I was at work when I received a call from George inquiring about possibly recovering his family heirloom ring from his lagoon. We went over the details of when and how the ring was lost, and knowing the area quite well, decided it would be best if I swung by prior to committing to do the recovery. A few days later I met George at his house and after going over exactly what he did when the ring flew off into the lagoon, we decided with the 5′ tide swing this had to be done at low tide. The following week worked perfect with our schedules. My first attempt didn’t work out so well, it was blazing hot, the greenhead flies were eating us alive, and the mud on the bottom was black and bottomless. After about 2 hours I threw in the towel but assured him I would be returning for another attempt. I believe at that point George had given up hope of ever seeing his ring again. Over the next week or so our schedules didn’t work with the tide, so he agreed for me to swing by when conditions were right, whether he was home or not. WELL, after some adjustments to my recovery approach, and taking my assistant wife LEE, and good luck charm, the ring was in my scoop within 15 min. I knew this would mean the world to him, so I decided to do a surprise return, and set the whole thing up with his wife and son. I arrived just as they were getting back from fishing, put the ring in my scoop, and headed down the driveway where we met. We all talked a bit, I asked how they did fishing, then told him I did really well, and put my scoop out. He was kinda puzzled, and I said look in the bottom, and when he did, he could not believe his eyes. Then we let him in on the whole plan. I have the video of the return, just need to edit it, stay tuned. That moment right there is what makes doing recoveries so rewarding.
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Kerry called during the day and left a message wondering if I would be able to help find his lost wedding ring on the beach in Wildwood NJ. I called him right back to go over some of the details about how he lost his ring. Kerry explained he was on the beach with his family, playing with the dogs, and when he looked at his hand he noticed his wedding ring missing. He was very detail oriented, recalling every move leading up to the beach episode. After going over every detail of the day, he distinctly remembered having it on at dinner, and was almost positive it came off while playing with the dogs on the beach. Well, then he mentioned that he had searched the entire area with a metal detector and had no luck. They had also walked back and fourth the entire distance many times. If you know this beach it’s quite a vast area, kinda like walking to another zip code or two. I hope that brought things into perspective a bit. It was getting dark so they threw in the towel for the day, and returned the next morning with rakes to rake the entire area with hopes the ring would pop up. With no luck, it was time for them to pack up and head back home. I asked him to mark the exact location on his cell phone, with the GPS feature on Google Maps, and send it to me with a picture of his ring, and I would head right there after work. I parked right by the boardwalk, grabbed my gear and headed out to the beach. I opened the location he sent and somehow it was right where I was standing on the beach just beyond the boardwalk. I figured I would follow the dog tracks, but with the wind blowing about 30 knots they were getting covered by the drifting sand. Kerry had mentioned that he was straight out, and roughly 50′ from the high tide line, which was a good thing. Once I got close to the water I was able to see the area they had been raking earlier that morning, without that mark I highly doubt I would have been able to find the spot. Another huge thing in their favor was that the area was flat wet sand from from the prior high tide, and even though it had been raked quite a bit, didn’t blow flat, with the screaming south east wind. I turned on my machine, made one path around the perimeter, and on my return path Bingo!!! My machine gave off the sweet sound of success. A nice solid low tone, which I knew immediately was Kerry’s ring. Once back at my truck, I called his relatives phone hoping they were in town, but they were not. Then I called Kerry with the good news, and arranged to meet him at a later date to return his ring. another great recovery in the books.
Kerry called during the day and left a message wondering if I would be able to help find his lost wedding ring on the beach in Wildwood NJ. I called him right back to go over some of the details about how he lost his ring. Kerry explained he was on the beach with his family, playing with the dogs, and when he looked at his hand he noticed his wedding ring missing. He was very detail oriented, recalling every move leading up to the beach episode. After going over every detail of the day, he distinctly remembered having it on at dinner, and was almost positive it came off while playing with the dogs on the beach. Well, then he mentioned that he had searched the entire area with a metal detector and had no luck. They had also walked back and fourth the entire distance many times. If you know this beach it’s quite a vast area, kinda like walking to another zip code or two. I hope that brought things into perspective a bit. It was getting dark so they threw in the towel for the day, and returned the next morning with rakes to rake the entire area with hopes the ring would pop up. With no luck, it was time for them to pack up and head back home. I asked him to mark the exact location on his cell phone, with the GPS feature on Google Maps, and send it to me with a picture of his ring, and I would head right there after work. I parked right by the boardwalk, grabbed my gear and headed out to the beach. I opened the location he sent and somehow it was right where I was standing on the beach just beyond the boardwalk. I figured I would follow the dog tracks, but with the wind blowing about 30 knots they were getting covered by the drifting sand. Kerry had mentioned that he was straight out, and roughly 50′ from the high tide line, which was a good thing. Once I got close to the water I was able to see the area they had been raking earlier that morning, without that mark I highly doubt I would have been able to find the spot. Another huge thing in their favor was that the area was flat wet sand from from the prior high tide, and even though it had been raked quite a bit, didn’t blow flat, with the screaming south east wind. I turned on my machine, made one path around the perimeter, and on my return path Bingo!!! My machine gave off the sweet sound of success. A nice solid low tone, which I knew immediately was Kerry’s ring. Once back at my truck, I called his relatives phone hoping they were in town, but they were not. Then I called Kerry with the good news, and arranged to meet him at a later date to return his ring. another great recovery in the books.
