#SebagoLakeMaine Tag | The Ring Finders

Sentimental White Gold Mother’s Ring Lost In The Water At Sebago Lake, Windham, Maine Found With A Metal Detector

October 30th, 2026 by Dennis Boothby
from Old Orchard Beach (Maine, United States)

Contact:

1-207-423-3027
Call or Text

🚨 𝐋𝐎𝐒𝐓 𝐌𝐎𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐑’𝐒 𝐃𝐀𝐘 𝐓𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐒𝐔𝐑𝐄 𝐕𝐀𝐍𝐈𝐒𝐇𝐄𝐒 𝐈𝐍 𝐒𝐄𝐁𝐀𝐆𝐎 𝐋𝐀𝐊𝐄! 💍😭
Imagine receiving the perfect Mother’s Day ring, only to watch it vanish into a massive lake just six weeks later. That is exactly the nightmare Michelle faced, and it all started during a beautiful, normal day at the beach with her family.

Drop a ❤️ to show Michelle some support, and share this post—you never know who might need a reminder to double-check their pockets this summer!

🌊 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐃𝐢𝐬𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐨𝐧 𝐉𝐮𝐥𝐲 𝟒𝐭𝐡 𝐖𝐞𝐞𝐤𝐞𝐧𝐝

On July 3rd, I received a message from Michelle. She was in urgent need of a water recovery over at Sebago Lake Maine in the Town of Windham, Maine.

Michelle sent over the details of what had happened, and it’s a situation many of us can relate to. She had taken all of her rings off to apply sun lotion to her children and then to herself.

To keep them safe, she placed them all into a pocket on her bathing suit. With the family protected from the sun, Michelle grabbed a float and went into the water to enjoy the beautiful July 4th holiday weekend, soaking up the rays while floating around the private lakeside community beach.

The shock came once Michelle exited Sebago Lake Maine .

She reached into her bathing suit pocket to retrieve her rings, only to find to her utter horror that two of her rings were missing. Cruelly, one of the missing pieces was a deeply sentimental 𝑴𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓’𝒔 𝑫𝒂𝒚 𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈 representing her three children’s birth months.

The beautiful white gold ring featured three stones—two sparkling diamonds flanking a vibrant, eye-catching red center stone.

To make matters worse, Michelle had just received this precious ring six weeks earlier, and now it had slipped out of her pocket and fallen somewhere onto the bottom of Sebago Lake.

🏊‍♂️ 𝐀 𝐏𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐑𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲

Disbelief quickly turned to action. Michelle, her children, family members, and other supportive community members immediately rallied together and started searching the crystal clear waters.

Some scanned from above on floats while others waded through the water on foot, desperately looking for a glimmer of white gold on the lake floor…

As the family and neighbors searched, a shout went up from the water—Michelle’s son had spotted one of the missing rings!

Floating along the surface, he was peering down through the crystal clear water when a flash of metal caught his eye on the lake floor, about 4 to 5 feet deep.

Without wasting a second, he dove straight down, reached past the rocks, and gripped the ring. He broke the surface triumphantly, holding the ring high in the air to show his mother.

The excitement was electric, but there was absolutely no time to waste. One ring was safely back, but the most sentimental piece—the beautiful white gold Mother’s Day ring—was still lost somewhere beneath the waves.

With new hope fueling the team, the search ensued for the final ring… Unfortunately, despite everyone’s best efforts, the day ended without finding the second ring.

📅 𝐉𝐮𝐥𝐲 𝟔𝐭𝐡: 𝐅𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭 𝐀𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐦𝐩𝐭

That is when Michelle reached out to me. Because the beach belongs to a private, gated community, it wasn’t a spot where I could just waltz right in and start searching on my own. To get access to the area, I needed to be accompanied by a community member. We looked at the schedule, and the next time Michelle would be available to meet me at the gate was three days later, on July 6th.

Perfect! The date and time were set, and a plan was officially in motion.

When the day arrived, Gary and I pulled up to the gate and were warmly greeted by Michelle and her children.
We made our way down to the waterfront, where Michelle pointed out the fairly large area she had floated around during the holiday weekend. The search zone included clusters of rocks and massive underwater boulders—some sitting just inches below the surface, and a few others just barely breaking through the water. She also pointed out the exact spot just past one of those large boulders where her son had successfully recovered the first ring.
Our grid search plan was to concentrate our efforts heavily around these rock formations.
My biggest concern going into this was that the missing ring might have drifted a little too far out, into water that was completely over my head. To tackle the zone efficiently, Gary and I divided and conquered. I waded right out to the deep water where the first ring had been found and began a tight grid search, moving back and forth parallel to the shoreline. With each complete pass, I pushed myself a little deeper out into the lake, continuing until it was no longer safe to go any further.
Meanwhile, Gary started right at the shoreline. His mission was to work his way from the shallow water outward until he reached the deep boulder where I had initially started. By combining these two approaches, we were able to systematically cover a very large, thorough footprint in the exact zone Michelle believed the ring was most likely resting.

