Lost Ring Perdido Beach – FOUND!!!
Well this is a ring return I won’t ever forget. Even Covid-19 couldn’t stop this nice lady from getting her ring back on her finger. Two days ago, Tyler and her family were in Perdido Beach and on the way back to the car she had her engagement ring on her child’s stroller. As you can imagine, she hit a bumpy patch and by the time she got back to the car her ring was gone on the beach. Yesterday she posted all over social media in hopes that someone may have found it. This is usually a really bad idea because with that much info, someone that is not interested in returning it can find it and move along. Luckily a few people recommended my services (thank you!) and she sent me an email. She didn’t provide any information and didn’t even give me a phone number. Even though I sent her a few emails back she didn’t reply or call. This is totally normal because she was so shocked, I know she was probably trying to make sure she didn’t get scammed with promises of help and she was overwhelmed with the prospect of losing her ring forever. I felt bad for her and I knew that the longer all of the information stayed on the internet, the higher the chance she would never get it back. My friend Charlie and I had the chance to get out today and I talked him into heading to the area. Once there we were very lucky to find it pretty quickly based on our experience with where she may have lost it. I finally posted on Explore Pensacola and she called within the hour. I invited Tyler and her husband to my home and did my first ever social distancing ring return. 😃. I think they were both shocked that a total stranger would just go get her ring for her. I’m very glad to be able to do it. Thanks for the assist today Charlie! God bless you all!!! 💍
Greg called me about a ring that his girl friend had accidentally dropped in a lake and mentioned it was only in a few feet of water. I explained how I normally retrieve lost rings and he assured me he knew exactly where it fell off of the dock and into the water. He said his girl friend had used a mask and tried to locate the ring but was unsuccessful. It had been lost almost a month prior to our conversation and I assured Greg that the ring was most likely in the same spot where it originally fell. 
While visiting with good friends in Springfield, Illinois, I mentioned that I had my metal detector in the car and would be willing to look for anything they might have lost in their yard over the years. They remembered one special ring that was lost 15 years ago during a touch football game. Apparently the youth group from their church would come out and play games, have bonfires and spend the evening on the farm. Our friends kids always enjoyed playing games and their son, Kurt in particular, would set up a small area to play football. The youth group leaders would join the kids as they played and on that fateful day, Crista, felt her rings fly off of her hand as she went to catch the football. Everyone immediately stopped playing and they began searching for her two lost rings in the thick grass. Moments later one of the teens found her engagement ring but the small gold wedding ring was no where to be found. This particular ring was a family heirloom that was handed down to Crista from her grandmother. The lost ring was never found and they gave up hope of ever seeing it again. Over the years the ring slowly sank into the thick grass and damp soil but being made of gold, it never tarnished or corroded. Fifteen years later I was given the opportunity to search for this long lost ring. I set up 4 corner flags and started my grid search pattern. Being as the ring was rather thin, I figured I needed to dig every signal that sounded even close to what a small gold ring would sound like. Three hours later I dug a quiet repeatable signal and there in my pile of dirt I say the glint of gold! And sure enough it was Crista’s lost ring!
While out searching the rough surf for a large gold necklace, I was getting tired and thirsty and decided to take a short break. As I sat there relaxing and enjoying the beautiful view of the Atlantic Ocean, a man approached me and explained his dilemma. Two weeks earlier, Teddy had been walking on the beach and towards the end of his walk he noticed a bunch of garbage in an area of the soft sand and decided he would do the noble thing and pick up the trash and deposit it where it belonged…..in the garbage can! Earlier in his walk, he had been fiddling with his ring and for some “unknown” reason he slipped the ring onto his pinkie finger, where it was a tad loose.
Jan. 1st, I received this comment on one of my ring search stories. Rich wrote, “I believe I lost my ring on the beach approximately 50 yards to the right–facing the ocean–from the end of the Oceanview parking lot wooden walkway. It may have slid off my finger when I shook out my wife’s towel. It is a simple gold Florentine wedding band with “Marla love Oli 1974″ engraved on the inside. By some stroke of luck if anyone finds it, please notify me. Thanks, Rich” So I sent Rich an e-mail and asked him my usual questions, like: “What day and what time of the day were you on the beach and shook out your towel?” And “When can you meet me and show me the exact place where you were on the beach?” And, “And it sounds like you are not exactly sure that you lost it on the beach!” Rich’s response was “I am sorry, but I forgot to mention that I am in the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania area and was vacationing in Florida when I lost my ring.”
Rich was thrilled to hear that I found his ring and I was able to mail it to him the next week. All told, I searched 5 and a half hours and dug 185 targets, while looking for Rich’s ring. And it was so worth it!! Lost your ring? Call ASAP!
