Gold Wedding Ring Lost In The Moody Beach, Wells, Maine Sand, Found With A Metal Detector

On Sunday, August 10th, Cheryl a I were headed to Casco, Maine, to attend our Great Grandsons first birthday celebration. As we were driving on the Maine Turnpike, I received a phone call from, a caller who identified himself as Andy. Andy was staying in Moody Beach in the Wells, Maine area, on vacation with family and friends. The previous evening, he was walking on the beach, with his family and friends, heading to Moody Point, to watch the sunset. As the group were walking down the beach, Andy and his 13 year old son were tossing a football back and forth. At one point the had stopped to see who could throw the football the furthest. They spent some time in the area, just throwing the football. Once they continued to Moody Point, the group hung around the area, to see the sunset. Once the sun set, they walked back down the beach, to where they were staying. After getting inside, Andy realized his wedding ring was missing. Andy and his wife, Jennifer, grabbed a flashlight and walked the beach, in the dark,looking for the wedding ring. Unfortunately, they did not walk a straight path to Moody Point but were zigzagging, as they were tossing the football around. They just didn’t know when they zigged and when they zagged. The wedding ring could literally be anywhere, along a 1/2 stretch of the beach. WOW!!! What are the chances the wedding ring can be recovered, over a 1/2 stretch of beach, while the tide is halfway out? That is a very large area.

I told Andy that I would arrive at 5:00am, as the tide was going out, giving me more time to search the wet sand area. Andy’s wife had taken a photo of Andy, tossing the football with his son and it was in front of a house that he could remember where it was. The photo shows that Andy was still wearing his wedding ring, at that point. He also spent time, in front of the house, in a competitive long distance throwing match, with his son. This would be a great place to start searching as Andy made boundaries for me, within the area of the competition, with his son and we know the ring was still on his finger. As I searched, within the boundaries, I wasn’t finding anything but the usual beach trash and 13 cents. As I grid searched, towards the water, I came to the east boundary line, without finding the wedding ring. Andy and I had arrived at the beach, pre dawn, in the dark. Now a beautiful sunrise was unfolding, before our eyes, as we finished searching this area. Andy and I then headed to Moody Point, where the group could watch the sunset. Unfortunately, Andy didn’t walk there in a straight line and all I could do was search as we walked to the area where he had next stopped.
Once we arrived at Moody Point, Andy looked over the area and said the water wasn’t any higher than where we were standing and I could start searching at this point. I look at the rocks and seawall to the north. I would grid this area, up to the rocks, turn around and head back, to the south, where Andy had set a southern boundary line. On my first grid line, I found a fishing sinker and nothing else. I then reached the rocks, turned around and went to the south. Still no ring. Heading north again and once again, still no ring. Heading south again and approximately 1/2 way back to the southern boundary, I received an incredible signal, showing a 33 on my VDI screen and my depth meter was showing the ring 0 to 2 inches under the sand. I immediately stopped and told Andy to come on over, because “this one is different”. I couldn’t guarantee Andy that this was his wedding ring, but I was very confident it was gold. After 25 years of metal detecting, you know a good sounding gold target and this was that combination of tone and VDI number of 33. I then took my pinpointer and ran it over the sand, as Andy looked on. Once the target was located, I just used my fingers to remove the sand, on top of the target. As I removed the sand, THERE IT WAS, a White Gold Wedding Ring. I was stunned that we found the ring in such a large area. Andy was also very stunned but smiling from ear to ear. He took a photo of the ring and sent it to Jennifer. We then were talking about how lucky we were. Andy told me that he knew it was an extreme long shot but he just had to try and get his wedding ring back. Andy told me that he had recently celebrated his 20 Wedding Anniversary and this ring was 20 years of wonderful memories with his wife and family. I totally understood what he was saying. You at least give it a shot and try to recover it. Andy was still beaming all the way back to the house. As we walked back, I asked Andy how he had heard of me. He told me Jennifer had posted a story on the Facebook Page, Moody Beach Appreciation Association , asking for people to be on the lookout for the wedding ring. She then had people commenting, on her post, to contact me. Once Jennifer and Andy saw my many stories and photos of past recoveries, they called me with nothing to lose. Andy just had to do everything in his power, to try and get his 20 years of wonderful memories back.
So every ring has a story and this ring has 20 years of stories and now a new chapter has been added, to Andy’s very sentimental wedding ring. Here’s to another 20 loving happy years to Jennifer and Andy❤️🙏