#the ring Finders of Maine Tag | The Ring Finders

Newlywed Loses Gold Wedding Ring In The York Beach, Maine Surf, Found With A Metal Detector

  • from Old Orchard Beach (Maine, United States)
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On Friday evening, Cheryl and I were driving to Moody Beach, in Wells, Maine. We were going there to find a Wedding and “Engagement “ ring, that had been soldered together (please see previous successful recovery story). As we were in Wells, Maine, the phone rang. The caller identified himself as Greg and Greg had lost his Rose Gold Wedding Ring, earlier in the day, at York Beach Maine, also known as Longsands Beach, York, Maine in York, Maine. Greg told me that he lost his ring while out in the water, at approximately mid tide, but he was way out there, when it was lost. I told him that I was already booked this evening and almost to my search area. It was now 6:00pm and low tide was at 10:57pm. I told Greg that, depending on how long it took me to find the rings, at Moody Beach, I would go to York Longsands Beach tonight, if I thought I had enough daylight left to search, effectively. I had not brought my Headlamp because, I wasn’t expecting to search, in the dark.

I was successful, at Moody Beach, finding the two rings, soldered together, in approximately a half hour. If I drove straight to Long Sands Beach tonight, I could get there by 7:30pm and have approximately 45 minutes of sunlight, to search. I called Greg and he agreed to meet me at the beach and show me the area, his wedding ring came off. Greg said he had dove into the water and his had hit the bottom and he felt his wedding ring come off. He was waist to chest high when this happened and he was unable to find the ring.
Once Cheryl and I arrived, we met up with Greg and his wife, Amanda. Greg was very sure the ring would be straight out from 71 Long Beach Ave. He and his wife had set up for the day, on the beach, in front of this house. Perfect identification of the area. I was just hoping the ring wasn’t so far out there, I wouldn’t be able to cover the area, before the tide started coming back in and before I could no longer see, in the dark. It was all dependent on just how far out, in the water he was, when the ring came off.
I started my north/south grid search at approximately mid beach, at 7:33pm. Sunset was in 9 minutes, at 7:42pm but there should be enough ambient light until approximately 8:15pm. Could I find the wedding ring, in 45 minutes? As I grid searched the area, I was not finding any non ferrous items, other than a single costume earring. I continued on searching my way towards the water and it was getting darker. Greg and Amanda had to leave and get back to their rental and with their family. They told Cheryl if I found it to just give him a call. Greg also thought I would stop searching once it got dark but Cheryl told him I wouldn’t stop, until I caught the low tide water, as it was receding. It was now about 8:30 and it was really dark. I could no longer see my grid lines, made by my scoop, just a few feet away. I didn’t want to stop, since I was already here and I was just hoping I wasn’t missing any areas, since I couldn’t see where I was going. I still wasn’t getting many targets and was almost to the water. I figured I had just two or three more grid line and I would be at the water’s edge. I do go in the water, but I no longer go in at night, when no one is with me. I Just don’t feel safe, if I get knocked over by a wave and become entangled, with all my equipment. It was now 9:00pm and I was getting ready to leave when, BANG, a beautiful sounding low tone, registering a solid, repeatable 38, on my VDI screen. This was the best target of the last 1 1/2 hours, by far. I lined up my scoop, dug into the sand and dumped the contents, onto the hard wet sand. I ran my coil, over the contents and the target was out of the hole and in the pile of sand. I searched the pile, with my pinpointer and found the target. I put my hand, into the sand and felt a round ring. This had to be Greg’s ring. I washed the ring off and placed it on top of my scoops handle. I used the flashlight, on my phone, to look at the ring and sure enough, a Rose Gold Wedding Ring. I have found Greg’s ring and I couldn’t wait to tell him. I then called Cheryl and told her I found it and to come on down, from the vehicle, where she was staying warm. I then took some photos of the ring and sent one of them, to Greg, in a text, saying, “Congratulations. I got it”. Greg saw the text and called me in less than a minute later. He was so excited and was in disbelief. “Just amazing” he told me and thanked me many times over. I asked Greg if could come on down, while I washed the sand, off my equipment. Greg said he would be there in 5 minutes. When Greg arrived, his whole demeanor had changed since I last saw him a few hours earlier. He was just so excited, happy, smiling and he told Cheryl and I that when he told Amanda,she started crying, happy tears. As I always mention to you, these very sentimental rings cannot be replaced. The memories they hold are just to sentimental. It’s not just buying a new ring, it’s the ring Greg was married with and he wanted it back, so badly. I was happy to have been able to help Greg and Amanda and put the smiles, back on their faces. A little later that evening, Greg sent me the following text
“What an adventure. The story is worth all of it. Thank you for making the weekend for my wife and me and her whole family. Everyone is all smiles. You have our referral for life! 😁”
Thank you Greg and Amanda, Cheryl and I were happy to help and just feel grateful for all your support and kind words. ❤️🙏

