Engagement ring lost on Oregon coast.. found!
Late Friday night, I received a text from Ricardo, stating he needed help finding a lost engagement ring somewhere behind a very popular resort hotel in Cannon Beach, Oregon.
After seeing the message, I noticed that I had missed a call from him earlier.
I called him back a bit after midnight, and we discussed the situation. He said he had purposed to his girlfriend, now his fiancée, during their trip to the Oregon coast . He had hired a photographer to take photos of their special moment. Several photos were taken.
Into the photo shoot, one was where Ricardo was reclining in the sand, with Daniela, his now fiancée, was on top of him, showing the ring. When they stood up, Daniela brushed off the sand from his back. Shortly afterwards, she realized her new engagement ring was no longer on her finger.
Ricardo was confident the ring was in a small area, even though they had spent hours sifting through the sand with no luck. Even people staying in the resort overlooking the beach had come out to help, but the ring was still missing.
I already had a search scheduled for the next morning, but this was looking for a lost earring in a private yard. This was convenient, since I already had my gear loaded. I texted my prior appointment, letting them know I had a time sensitive search, asking them to reschedule.
Cannon Beach is a bit more than two hours from my home, so I set the alarm and was on the road around 0530.
I gave Ricardo an update on my ETA and he said they would meet me when I arrived.
I arrived at the Hallmark Resort slightly after 8AM. I explained to the front desk why I was there, and they graciously told me I could park in their lot until I finished finding the missing ring.
Ricardo and Daniela met me, and we walked down to the beach where the ring went missing. On the way, they told me we were looking for a platinum ring, with a single diamond.
Once in the area, I started a circular search from where they thought the ring had been lost. There had apparently been at least one beach fire in the area, so the detector was getting multiple hits.
On the outer edge of my search area, I hit a strong, shallow signal. Reaching down I found a steel cap from a beer bottle. I picked it up and palmed it, thinking I might be able to use it to extend the suspense of the search for the missing ring.
Searching a bit lower from the suspected area, I received a faint, but repeatable signal. I used my foot to sweep back some sand, and the signal got better. I kicked back some more sand, and about 4 inches deep I saw the glint of a diamond ring.
I turned back to Ricardo, holding up the bottle cap saying this is what I always find on the beach. He looked at me a bit perplexed, then pointed down to the sand and said, “Wait, what’s that??”
I was forced to admit I was trying to play him a bit, and that was the ring. I picked it up from the sand and handed it to him.
After a few seconds for the realization to arrive, Ricardo put the ring back on Daniela’s finger.
Suddenly there was a huge amount of cheering from the overlooking balcony’s. Looking up, we saw many people in the overlooking resort had been observing the search.
I just didn’t have it in me to ask Daniela to take off her ring so I could take anymore pictures of it in the sand, so I just have these photos.
Maybe 20 minutes of searching recovered the missing ring.
We were able to find the ring early enough so Ricardo and Daniela could go have a nice breakfast before their drive to the airport, and flight to Texas.
I’m so happy to be a small part of the story of Daniela and Ricardo’s future together. All the best going forward, and I thank you for the invitation to your wedding!
