Mark Rubey, Author at The Ring Finders | Page 12 of 20

Rings found at Mission Beach

  • from La Jolla (California, United States)
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Maureen and her two friends were visiting Mission Beach from much hotter Las Vegas, when her engagement and wedding rings ended up in the dry sand. You’ve heard the tail of woe many times before…..blanket, rings removed, sunscreen, forgot, stood up…..rings disappeared from sight. The hardest part about this search was just getting there, finding parking, and hiking to the spot on this Saturday afternoon during the summer. That took an hour for me and I’m only 12 miles away from the beach! Had to park about a mile away and hoof it to where they were waiting. I got the lowdown on how they were lost and the small search area was cleared of their belongings. Two passes and that area was clean of targets…..hmm….ok, please move your belongings again and I’ll search under them. Sure enough, got a nice 12-14 signal right under their bags with my trusty E-trac. I asked Maureen’s friend Crystal if she would like to do the honors of reaching into the sand right in front of my coil and pull the ring out. She dove into the sand and sifted sand through her fingers and no ring. What? I has to be there! She tried again and came up with a zipper pull. Wonderful…..make me look like a goof why don’t you! Another swing or two and another great 12-14 sound. Ok, this has to be it this time. Sure enough Crystal was able to sift the wayward engagement ring into her hand. One more swing with the coil and a repeat of the first ring. A happy Maureen and her friends will have a much more pleasant drive back to Nevada. A pleasure meeting you three and thank you for the reward.

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Keys and phone recovered at Torrey Pines State Beach

  • from La Jolla (California, United States)
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Elisebeth was enjoying a day at the beach and buried her keys and phone in the sand under her blanket for safe keeping. When the tide started to come in and getting close to her blanket, someone moved it to higher ground, but, didn’t know about the keys and phone. Later when she was ready to leave, she realized her blanket wasn’t in it’s original location. The water had washed over the old area and she couldn’t locate the exact spot to retrieve her belongings. After a Google search and finding me on TheRingFinders.com website, we agreed to meet and conduct a search. Before we started, I mentioned that the phone and maybe her car fob may have been ruined by the salt water, but, she wanted them anyway. After showing me the search area, I started a grid right in the middle of it. After expanding out a couple of passes in each direction, I got a big signal that just had to be it. Sure enough, with just one scoop, up comes her keys and phone. Thankfully, she had the presence of mind to (previously unknown to me) put her items in a sealed plastic bag. Inside, everything was still nice and dry and working. A happy Elisebeth headed home with a smile on her face and not confronted with the ordeal of having to replace everything. A pleasure to meet you and thank you for the reward.

 

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Ring recovered at Wind and Sea beach La Jolla

  • from La Jolla (California, United States)
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Justin was photographing another couple on the beach for some wedding album shots, when a rogue wave blasted through and knocked him off his feet and pushed him onto some rocks. In trying to keep his feet and save his expensive camera gear, his wedding ring came off. Finding it in that soft sand they have at that beach was impossible without a metal detector. When I received the call, I was skeptical it could even be found, but, was more than willing to try. That is one of the worst beaches in our area to make a water recovery. It has a heavy surge, large shore break waves, steep drop off, and sand so soft and loose, that it’s almost like quicksand. He sent me a photo of the site of the loss. I arrived the next morning at 4:30am to take advantage of the minus tide. I had the photo on my phone to use so I could match up the area. Unfortunately, it was real foggy that morning and hard to tell the exact area in the dark and fog. I saw a couple of features that looked like a match and began my search. After over an hour of gridding, no ring. In fact, no good targets of any kind. Not surprising at that beach. Once it started to get light from the approaching dawn, I looked again at the photo and then realized that I wasn’t in the right area. I finally determined the correct spot and started a 2nd grid. Still no luck. a few pieces of scrap aluminum and that was it. Nothing more to do but give him the bad news. It was still pretty early, so, I decided to move down the beach to an area where I had good luck in the past. I headed about 200 feet south and started hunting for fun. I liked to hunt the cracks up on the rocks and cliff. stuff falls into them all the time. While up on a ledge checking some cracks I got a good signal in some loose sand. It was only a couple of inches deep, so, easy to make a recovery. What do you know, it was a ring that matched Justin’s description! His was a fairly common tungsten carbide, so, I wasn’t positive that it was his, but, I was hopeful. I got to looking and it was a long way from where he took this photo. After contacting him later, he told me that he was using a telescopic lens and that he was a lot further back from what it looked like in the photo! He wanted to come and look at it to be sure, but, I was pretty certain at that point. Sure enough it was a perfect fit. Glad I could help Justin.