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Two Gold and Diamond Rings Lost In The Saco, Maine Surf, Found With A Metal Detector

  • from Old Orchard Beach (Maine, United States)
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What’s worse than losing a ring? How about two rings?

On Monday July 21st, I received a phone call, from Nicolas. Nicolas told me that his mother had just lost two gold rings, in the water, in the Ferry Beach State Park area, of Saco, Maine. I asked Nicolas when she lost the rings and how deep was the water, when she lost the rings. Nicolas replied , “fifteen minutes ago and about two feet of water.” I knew it was just about low tide and with the tide now coming in, I wanted to try and find them, before the water was too deep. I immediately grabbed my Minelab Excalibur and headed to the Ferry Beach State Park area. I arrived at 3:00pm and met Nicolas, Carole (Owner of the lost rings) and Ben, another of Carole’s sons. The tide had now been coming in for an hour and there was no time to waste. I started searching the water with the help of Carole, Nicolas and Ben. Carole went to the spot, she thought she was, when she lost the two gold rings. Nicolas stood to the south, of Carole and this was to be the furthest south, the rings should be. Ben stood to the north, for the boundary, in that direction. Carole explained to me that she was standing, in the water, with her back to the open sea. As she was standing, in the water, facing the shore, a wave hit her hard and as the wave knocked her forward, it also hit her outstretched hand, taking both rings off. Carole saw the rings come off and tried grabbing them but they disappeared, into the surf. She immediately yelled to her family members, up on the beach and they immediately started searching for the rings, with Carole. Unfortunately, trying to find rings in the water and waves, is an impossible task.