🚗 𝐓𝐡𝐞 “𝐃𝐫𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐒𝐡𝐚𝐦𝐞”

After three grueling hours of intensive searching, digging up many coins and pieces of beach trash later, we unfortunately had to call the search without finding the ring.

The water depth simply got to a point where I could not go out any further safely. Gary and I don’t like it one bit when we don’t succeed. We take every single recovery personally, but sometimes in this line of work, we have to accept a temporary defeat.

Before packing up, we sat down and talked out the strategy with Michelle. We discussed the deeper water and assured her that we would certainly come back to search again later in the summer. In August and September, the lake levels usually drop a few feet, which would completely open up the deep areas I just couldn’t reach today. Michelle agreed to keep a close eye on the waterline and promised to contact us the moment it dropped.
Defeated for now, Gary and I loaded up our gear and made the long drive of shame home…

📉 𝐀 𝐋𝐨𝐰 𝐋𝐚𝐤𝐞 & 𝐀 𝐍𝐞𝐰 𝐎𝐩𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐲

Fast forward to late August. Gary and I were driving home from a successful recovery on “The Sandbar” at 𝐒𝐞𝐛𝐚𝐠𝐨 𝐋𝐚𝐤𝐞. As we passed the gated community where there was still a missing 𝐌𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫’𝐬 𝐃𝐚𝐲 𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠, I mentioned that I should contact the owner, Michelle, knowing just how low the lake level had become.

Just 10 days later, Michelle beat me to it! She reached out on September 2nd to tell me the water level was down significantly—by two feet or more. Since she was about to go on vacation, she could get us back past the gates and into the water. Awesome.

🔍 𝐄𝐱𝐩𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐆𝐫𝐢𝐝 (𝐀𝐠𝐚𝐢𝐧!)

Two days later, Gary and I resumed the search. We expanded our grid out deeper and into other areas we hadn’t covered the first time around. We even were out past the roped off buoys, that Michelle had not gone past. But after another three hours of grinding it out, we still had no ring.

I was convinced the ring had to be out deeper than we could search during our first attempt, way further out than Michelle had ever been on her float. We even were out past the roped off buoys, that Michelle had not gone past.With the deep water now eliminated, Gary shifted his focus to searching up on the beach itself, out of the water. I continued working my way back through the water toward the shore, preparing myself to break the bad news to Michelle.

🔔 𝐓𝐡𝐞 “𝐅𝐨𝐢𝐥” 𝐒𝐢𝐠𝐧𝐚𝐥

As I was finishing up the grid near the shoreline, standing in just ankle-deep water a few feet out, my detector suddenly went off with a loud, low tone. The Target Identification (TID) read 07-08.
It was definitely in the gold range, but given how close we were to the shore and the picnic tables, my first thought was foil. It had to be foil, right? I dug the target anyway, and BAM!!!

💎 💎 𝐔𝐧𝐛𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐞𝐯𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐃𝐢𝐬𝐜𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲!
A white gold ring with two diamonds and a brilliant red center stone appeared in my scoop. I couldn’t believe my eyes! After six total hours of searching deep water, the ring was sitting just a few feet from the shoreline, only about 60 to 75 feet from where the first ring had been found. We were so certain it was out deep, but the shallows held the treasure. Lesson learned.

😭 💎 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐄𝐦𝐨𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐑𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐚𝐥

At this time, Michelle had no idea I had it. I called her over and casually told her we were just about done. I asked her a few quick questions to distract her, then I held the ring up right in front of me and asked, “𝐖𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐛𝐞 𝐢𝐭?”

Michelle’s hands went straight up to her face in total shock. Happy tears immediately started flowing, and I couldn’t have been happier for her.

