how may I help you?” Then it all came out, her name was Trisha and she with her family had been on the beach south of the Pismo Beach pier where she had lost her wedding ring. She had looked for it in vain, even took pictures of the area’s land marks with her cell phone so they could come back and search if they did not fine it that afternoon. When Trisha informed her father-in-law of her loss a light went off…he had remembered seeing my Isuzu trooper that I advertize “The Ring Finders” on while at the beach and gave her my number, that is how she found me and my services.
I explained to her there was no way I could go right then due to the 4th of July block party I was in charge of and on top of that Pismo Beach would be imposable to get on to that afternoon due to the big fireworks show Pismo shoots off the pier every 4th of July evening. There were traffic jams for miles in every direction on all the roads into and out of Pismo Beach, plus there would be no place to even park even if I could get there. I try and stay away until the 5th then I hunt the beach for the lost treasures.
Trisha told me the general area where she thought the 1.3 ct diamond ring was lost and I knew there would be no one in that particular area hunting during the night. The 4th of July is a big deal for many of the local detectors who come out on that night and hunt around the pier area where the most people are located during the show. Pismo Beach has anywhere from 20,000 to 30,000 people show up for their great fireworks show. Since Trisha had lost her ring more than a mile from the area of the most people I felt it would be safe for the night and that I would meet her and her husband Nate at 6 am the next morning to see if I could locate the lost ring.
It was a cool, wet, foggy morning as I pulled up to the arranged meeting area and donned my hunting gear, Trisha and Nate showed up right on time and after explaining how I work we set out. Walking down the stairs off the wooden boardwalk and on to the dry sand of the beach, Nate told me they had walked a few hundred yards up the beach north of the lifeguard station in the dry sand, then put up a sun shade for the day. Trisha explained she had not gone into the water and basically just walked to the area then back with one trip on the wet sand to the surf in a straight line, but did not get her hands wet and had not been doing any strenuous activities like Frisbee that afternoon. By mid afternoon they decide to leave the beach, it was when they had gotten back their car that Trisha discovered her wedding ring was missing, she immediately retraced her steps from the parking lot to the board walk to no avail, then back to the beach to search the area where they had been, taking pictures for later reference.
I started the search at the stairs while having them walk the same rout they had traveled to the area where they had been, I walked behind them, all the while searching. Once we matched up the picture to the exact area I had Nate mark out the perimeter of general area that they had been in, then I drew out a 3X larger area and started my grid search. About 15 minutes later I was seven steps from the center of the area Nate had marked and had a hit that screamed in my headphones, I knew that had to be it and yep a 1.3 round diamond solitaire in a fat platinum setting was sparkling in the bottom of my scoop. I yelled at Trisha with a smile on my face and while holding it up asked her if this was her ring….all she could do was cry and smile while shaking her head yes, I think Nate might have gotten a few grains of sand in his eyes too.
Chalk up another one for the “The Ring Finders”
1.3 ct. diamond Platinum setting recovered on Pismo Beach
Trisha & Nate
