Ring goes up in fireworks, Orlando, Florida….lost in the water and found with metal detector!
Here is the story in Nikolai’s own words. “It was the fourth of July and my wife and I were visiting her parents in Orlando, Florida after our honeymoon in Mexico. We were out tubing on Lake Conway and I had put my wedding band and Julianne’s wedding band and engagement ring on my necklace for safe keeping to not lose them in the water. Upon returning to Julianne’s parents lake house I took off my necklace and removed the rings and kept them in my hand while Julianne went up to the house to change. At the same time Julianne’s father was attempting to light the first firework of the night on the beach, which was a fountain with 7 individual small mortar shots. He couldn’t get the wick to light due to some minor wind so naturally I came over to help. I cupped my hands around the lighter to shield it from the wind. I noticed something shiny drop into one of the mortar holes but didn’t think much of it, thinking it was just some left over reflective paper from the firework. The wick lit and the firework went off. At that moment I realized I was only holding two rings (mine and Julianne’s wedding bands) and not 3 rings! Julianne’s engagement ring was missing! I frantically looked around in the sand and everywhere else I stood from the point I had taken the necklace off to when I noticed the ring was gone. Then I remembered the shiny thing that dropped into the firework and was mortified that I might’ve dropped my wife’s engagement ring into the firework and launched it somewhere! We did not find the ring that night. The next day I searched on the internet for ways to find lost rings. The search came up with mostly metal detector sales but also yielded a site called “theringfinders.com” that facilitated a group of individuals all over the United States that help with finding lost items of value. I was able to type in the zip code and a profile appeared of someone local that could help find my wife’s lost engagement ring. His name was Mike McInroe. I was able to call him and set up a time for him to come by that same day. Upon arrival he explained the purpose of the ring finders and the organizations history. He brought along his metal detector and flags and proceeded with his investigation by placing them in the areas I remembered being prior to losing the ring. He then spent the next 3 hours with his metal detector meticulously searching the entire beach area for the ring, including 10 feet into the shallow waters of Lake Conway. He did not find the lost engagement ring: but unfortunately had to halt the search for the day due to bad weather conditions. That evening Mike called me and we continued to brainstorm on what else we could do to help with the search. I told him of my fear of having possibly dropped the ring into the firework and that the ring could be anywhere. We then came up with the idea of recreating the scene. I was able to find the exact same firework used that night and was able to purchase two the next morning. Mike came back and brought along some fake dummy rings which he attached red ribbons to. We then placed the firework in the same spot that it had fired off from and added multiple of the dummy rings into it so that we would be able to follow the possible trajectory of where they landed in order to give us a clue of where Julianne’s ring could have landed. We launched 3 rings and all landed around 4 feet apart from each other about 10 to 15 feet out into the water. We then repeated the same test with the second firework and those 3 rings also landed in the same general area. Mike threw on his wet suit and went out to that area in search of our missing engagement ring. 15 minutes went by and after about the 4th scoop from the lake floor, he looked over and gave us a thumbs up with a big smile. He found our lost ring! We are so thankful that we were able to recover our ring with Mike’s help as it had meant so much to both Julianne and myself. We highly recommend utilizing the service of The Ring Finders, it is an amazing organization and they do great work! Nikolai and Julianne”
How can I help you? Call or text me ASAP at 321-363-6029!
Mike McInroe….honored to be part of theringfinders.com