It was truly wonderful for Gary and I to witness such an emotional reaction. After having the ring for just six weeks and now just over two months lost in 𝐒𝐞𝐛𝐚𝐠𝐨 𝐋𝐚𝐤𝐞, Michelle is once again wearing her beloved children’s birthstones on her finger. With the happy tears flowing, the hugs and thank yous over, Gary and I drove home not on the “𝐃𝐫𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐒𝐡𝐚𝐦𝐞” but on a “𝐃𝐫𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐅𝐚𝐦𝐞!” 🏆🚗💨

❤️ 𝐖𝐡𝐲 𝐖𝐞 𝐃𝐨 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐖𝐞 𝐃𝐨

Another ring back on the finger, right where it belongs. 𝐖𝐄 𝐋𝐎𝐕𝐄 𝐎𝐔𝐑 𝐉𝐎𝐁𝐒! It really is the best job in the world.

Remember: 𝐈𝐅 𝐈𝐓 𝐌𝐀𝐓𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐒 𝐓𝐎 𝐘𝐎𝐔, 𝐈𝐓 𝐌𝐀𝐓𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐒 𝐓𝐎 𝐔𝐒. 🙏✨

🍂 𝐃𝐢𝐝 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐋𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐑𝐢𝐧𝐠? 𝐖𝐞 𝐂𝐚𝐧 𝐇𝐞𝐥𝐩 𝐘𝐞𝐚𝐫-𝐑𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝! ❄️

Now that the summer and water seasons are over, you might think a lost ring is gone for good—but it isn’t! We don’t just search the water. If your precious jewelry slips off in the backyard, down a trail, or while doing yard work, we can find your ring hidden in:
• 🍁 𝐃𝐞𝐞𝐩 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐬
• 🌱 𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐤 𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐬𝐬
• ❄️ 𝐄𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐟𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐡 𝐬𝐧𝐨𝐰!

Time is of the essence! The sooner we get out there, the better the chances of a perfect recovery. Don’t wait until it gets buried deeper or lost forever.

📞 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐜𝐭 𝐃𝐞𝐧𝐧𝐢𝐬 𝐀𝐒𝐀𝐏 𝐚𝐭 𝟐𝟎𝟕-𝟒𝟐𝟑-𝟑𝟎𝟐𝟕 and let us bring your treasure home!

𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐝𝐥𝐲 𝐜𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐛𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝟑𝟐𝟓 𝐬𝐮𝐜𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐟𝐮𝐥 𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠! 𝐖𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐞 𝐰𝐞 𝐜𝐚𝐧’𝐭 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦 𝐚𝐥𝐥, 𝐰𝐞 𝐧𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐠𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐮𝐩 𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐥 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐬𝐪𝐮𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐡 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐛𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐬𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐝—𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐑𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐅𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐌𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲 𝐭𝐨 𝐚 𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐲 𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠.

📹 𝐖𝐚𝐭𝐜𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐒𝐡𝐨𝐜𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧!

Michelle’s unforgettable, shocked reaction was caught entirely on video! We released the reel last night, and you can watch the incredible moment unfold right now on The Ring Finders of Maine Facebook Page.

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Sterling Silver Necklace And Pendant Of Father’s Fingerprint Lost In Sebago Lake, Maine, Found In The Water With A Metal Detector

October 10th, 2026 by Dennis Boothby
from Old Orchard Beach (Maine, United States)

Contact:

1-207-423-3027
Call or Text

✨ LOST AT THE BOTTOM OF SEBAGO LAKE: A PIECE OF A FATHER’S MEMORY ✨

On August 9th, my phone started blowing up. Tag after tag, notification after notification. The Ring Finders of Maine community was rallying, and they were pointing me directly toward a heartbreaking post on the “I Boat on Sebago Lake, Maine” Facebook group.

A woman named Gretchen had posted a plea that instantly brought a lump to my throat:

“This might be a long shot but if anyone is at the Sandbar today and happens to find a necklace that looks exactly like this, please send me or Jacob Burns a message, he lost it yesterday we think around 5:00pm and it is very special to him. Thanks in advance! Apologies for the blurry photo but it should say dad on one side and has a thumbprint on the other.”

The post included a few blurry photos, but the gravity of what was lost was crystal clear. It was a heavy sterling silver chain and pendant. On one side, a deeply etched fingerprint. On the other side, the word “DAD” followed by his birth and death dates.

WOW. 💔

🌊 AN IRREPLACEABLE LOSS

My heart sank. Jake and Gretchen have been dating for a few years now, and as his girlfriend, she knew exactly how much that piece meant to him. Jake’s father had passed away less than a year ago.

This wasn’t just a piece of jewelry. This wasn’t something insurance could replace. This was a priceless, irreplaceable piece of his dad—and right now, it was sitting somewhere at the bottom of the vast, shifting sands of the Sebago Lake Sandbar.

