Lost ring – Dauphin Island, Alabama
Have I mentioned lately that jewelry recoveries are my favorite part of my metal detecting obsession ??
I saw a Facebook post yesterday evening by someone saying his buddy had lost a wedding band “somewhere between the pool and down by the beach”. It sounded like a long shot but I’m always up for a challenge ! I went down this morning and spoke with Ryan, who had lost the ring, and he wasn’t exactly sure where it had slipped off his finger. He walked me down to the water at one of my favorite detecting spots where, coincidentally, I had just spent about 2 hours detecting yesterday. Ryan explained that he had waded out about waste deep and the sat in the water to watch the sunset Friday night. He was VERY sure about where he had put his bag down and waded out, but that was about it.
I waded in with not a whole lot of confidence…… more like a wing and a prayer. Ok, LOTS of prayer. I then quickly realized I had not brought my waterproof headphones, I didn’t have my long pants on and there was jellyfish and mucky water, and I had even forgotten to ask if the ring was silver, gold, tungsten or stainless. 😳 Ryan was busy at work at a nearby breakfast buffet so I didn’t want to go bother him again.
Much to my suprise, and probably even more to Ryan’s, it wasn’t 30 min later when I came walking back in to the restaurant holding his beautiful ring. I had to scoop 4 fishing weights, 14 pull tabs, 2 bottle caps and a penny first, but there was no mistaking the sweet sound of that shallow gold signal when I hit it about 10 or so yards to the right of where he thought he had been, and just at the edge of how deep I could go in 
without my waterproof headphones.
As always, the generous reward offered was declined. Doing what I love and seeing the look on Ryan’s face was reward enough !
#karmaismyreward
It was quite some time ago when Brittnee’s mom asked if I could find her daughter’s lost class ring. It was very sentimental to her as it had been bought for her by her now deceased grandmother. The only problem was that she gave me a very large search area on the beach – everywhere from up by the dunes playing volleyball to swimming all the way out to some sea wall rocks. I went and searched with no luck. Because it’s a beach where I detect frequently, I looked again. And again. And again ! It took me 18 months to get that smile, but persistence pays off !!
Night before last I got a call from Lacey asking if I could come find her sister Nichole’s lost James Avery charm bracelet in the sand at the beach. She had placed it in her chair cup holder, but apparently forgot and dumped it out when picking it up to put it away. It was very sentimental to her, as she told me she had been adding charms to it for several years. It was rather late and I was 45 minutes away so I promised I would come early the next morning. I arrived and was relieved to see that they were renting a vacation house directly on a small private beach. They had marked off a square where they thought it might be so I set off carefully gridding the area with my Equinox 800. Within minutes, I got a signal that was much deeper than I expected a fresh drop to be and definitely not as loud as I would have thought. First scoop – nothing. Second scoop – nothing. Third scoop – and there was her shiny silver bracelet sparkling in the dry sand. Nichole happily placed it back on her wrist and gave me a hug. I (as always !) turned down her offered reward and asked only for a picture of her smiling – the best reward ever !
recovery !
I saw a Facebook post yesterday about a lost University of Alabama class ring. Being an avid Alabama fan as well as a relative of former championship quarterback AJ McCarron, I knew I had to go look for it !
