Lost Ring Found Ft Morgan
Phillip called me about midday asking if I would help him locate his wife’s engagement ring. It was lost in the water close to the shore line, ankle to calf deep and they had been searching for it by hand, snorkeling and they purchased a metal detector to no avail. It had been a couple days since lost and it was high tide at the time. He said because of emotional and sentimental reasons, the ring just had to be found. I said I would help and showed up late that same afternoon. This was my first visit and ring recovery at Fort Morgan so I wasn’t familiar with conditions and packed my equipment for all conditions. I searched an areas about 100 foot square with no Luck. There was only one target and when I dug it Phillip thought I had found it only to be disappointed when I pulled up a piece of wire. After performing a second search with no success I decided to first expand the search another 50 ft to the west. Now, remember the ring was lost at high tide and the beach had a gradual slope, for ever 1 foot drop of tide the horizontal distance was probably 15 or more feet. It’s was now low tide so I concentrated on the wet sand with no standing water. Within 10 minutes I got a good but weak signal, dug it and there it was. I felt it was lucky I came right out after called because the sand shifts about quickly around here and I’m afraid in another day or two it may have been buried to deep to detect. Phillip and the family were all smiles and grateful and now they can finish their vacation with no regrets. I am alway glad to help.
I just returned to my vehicle after water testing my detector at Pensacola Beach when I received a call from Suzanne. She and her family were on vacation at Orange Beach Alabama, it was high tide and surf was about 1 to 2 foot. Her daughter in law lost her beautiful wedding ring in waist to chest deep water somewhere about 40 or 50 yards from shore in a area about maybe 40 yards wide and asked if I would find it! I said I would do my best and I would be there in an hour. It was a large area and the surf made it very difficult to make sure every square foot was hunted. I ended up setting my scoop on every step so I could reposition if moved off track by the surf. The family had made friends with just about everyone on the beach so there was a good audience. Everyone was wishing me luck on my hunt and some didn’t think it was possible to find a little ring buried in sand underwater! It took me maybe two and a half hour to search the area with no luck. I went back to the family and together we reaccessed the area to search. Suzanne waded to the area and distance off shore she thought was the spot making a vertical line and her son stood on shore at the spot he thought was right and set the horizontal line. Between the two spots I started a search grid and overlapped by about ten feet in either direction as I slowly moved closer to shore a foot at a time. Suzanne stayed close while I was searching and we talked a bit. Suddenly I got a signal and called to her “this sounds like a good signal” and carefully set my scoop to prevent damage or a scratch to the ring. She was there before I could raise the scoop anticipating the wayward ring, anxiously waiting the sand to drain from scoop and suddenly a glint of gold, then she had it in her hand. She raised her arms with ring in hand and announced her daughter in law’s ring was recovered!!! The family and their many friend cheered. Everyone in the family was smiling and relieved, emergency over, no more worries. I was happy I was able to make everything right again, made my day!