Thankfully, the amazing people of Facebook knew exactly what to do. The comments section exploded with people urging Gretchen to call in the reinforcements:

“The ring finders of Maine! They are amazing at finding all the special lost things.”
“I love to watch their adventures. Jacob Burns reach out to them, they’re your best shot.”

Gretchen and Jake did exactly that. When they reached out to me, they explained that while they knew the general area where they’d been hanging out on The Sandbar, Jake hadn’t realized the necklace was gone until much later. They had already gone back and tried searching on their own, but their efforts proved futile. By now, the heavy sterling silver pendant was most likely swallowed up by the sand in waist-deep water.

With thousands of weekend boaters, shifting currents, and the endless sand of Sebago, the odds were heavily against us. But looking at the photo of that thumbprint, I knew we had to gear up and give this family everything we had.

🛑 THE CURVEBALLS BEGIN

Planning this recovery was about to throw us a few major curveballs.

Jake’s first thought was that Gary and I could simply wade across the lake from the Sebago Lake State Park shore to reach the sandbar. Right away, my alarm bells went off. As a rule, it is highly advised NOT to attempt to reach the sandbar from the state park. The water levels change rapidly, and the area is full of dangerous drop-offs and hidden troughs.

Our safety is always paramount. Picture two “old guys” carrying heavy, expensive detecting equipment through deep, unpredictable water without knowing where the bottom drops out—there was absolutely no way I was going to let us attempt that.

Jake then offered a backup plan: he had a boat and could take us over himself. But with his intense work schedule, he only had a few specific days available, and it would have to be a 6:00 AM launch.

An early morning start was critical. If you know the Sebago Lake Sandbar, you know it gets incredibly busy fast, with boats lined up down the entire area. Trying to swing detectors around anchored boats and crowds of swimmers is nearly impossible. More importantly, the sandbar is massive. If Jake couldn’t be right there with us to point out the exact grid where they had been standing, we would be looking for a needle in a water-covered haystack.

Once we finally locked in a date to search, all we needed was a little cooperation from above. Unfortunately, Mother Nature had other plans. Our first attempt was completely rained out, forcing us to push the mission back a full week until Jake’s next day off.

By the time the big day finally arrived, that precious sterling silver pendant and necklace had been missing at the bottom of the lake for over two weeks. Two weeks of shifting waves, churning sand, and endless boat traffic.

🛥️ THE 6:00 AM LAUNCH

Gary and I met up with Jake and Gretchen promptly at 6:00 AM. The lake was completely calm as Jake navigated us out of Jordan Bay. We cut through the cool morning air, passing between Frye Island and the towering heights of Fryes Leap, heading straight across Sebago Lake toward the state park and the massive sandbar just to the west.

The boat ride took about 15 to 20 minutes, and the moment Jake threw the anchor into the shallow water, Gary and I were in the zone. In less than 5 minutes, we had our gear ready and stepped down into the water.

There wasn’t much sun that morning—just a few stray rays cutting through a cloudy, heavy, and overcast sky. The boats hadn’t arrived yet, and the water was quiet, but the gray light made it hard to see anything beneath the surface.

Having never been out to the sandbar before, I was secretly incredibly concerned about what lay beneath the sand. Knowing the insane amount of boats and beverages consumed out there, I was preparing for the absolute worst. A massive carpet of trash—bottle caps and aluminum pull tabs—would completely slow us down. Metal detectors read those items similarly to jewelry, meaning we would have to stop and dig every single piece of junk to make sure we didn’t accidentally sweep right over the sterling silver necklace.

Jake didn’t just sit on the boat and watch; he jumped right into the water with us. He thought we should head east, parallel to the shore, keeping in the waist-deep water.

To battle the clock and the threat of hidden trash, Gary and I decided to perform a synchronized “snowplow” grid search. I took the lead in front, and Gary locked in right behind me and slightly to my left. By overlapping our detector swings in this tight formation, we were able to clear a massive 10-foot-wide path with every single step we took forward.

🕵️‍♂️ THE SEARCH IS ON

We set out with Jake leading the way, guiding us along their path from two weeks ago. As we swept, our detectors would beep, and we’d scoop—digging a coin here and there, and the occasional pull tab or bottle cap. But after about a half hour of grid searching, Gary and I stopped and looked at each other in total shock.