Since the tide was coming in, I wanted to start as far out, as I could. With the depth of the water and the waves, I felt I had a good chance of finding them. I just didn’t know if I would be able to get out fat enough to. I performed a north to south grid search, working my way towards the shore. After an hour of searching, I called it quits for the day. The water was now too deep to perform a proper search. I told Carole and her family, I would be back, the next afternoon and search once again. The vacationing family, from Québec, Canada told me that they were taking the children, to Funtown Splashtown USA, for the day and would not be there.I told them I was comfortable with the area that needed to be searched and to enjoy their day at Funtown Splashtown.
The next day, Tuesday, I returned to resume my search at 12:45pm, for a 3:30pm, 0.07 low tide. Approximately the same low tide as the previous day. I immediately got into the water, following the tide out, until 3:30pm, when the tide started coming in again. I found a few fishing sinkers and some can slaw. I also got hit by a wave, knocking me off my feet and into the water. After 2 1/2 more hours of searching, the rings were not found, once again. I messaged Nicholas and told him the not so good news. I also reminded him that Wednesday, I would not be able to come down and search, as I had a previous commitment. The low tide, the next day, Wednesday, was going to be the same as the low tide I had just searched in. I now had my sights on Thursday morning and a negative low tide of – 0.07. This negative low tide will be way out there, possibly out far enough, that the rings would no longer be underwater and the search would be much easier. Unfortunately, once low tide arrives, it immediately starts coming back in. I wouldn’t have long to search the low tide area. For this reason, I called Gary Hill, to see if he was available, to help me, on Thursday morning. Gary signed up for the search.
Gary and I arrived at the beach at 4:30am, for the 5:22am low tide. It was still dark out and was a little difficult to see, without headlamps. It wasn’t long before the sky started turning beautiful, without headlamps the sun rising. It also meant, the tide wos about to turn. Ben came down at 5:00am and he had a beginner’s metal detector, his children had brought, on vacation. So now, there were three of us searching but again, no rings were found. To understand just how large an area we were searching, try and picture a football field and another half field. It’s a large area and we didn’t have much time to, to cover it all of the changing tide. Losing a ring, in the water, at low tide, is the worst time to lose it. Just not much time to effectively search. I told Ben that Gary and I would be back again, the following morning, same time, to search another -0.07 low tide. I also asked Ben if he would like me to leave my Minelab CTX-3030 metal detector and long handle sand scoop , for him to use, tonight. He wouldn’t be able to go out to deep but he could certainly search close to shore. He would also be able to use it tomorrow morning, when Gary and I returned. For an area so large, we needed all hands on deck, so to speak. Ben readily agreed to help, by using my backup detector.
This morning, Gary and I arrived pre dawn once again and immediately started searching again. Ben came down around 5:00am and after a quick lesson, with the CTX-3030, Ben started searching. I was searching close to shore, along the rocks, Gary was mid beach section and Ben was also searching, in the rocky area. We were all searching north to south. Low tide was going to be at 6:14am and it was decided to go out as close to the water as possible and start grid searching, water towards the shore. I went out the furthest, Ben was next and then Gary. As we all worked our way towards the shore and 5 minutes, past low tide, Ben received and dug a target. He called Gary over to search the dug sand pile, with the pinpointer. I wasn’t paying attention as I was trying to stay ahead of the incoming tide. All of a sudden, I hear Gary say, “He got one of the rings”. That got my attention and immediately rushed over to them. They were standing looking at the first found ring. I ran my coil over the pile of sand and I received a nice loud low tone. I told Ben and Gary, “I bet you anything, this is the other ring.” I was that confident. Gary took out his pinpointer and searched the sand pile. As he was moving the sand around, his pinpointer went off and I saw the others ring. I picked it up, washed it off and handed it to Ben. Ben not only found the rings, he dug both of them from the same hole. Unbelievable! On the 4th day of the search, both rings were now going back on Carole’s finger. Not all searches are completed on day one. This search was 4 days and if the rings weren’t found today, Gary and I were coming back, pre dawn, once again the next morning. Persistence pays off and thankfully, we don’t like losing or giving up easily.
Ben texted Carole and she came right down to us. She was all smiles, giving us all hugs and smiling ear to ear. Carole had told me the previous day that she was going crazy about the lost rings. I told her she would sleep well tonight and not go crazy, anymore. She readily agreed. It’s such a great feeling, for Gary and I to help Carole and her family, when they need us. The will be returning to Canada tomorrow morning but Gary and I have new friends now and they are all smiling. There is no better feeling than to see someone get their lost item back and see them smile, once again 😁❤️🙏

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Gold Ring With 3 Diamonds Found On A Maine Beach, Returned To Owner In California

  • from Old Orchard Beach (Maine, United States)
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On October 9th, 2023, I received the following PM, from Wendy,

“I lost a gold ring about two-three weeks ago somewhere between the tennis courts (GRB Assoc) and the entrance of the beach in front of the Tides – at GRB. Had I known of your service I would have contacted you immediately.

I live in CA – if you think you could help – I would greatly appreciate it. If you think it is a lost cause – I totally understand”.

I immediately replied and told Wendy I would be happy to help. Wendy replied with the details of what transpired, leading up to the ring being lost.

Wendy had been playing tennis at the Goose Rocks Beach Association tennis courts and had taken her ring off and put it in her pocket. After chasing a few errant tennis balls and walking over to a utility shed, Wendy then walked a 1/2 mile to the beach and once there, climbed over the boulders at the entrance to the beach , that the town of Kennebunkport had placed there, in preparation for Hurricane/Tropical Storm Lee, which was scheduled to arrive the next day. Once Wendy climbed over the boulder and got to the beach, she realized her ring was missing. That’s right, the ring could be on Goose Rocks Beach Association property, anywhere along the 1/2 mile walk to the beach and the beach itself. On top of all that, the ring had been lost 3 weeks previously. Wendy had retraced her steps all the way back to the GRBA Property, without any luck. Well, I do love a challenge and this was certainly a challenge.