 

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Mission Bay ring found

  • from La Jolla (California, United States)
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Chanel discovered her 2 carat diamond engagement ring was missing off her finger at 11pm. thinking back to earlier in the day, she knew she had it after a swim in the bay at about 3:30pm. She couldn’t remember anything in particular that she did in between those times that would cause the ring to come off except for shaking her towel to remove some sand. The location where she had camped on the beach was relatively small, but, no ring was found after I completely gridded that area. After some more Q&A, she mentioned that she had also been in her house and had washed her daughter’s hair in the bathtub. Aha, that sounded like a likely place to check. While that was being checked, I expanded the search area on the beach. After an hour, I called off the search. While walking back to my truck, I pass right by her house. I stopped and knocked on the door to tell them the bad news, and found out that they had just found the ring while searching the babies bassinet! I didn’t find it, but, I like to think I helped by eliminating one possible area and getting them thinking about other possible areas.

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Ring found and returned at Mission Beach

  • from La Jolla (California, United States)
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I was running errands all day, so, I didn’t get the e-mail cry for help right away. When I finally realized it, I e-mailed back to say that I was available. After an exchange of information, I met Charles at the beach location that evening. He had been out playing football two days prior with other family members when…….well, we know the results of that! His wedding ring of 40 years came off somewhere during their romp in the dry sand. Initially, the search area was fairly good size, but, not ridiculous. Maybe half the size of a standard football field or a little less. After hitting some « hot spots » where Charles remembered being tackled in the sand and having no luck, I started a complete grid of the area. After 15-20 minutes I had found virtually no targets except a few minor pieces of foil and other junk targets. Not even one coin.  Hmmm…..maybe the area had been detected by someone else in the last two days and had already been found? I soldiered on and finally did find a couple of coins, and then, wow, a ring. Oops, not HIS ring. Oh well, not a bad looking ring, and not a bad sign either. At least that area hadn’t been detected extensively. I completed the whole designated search area and nothing more but a few coins. Darn, well, time to expend the search area. I made a few more passes at the north end with no luck.  Charles told me he hadn’t gone that far north, was resigned to the fact that it wasn’t going to be found, thanked me, and left for the night. I told him I’d hunt a bit longer and crossgrid the same area to make sure I hadn’t missed anything. I then went to the southern end of the search area and extended that a ways too. Still nothing. I then started my crossgrid and found absolutely no additional targets…..until……on one of my passes at the southern end, I was looping around to come back north, when I hit THE signal. Finally! It was getting dark and the search area was now about the size of a whole football field! A call to Charles resulted in voice mail, so, I left a message, sent an e-mail, and cooled my heels a while until he contacted me. I detected back south toward my truck, the bathrooms, and showers when Charles returned my call. He and his son then walked down to meet me and pick up his ring. A pleasure meeting you both and thank you for the generous reward. It helps keep the service going. Have a safe trip home today.

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Lost family heirloom recovered at Coronado Beach

  • from La Jolla (California, United States)
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Trip’s Mother came to town for Thanksgiving and presented Trip with her Father’s signet ring. Trip went to Coronado’s dog beach on Thanksgiving Day to give his dog some exercise, and while throwing a ball out into the water, the priceless heirloom flew off with one of his throws. I got the call later that day, but, the tide was already coming in, so, not a good time to hunt for it. We made arrangements to meet on Saturday afternoon to take advantage of a nice low tide. I met trip there at the beach where he showed me the search area…..about the size of two football fields. He was to take his Mom back to the airport that afternoon, so, he took off and left me to my task. I started gridding parallel to the water’s edge from mid-slope heading toward the water as I chased the tide out. After about an hour, I covered all the wet sand down to the water and decided to start gridding the other direction 90 degrees from the previous grid. This way, I could see my grid marks better and not leave any gaps from the surf washing away my marks. After a dozen or so passes from mid-slope to knee deep water, I get a great hit in ankle deep water…..reading 12-29 on my E-trac. Sure enough, I pull up a big gold ring matching Trip’s description. I make the fun call and find Trip and Mother are heading toward the airport. Both are very happy to hear the good news and Trip said he would return to the beach in 20 minutes or so. I cooled my heels while I waited by doing some more detecting until he got there. Right on time, I looked up and saw the happiest person on the beach! Trip came walking down with the biggest smile you could imagine. We took some photos and made it out in time to miss the coming rain storm. A pleasure to meet you Trip and thank you for the reward!