We couldn’t believe just how little trash we were actually digging! We were so incredibly surprised and happy to see how beautifully clean the lake bed was. It turns out the boaters out here are incredibly responsible, respecting the waters and not polluting the lake with trash. A BIG SHOUT OUT TO THE BOATERS!!! 🙌

Right around this time, Jake suddenly redirected us. He had been standing in the water studying photos on his phone from the exact day he lost the pendant, trying to line up landmarks. Realizing we were a little too far in toward the shore, he had us adjust and move further out toward the open water.

With our original snowplow grid broken by the move, I formulated a new plan on the fly. I told Gary I would head out deeper and slightly closer to the boat, while he could stay closer to where we were. We would grid this brand-new area from opposite sides, cutting a path through the sand and meeting each other somewhere right in the middle.

The Sandbar was not giving up many targets. We waded into our new positions under the overcast sky, lowered our coils back into the water, and kept swinging.

🚨 THE MOMENT OF TRUTH

We had been in the water searching for close to an hour when the quiet morning air suddenly shattered. Across the gray water, I heard Gary and Jake getting incredibly animated.

Then Gary yelled the words we had all been praying for across the open water: HE HAD FOUND BOTH THE NECKLACE AND THE PENDANT! 🎉

Even from 60 feet away, the smile on Jake’s face was absolutely unforgettable. It split across his face, bright and clear under the cloudy sky. OUTSTANDING!!!

I quickly waded my way over to them, and the sheer joy and exuberance radiating from Jake’s entire body was unmistakable. He was yelling across the water to Gretchen on the boat, his voice booming with pure relief and happiness, telling her that he had his father’s pendant once again.

What followed was a blur of celebratory handshakes, triumphant high fives, and a wave of pure emotion that I will never forget. Jake loved his father so deeply and wanted this pendant back so badly. It wasn’t just metal—it was a literal, physical piece of his father. Two long weeks of worrying, a rained-out search, and a massive body of water couldn’t keep them apart.

Once we finally made it back on shore, the celebration didn’t stop. Gary and I were showered with an endless stream of “thank you so much,” heartfelt handshakes, and massive hugs from both Jake and Gretchen.

❤️ WHY WE DO THIS

Standing there on the shore, watching the relief wash over them, it hits you right in the chest. There is something profoundly sacred about a father and son’s love for each other—a bond so powerful that it transcends even death.

That connection is exactly why Gary and I do this. Our passion isn’t just about finding lost pieces of metal; it’s about bringing irreplaceable memories back to the surface.

You see, objects can be replaced by insurance, but this item is different. This piece is the memories. It’s the tangible reminder of a father’s hand, a dad’s guidance, and a lifetime of love. Now, those precious memories are exactly where they belong—resting safely in the sterling silver thumbprint that Jake wears around his neck, held close to his heart forever. ❤️

Gary and I truly have the best job in the world, and we love every single second of what we do. It’s moments like this that remind us of our promise to all of you: If it matters to you, it matters to us.

Another priceless memory recovered by The Ring Finders of Maine. Never lose hope! 🙏 🔍 ✨

🎬 WATCH THE CELEBRATION!

Want to see the exact moment the magic happened? 🎥 We released the video Reel last night right here on The Ring Finders of Maine Facebook page!Head over to our Reels tab to check it out and see the pure joy and celebration in the waters of Sebago Lake just after the recovery. You won’t want to miss it!

🚨 LOST SOMETHING IRREPLACEABLE? WE CAN HELP! 🚨

Have you lost a wedding ring, a sentimental heirloom, or a priceless memorial piece in the water, the sand, or the snow? Don’t wait, and don’t give up hope! Shifting sands and moving waters can hide items quickly, but our heavy-duty metal detecting equipment and decades of experience can find what you thought was gone forever.

Call Dennis at The Ring Finders of Maine today:

📞 207-423-3027

Let’s get your memories back where they belong!

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Thirty Year Gold Anniversary Wedding Ring Lost In Sebago Lake, Maine, Found With A Metal Detector

August 27th, 2026 by Dennis Boothby
from Old Orchard Beach (Maine, United States)

Contact:

1-207-423-3027
Call or Text

? ???? ?? ?????? ????? ??? ?????? ??? ????’? ??????? ????! ?

As Cheryl and I were leaving Old Orchard Beach, fresh off a successful recovery, my phone rang. On the other end was Jennifer, and she was looking for some urgent help from The Ring Finders of Maine.

I asked her what happened, and she explained that her husband, Paul, had just lost his wedding ring at Point Sebago. The tricky part? He wasn’t entirely sure where it came off. It could have been in the dry sand around their beach setup, or it could be somewhere out in the water.