Two days later, I went to GRB, in Kennebunkport and thought to myself, “How am I going to find her ring that was lost on September 14th, almost 4 weeks ago. Well, start where she found the ring to be missing and work your way up to GRBA property, a 1/2 mile away.”

I decided too start at the Edgewood Avenue beach entrance , which is where Wendy said she climbed over the boulders, then go up to Wildwood Avenue, Community House Road and then to the Association tennis courts. This is the route Wendy said she took. I finished up at the beach entrance 1st and no luck. As I went up Edgewood Avenue, I detected the lawns, as I stood on the side of the roads, reaching onto the lawns between 3 and 5 feet. After approximately 3 hours, I had completed all of Edgewood and Wildwood, up to Community House Road. As I walked back to my car, I also checked some lawns on the opposite side of the street, in the off chance the ring had rolled/bounced across the road, or even thrown by a lawnmower, sometime in the last 3+ weeks. Nothing even close to being gold was detected, but there was still a lot of detecting to do and ground to cover.

The next day, October 12th, I went back and detected the GRBA property. All the walkways, around the tennis courts , out near the shed and the lawns. Again, 3 hours and nothing. All I had left was Community House Road. I wasn’t able to get back there until October 20th. When I did, I decided to try detecting around the entrance, across from The Tides Club. Wendy had originally mentioned she entered the beach there and it was 1 block south of Edgewood Avenue entrance. Well, no luck there either, so I drove back up to the GRBA property, parked and worked my way down Community House Road to Wildwood Avenue. Still no luck. I the crossed the street and searched that side of Community House Road, back up to GRBA property. Absolutely nothing.

On October 26th, after watching the news all day, about the Mass Shooting, in Lewiston, Maine, just 45-50 miles away from my home, I just had to get out of the house. I decided I would go detecting at GRB and a negative low tide was enticing. I would also check a few spots on Edgewood and Wildwood, that were on the opposite side of the road Wendy had been walking. I detected the low tide 1st with only a few coins found. As I was searching the beach , I found myself about to exit the beach at Proctor Avenue, when, BANG. A very solid low tone and a 12-20 repeating on my Minelab CTX-3030’s VDI Screen. Definitely got excited on this target, as it was definitely in the gold range. I removed my pinpointer and stuck it into the sand. I found the target and hand dug out the item that was 4-5 inches deep. The last hand of scooped sand revealed a gold ring with 3 diamonds. YES, I had found Wendy’s ring, by accident, or had I?  Wendy never mentioned she entered the beach across from Proctor Avenue. She had only mentioned Tides Club entrance, which was 2 blocks north and Edgewood, one block north. Could Wendy have gotten her street names mixed up. She was after all back home in California.

I texted Wendy and had her accurately describe the ring and telling her I had found a ring but not in the area she described. Wendy immediately texted back gold ring, 3 diamonds and a spring clasp on the inside of the ring to fit her finger better. I had never seen a ring with a spring clasp and the ring I found, had one Wendy described the ring perfectly. When I told her I had definitely found her ring after being lost for 6 weeks, to the day, her response was “OMG!!!! Where and how did you find it”? After going over the details, Wendy agreed she most likely had gotten her streets mixed up. She then told me

“Bless your heart. I am so happy! I never, ever thought I’d see that ring again”.

Now the only thing left to do is to mail Wendy her ring, in California, which I did, asap.

Wendy received her ring, in California on 10/30/23 and texted me the following, “Thank you so much Dennis! So thrilled to get my ring back”! Wendy also sent me a photo of her holding her ring for the 1st time in almost 7 weeks.

I just absolutely love helping people like Wendy. There is no better feeling than to help people in need.

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