Newly wed loses wedding band in Lake Michigan

We were water detecting at Hess Lake in Newaygo, Michigan this morning after going back to my car and checking my emails and text I received a text from Tom Towsend, a TRF, who was unable to make it to Montague, MI to help find the ring so he ask me for my help, I received an email from Al Holden at Prostock Detectors stating he referred my name to Eric R., I then received a voice mail from Eric and immediately called him and got the information and was immediately on our way with my TRF partner, Dave Boyer. Fortunately we were less than 50 miles from Eric and was there in less than an hour. Before I left for Newaygo this morning I checked Lake Michigan to see how the surf is doing, up or down. It was fairly smooth.

We arrived at Eric’s cabin and met him and his Dad, Neil, and 2 of his children (black Labs). Right off the bat I knew we were in good company because Neil was also a fellow Air Force vet. We got our gear and walked down to the lake talking to some neighbors who wished us well and then got a location as to where the ring was lost. The wind was kicking up and the water was getting choppier than it was this morning.

Eric and his wife Emily were playing catch with one of his dogs and when Eric made a catch in about chest deep water he felt the ring pop off and immediately went into recovery mode. He put on his wet suit armed himself with a mask and snorkel, a quarter and 3 screws. Yes, he wanted to drop the coin and screws into the water to see how fast the sand covers them. The ring was gone immediately and so was the quarter and screws.

Dave entered the water about waist deep and immediately got a signal. He found the quarter. A few minutes later a screw was recovered. We started to grid an area and went into neck deep water and made our way into shallower water. After about 20 minutes to a half an hour I got a good signal and about 6″ down I found Eric’s platinum wedding band. Looking at Dave I said I found it and then Eric saw Dave do a fist pump and knew we had found something. I walked out of the water towards Eric and handed him his ring. This is the point that every TRF’r waits for, the smiles, tears, thank you’s and « I can believe it ».

The camera came out and pictures were taken and the neighbors cheered. Dave an I are very happy for Eric and Emily and are glad we could put a happy end to their honeymoon.