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Here is what we knew: Paul had been lounging around his beach chair, but he had also been out in Sebago Lake Maine, throwing a football around with his sons. Around lunchtime, as the family gathered to grab a bite to eat, Paul looked down and realized with a sinking feeling that his ring was gone.

The family immediately sprang into action. They searched all around their beach chairs and waded through the water where the football game had taken place, but they came up empty-handed.

When Jennifer told me the story, my immediate thought was that the ring had to be in Sebago Lake. In my experience, rings don’t just fall off your finger while you’re lounging around in a beach chair. They come off when you are active and doing something with your hands—like catching or throwing a football in the cool lake water!

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Knowing this was likely going to be a water search, I told Jennifer I would absolutely get up there, but I needed to make one quick stop at my house first. If I was going into the lake, I needed the right tool for the job: my Minelab Excalibur II. This machine is a beast for water recoveries—fully waterproof and submersible up to 200 feet deep, it’s the same detector used on heavy-duty dive sites.
Once I retrieved the Excalibur and made sure we had every piece of gear required for a thorough water hunt, I called Jennifer back. I let her know we were officially on the road and that it would take about an hour to get there, aiming for a 3:30 PM arrival.
With the vehicle loaded up and a plan in place, Cheryl and I hit the highway, heading straight for Point Sebago.

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Once we arrived, we were promptly met at the main gate by Jennifer and her son, who got us checked in with visitor passes. From there, they drove us right down to the beach and lake in a golf cart. Wow, I really like this place—no walking required, lol!
Down at the water, we were met by Paul. He showed us their exact beach setup and pointed out the area of the lake where he had been standing while tossing the football around. I got my gear on, fired up the Excalibur, and walked straight into Sebago Lake with Paul leading the way to his exact spot.

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Once I could see the entire layout of the area, I told Paul my strategy: I was going to start my grid search just a little further out and deeper in the water. I always over-grid an area to make absolutely sure I don’t miss a single spot where a ring could possibly be hiding.
That’s when Paul gave me one more piece of information—he mentioned that he had actually swum out to retrieve the football a few different times, and on those swims, the water was over his head. There wasn’t much I could do about those deep-water spots at that moment, but I could certainly search every single inch of the rest of the area.
I set up my grid lines vertical to the shore, locking my eyes onto an onshore landmark—a specific tree at the back of the beach area. Keeping my focus on that tree would ensure I walked in a perfectly straight line.

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With the plan locked in, I waded out until the water was approximately armpit deep and started making my way back toward the shore. I hadn’t even been searching for two minutes when I reached belly-deep water and a strong, clear signal hit my headphones. My first target! Could this really be Paul’s wedding ring already?
I plunged my long-handled beach scoop deep into the sand, lifted it up, and dumped the contents into the floating sifter I use out in the water. As the water cleared and I looked inside, I COULD NOT BELIEVE MY EYES.
A gold ring was sticking right out of a clump of sand!
I turned, looked right at Paul, and said, “I got it.”

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Paul immediately made a beeline to me, and Jennifer and one of their sons rushed right out behind him. I told Paul he could have the honors of removing his ring from the sifter himself. As he grabbed it, the sheer relief on his face was incredibly evident.
Suddenly, everyone in the family was smiling, shaking hands, and hugging. But the magic didn’t stop there. Once the other vacationers in the area realized what had just happened, a massive wave of applause, clapping, and cheering started filtering out to us from the shore and from people in the water. It was an absolutely awesome moment to experience!

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As we were walking out of the lake, Jennifer let me in on a huge secret: she and Paul would be celebrating 30 years of marriage this upcoming October! Recovering Paul’s wedding ring was an unbelievable relief for their massive upcoming anniversary.
Jennifer and Paul continued to praise me for making the trip out to help them, and as we stood there talking about 30 wonderful years of their lives together, my phone rang yet again.

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The next call was for a lost wedding ring down at Goose Rocks Beach in Kennebunkport Maine. Paul and Jennifer were incredibly generous and offered to buy Cheryl and me a round of drinks to celebrate the win, but we had to politely decline. A wedding ring had to be found, and as we always say:
“If it matters to you, it matters to us.” ❤️
So, with two successful ring recoveries already under our belts today, Cheryl and I hopped back into the vehicle and headed straight to Kennebunkport Maine. Let’s see if we can make it a hat trick! ?☘️??? ?

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