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Lost ring at Pacific Beach Found

  • from La Jolla (California, United States)
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Thursday evening, Paolo decided to go into the ocean, so, he removed his wedding ring and gave it to his wife Celine for safekeeping. Celine placed it on one of her fingers and waited on a berm in the dry sand for his return. As the sun was setting, they got up and left the beach. Once they reached their car, it was discovered the wedding ring was missing from Celine’s finger. They returned to the area where they had been, but, in the failing light and acres of sand, the search was fruitless. Fast forward to Tuesday when I received an e-mail from Celine who relayed the sad story and asked if I could help find it. We made arrangements to meet the next morning at 10am. Being several days later, I explained that many different fates for the ring could have occurred. It’s a popular beach for other detectorist to search, so, it could have already been found, the beach grooming machines usually go through the area early Monday morning, the high surf could have washed over the area and buried it, etc. I met Celine up on the boardwalk and we hiked down to the search area. She was a little uncertain of the exact area where she was sitting, so, I searched many spots one by one, eliminating them all. I then started running a grid from where she was sitting to the stairs where they exited the beach. After 4 passes and about an hour and a half, I finally got a likely sound and reading on my E-trac. One scoop and I pulled up Paolo’s ring. Celine was amazed that it was found, as, she figured it was a long shot. It was just a matter of time on this one. I was finding other good targets in the area, so, I knew nobody else had detected there. I just had to keep expanding the search area until I ran across it. They had been married for just a month, so, I was happy to get this ring back to them, so it can add another chapter in it’s story. Celine decided not to tell Paolo right away, but, instead to surprise him at dinner! I bet he will be!20161116_113327 20161116_113352

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Silver Strand State Beach lost ring Found!

  • from La Jolla (California, United States)
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I got the call this morning a little before 8am as I was about to leave and meet up with a detecting buddy for some old property hunting. Kim had lost her wedding band/engagement ring combo in the dry sand so my morning plans would have to be delayed a bit. Instead, I hot footed it over the the Silver Strand State Beach to search for a supposedly sterling silver wedding set. After getting the boundaries of the search area established, I started my grid. It was next to a block wall with rebar inside, so, getting right up next to it might pose a problem. a couple of minutes later, I get a nice low tone 12-07 on my E-trac….. probably a wad of foil…..not what I was looking for, so, I almost passed it by, but, I figured, what the heck. It was a good strong signal and removing it would keep any masking problem from occurring. I stuck my pin pointer into the sand and located the target. Fished it out with my fingers and to my amazement, it was Kim’s ring! I said to them, this is not sterling silver, it’s reading gold. Kim said, « oh yeah, it’s white gold, not sterling »! Good thing I didn’t ignore it! That’s why we ask what type of metal we’re asked to find. With most high end modern detectors, we can discriminate between metals and ignore some of the ones we’re not looking for, so, knowing exactly what we’re looking for is very important. In a large search area, that can be a real time saver. Everything turned out good and a very happy Kim and her husband John can now get some much needed sleep! Oh, I didn’t mention that they were just married and were on their honeymoon when this happened! In fact, it happened last night and they spent the night sleeping in their rental car at the beach so they could keep an eye on the area! Now that’s people who wanted that ring back! A pleasure to meet you both! Have fun on the rest of your honeymoon, a safe trip home, and thank you for the reward.

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Lost ring at Coronado found

  • from La Jolla (California, United States)
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Laura was at the beach with friends and lost her wedding ring. She had taken off all her jewelry and had placed them in her bag. Through the course of the day she removed items from the bag and the ring must have accidentally come out with them. At one point, the blanket was dragged 30 feet downwind to get a good shaking to remove the accumulated sand. Once she realized that her ring wasn’t in the bag anymore, the search was on. Soft sand and fairly large possible search area = no success. One of her friends went online seeking help and TheRingFinders.com popped up. I got the call and gathered my gear for hopefully a quick search. I’d been out all morning detecting in the 100 degree heat, so, I was hoping for an easy one. After gathering all the info I could, I had them move a bit of their gear so I could start my grid. After a quarter and a few pieces of scrap metal, I got a low tone right at the edge of the supposed search area. After the sand drained out of my scoop, I see a nice diamond ring matching her description. Cheers go up as everyone realized that it had been found along with a couple of heartfelt hugs. A pleasure to meet you all and thank you for the reward. Now, time for A/C and a cold one!

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Ring lost in Carmel Valley, Found

  • from La Jolla (California, United States)
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Greg called me asking for help finding his wedding ring in the backyard pool area of a friend’s home. He had been playing pool volleyball, when he lost his ring sometime during the fun. When he got out of the water, he noticed his naked finger, and started a search. They dove back in the pool and scanned the bottom, checked the filter, and combed the surrounding area…..even that night with a powerful light, hoping to catch a glint of sparkle from one of the stones in the band. No luck, so, Greg found me online and arranged to meet me at the friend’s house. When I arrived, we discussed the events leading up to the present, and I started my search while they went and rechecked the pool filter one more time. I started my search at one end of the yard beyond the west end of the pool. Not 2 minutes later, I found the ring on the first signal. It was just 6 inches from the fence in some sand. Those are the ones we like! Quick and drama free! Good thing, as some of the yard would have been a challenge with rocks, bushes and other landscaping that would have been a lot harder to search. A pleasure to meet everyone and thank you Greg for the reward.100_1484 100_1485

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