I got a text one evening from my old boss, he was asking it if still do recoveries. He explained that he was on the beach and a guy was digging around in the sand looking for something. He couldn’t help but ask what he was doing, and he said looking for my wedding ring. With that he told them about my and exchanged my information. Alex called a few minutes later and we went over what happened. He had decided to jump into the ocean for a swim, but prior to doing so, placed his ring and other stuff he was holding into his pants pocket. I had to head right there due to the fact that beach is heavy detected, and the ring might not last overnight. We walked right out to the surf as the tide was coming on rather quickly. Alex had some things marking the area, and i quickly started searching down low on the hill. He was pretty sure his stuff was up higher but I just wanted to make sure before the water got too far up. I completely covered the area we thought the ring would be, without any sign of the ring. Alex and his wife Carlie were on vacation and has to leave, as some friends were up at the restaurant waiting for them. I wasn’t given up just yet, and continued to search the path they had taken back to the dune walkway. With the very deep/soft white powdery sand the Jersey beaches have, it was no to easy seeing right where they had walked. After walking half way back, I turned around and did another sweep back to the water with no luck again. Spreading out even further to the north I located his ring about 150’ from the high tide line. I quickly called him, hoping to catch them before they left the area, which I did. We met on the boardwalk where I handed his ring back, which made the end of his vacation fantastic.
Gregg called and asked if I would be able to help him find his wedding ring he had lost on the dune walkover in Holgate NJ. We were having some unusual swarming mosquitos, and when he was heading over to the ocean they bombarded him when he was almost at the top. When he tried to swat them away, unfortunately his wedding ring flew off his hand and most likely landed up on the dunes somewhere. We arranged to meet the next afternoon, knowing his ring would be safe in that location. I had read on one of the local Facebook pages how bad they were after days of heavy rain, but never experienced anything quite this like this. I pulled up in the driveway, and no sooner had my door opened, I would venture to say, there were 20 or more in my truck. With that said, out came the sweatshirt and bug spray. I really hate mosquitos. Greg and I went over again exactly what had happened, as we walked quickly to the spot he had marked with some little sticks and stuff. I turned on my machine, put on the headphones, and for whatever reason it would not quiet down. I asked him to stand facing exactly the way he was, and to demonstrate the swatting motion he used when the ring went flying. It looked like it probably could have flown up in the dune grass, but with the motion he showed me, my hunch was it went straight down. So, as these nuisance bugs are like a cloud around us, I moved back to where I turned on the machine, which was also the spot he was when the ring came off. And now I know why the machine was so noisy!!!!! Bingo!!!! It was sitting right on top of his ring. The more detective work one can do the better. The entire hunt only lasted about 10 minutes at best. Making memories again on LBI.
Kate reached out to me wanting to know if it was possible to locate her engagement that slipped off her finger during the day somewhere at the beach. It was late in the evening, and after determining that it was close to high tide when it most likely came off, it would be best to wait until the early morning low tide. We arranged to meet early the next morning at the dune walkover. As we were heading to the location I had asked her to mark in google maps we talked about the main things she could remember leading up the the ring disappearing. Once we got to the spot, she showed me some pictures she had, before and after the ring went missing. Something didn’t look just right, but I figured I would check the area that was marked. After coming up empty handed I asked her to see the pics again, it was then I knew that was not quit the right location. I adjusted the location about 40′ to the north, and things looked just right, including the piles of seaweed that had pushed high up on the hill the prior day when the pics were taken. Kate confirmed after looking at the pics that this was absolutely the right location. Combined with the rough surf, was the fact that she was boogie boarding, and that is never a good thing when doing a recovery. Kate did remember one wave that knocked her down, where she lost the board, and that was luckily close to the beach in waist deep water. I decided to hit that area real quick, and while Kate was in about knee deep water looking, I got a signal that made my eyes open wide. With the waves crashing right where I was, I took extra time to zero in on the exact spot, and hoped to grab it on the first scoop. Sure enough I had it on the first try, BINGO, it was her absolutely stunning ring!!!!! Kate had no idea what had just taken place just a few feet behind her, as I scooted up the hill , past the waves to get a better look and clean it off. At that moment I decided to make a video to capture her response, which you will see I’m not very good at. (Will be posted soon) Her reaction was something that makes this profession SO SO rewarding that no words could ever explain.
Tony was doing some surf fishing in Lavallette NJ early one Saturday morning with his buddies. It was pretty close to high tide when he realized his phone was missing, but he wasn’t quite sure where it could be. He looked everywhere possible when he figured it must have fallen out somewhere in the water while he was fishing. Loosing a phone can be very devastating with all the pictures, videos, and other information that can be stored on them now. Needless to say this was the situation with Tony, especially the pictures and videos of friends and family that can NEVER be replaced. Luckily I was able to locate his phone during the next low tide, about 20′ down the hill, right where the low tide waves were breaking. It was already buried in the sand over 12″, and prob. very close to being lost for ever. Time is so important when recovering lost items in the surf or ocean, that is why you need to call ASAP when an item is lost.
