White Gold Engagement Ring Lost in the Outgoing Tide, Found and Returned Cherry Grove, SC

On Sunday, June 25^th, I was sitting at home waiting to return on a search where the beach was packed with tourist when I received a text from Haley. Her text said “Hi my best friend lost her ring about 5 minutes ago at the north side of Cherry grove pier right by the water line. If anybody turns it in or finds it, could you please let me know!! It’s her engagement ring.” I immediately responded asking “You want me to come look for it?” She responded with a picture of the ring and said “Yes please!” I asked her to call me and gave her my number. Almost instantly she called and I got a few more details, told her I’d be there in 10 minutes, grabbed my Equinox 800 and hit the road. This is Sunday, so parking is almost non-existent for the beach. I’ve got a few hidden spots but even those were taken. I did find a spot that I’m not sure I parked legally, but I didn’t have a ticket when I returned to the car.

As I’m walking out on the beach I called Haley saying I was there. As I’m walking towards the pier, Claire came running up to me and told me she was the one who lost the ring. I asked what happened and she told me she was looking for shells. She continued saying that when she reached for a shell, her ring slipped off her finger and disappeared. She also said her ring was a little loose on her finger. I asked what her ring was and she responded that it was White Gold. We continued walking to the water line and she showed me, almost exactly where she had lost it. I noticed the waves were pretty rough breaking on the shoreline, so I wanted to see what I was up against. I walked straight out in the water, across a bed of broken shells, barefooted no less. After about 10 feet I dropped from ankle deep to about chest deep which explained the breaking waves. After I fought the current and made my way back up to a workable surface; I started a grid line back to where Claire, Haley and another young lady, whose name I didn’t get, were standing. I made my turn and walked back to about ankle deep and hit a great signal, showing an 8 VDI (visual display indicator) which was in the ball park for a white gold ring. I dug a big scoop of sand and shells, checked the hole, which was quickly filled back in, and knew I had the target in the scoop. I walked up to where the young ladies were standing and dumped the scoop. I checked the pile of sand with the detector and found the target. I think I told Claire that we might have it. I spread the sand out with my foot and we all were checking out the sand. Suddenly one of the ladies saw it barely sticking out of the sand and said something like “there it is.” Claire saw it and scooped it up. Bingo! She was now holding her precious treasure and holding back some tears. She was very excited.

Ladies – this was truly a team effort!

Claire, so happy you got your lost treasure back where it belongs.

Jim