Mark Rubey, Author at The Ring Finders | Page 9 of 23

Ring lost at Fiesta Island found

  • from La Jolla (California, United States)

Kristina was enjoying a cookout and water fun at Fiesta Island. After coming out of the water, she noticed her gold and diamonds ring was gone. Not knowing if it was actually lost in the water, or, the dry sand around where she was camped, it was hard to zero in on where it could be. She searched as best she could, and even came back later that night to try and find it, but, it remained among the missing. She called me the next day and we made arrangements to meet at the site that evening so I could see the approximate 50 X 100 foot search area and decide what the best time and method it was going to need. It took a little while to figure out the exact site on the beach, but, eventually we did and the search area was defined. The tide was still too far in, so, I decided to search the dry sand area first, even though the water was the most likely place for it to have been lost. Kristina went back home and left me to grid the area, which I did until 10pm when access to the island closes. This whole island is a virtual dump site with zillions of scrap targets everywhere. After a couple of hours, over 100 pieces of junk, no ring, so, as planned, I returned the next morning at 5am to search the wet sand and water at a minus tide. I figured the ring should now be just in the wet sand, so, I started at the water’s edge and worked my way up the slope going parallel to the water’s edge. An hour and half later, and another 100 pieces of scrap, I had gone up the slope almost to the previous night’s tide line, but, still no ring. Ok, I figured it was time to put on the booties and hit the water. In walking up the slope toward my truck, I decided to do one more pass right at the previous high tide line. After about 3/4 of the way across, I get a signal and looked down to see an outline of a gold ring! No way, I ‘m thinking. How is a gold ring sticking up above the sand like that after being lost for two days? That’s a first for me, but, sure enough, it was Kristina’s ring! The first photo is the ring  as I found it. The second is right after I lifted it up and set it sideways to verify it was Kristina’s. It turns out that there is a hard layer under the ring at that very spot that prevented it from sinking further. Another interesting aspect of this is that there was a couple that had been jogging back and forth over that very area during the time I was detecting close by. It’s amazing that they didn’t see the ring and make off with it. We lucked out. I texted a thrilled Kristina with a photo of her ring and we made arrangements to meet later in the day for the return after she got off work. A pleasure to meet you Kristina and thank you for the reward.

 

 

Heirloom ring lost at La Jolla Shores found

  • from La Jolla (California, United States)

Alex lives by UCSD and had come the short distance down the hill to La Jolla Shores to spend a day at the beach. Just a simple act of running his hands through his hair  caused a ring he got from his grandfather to fly off his finger and disappear into the dry sand. He searched for hours, but, couldn’t find it. He went home discouraged, but, around 1am did an online search and found TheRingFinders.com and my contact info. For some reason, I didn’t hear the phone ring and didn’t notice it until about 2am. I texted him back and we made arrangements to meet at the location. At the site, Alex showed me the search area and what he was doing to make the ring come off. After 15 minutes and a few false alarms, I got the nice smooth 17 signal on my Equinox I was waiting for. A happy Alex can now go home to bed, as I welcomed the same. A pleasure to meet you Alex and thanks for the reward.

Handoff at Coronado, resulted in a fumbled lost ring being found

  • from La Jolla (California, United States)

No, it wasn’t football that prompted the ring search this time. Anders was at Coronado beach with his family, and in the process of handing his child over to his parents, his ring (which matches his wife’s) must have escaped his finger and fell into the fluffy white sand. He tried finding it, notified the Hotel Del Coronado and their staff, and also the lifeguard service, but, for some reason, they didn’t pass on my contact info even though I keep in touch with them. After heading home to LA and a few days had passed, he was able to find TheRingFinders.com and my phone number. After getting a good description of the area, I felt reasonably good that the ring could still be there, even though that beach gets searched daily by other detectorists.  I headed to the site that evening after dark so I could actually get parking and most of the people would be off the beach. After about an hour or so, I got a real sketchy signal for a gold ring, but, it was right next to a stack of aluminum chairs, so, they were interfering with the signal a bit. I went ahead and scooped it anyway and was happy to see Ander’s Tiffany ring in the bottom of the basket. Rather than taking a chance on it getting lost in shipping it, Anders came back down here to pick it up. A pleasure to meet you Anders and thank you for the reward.

Lost ring at Wind and Sea Beach found

  • from La Jolla (California, United States)

Skylar was visiting here from her desert home and was enjoying a relatively cool day at Wind and Sea beach here in La Jolla California At the end of the day, she packed up her gear and headed 60-70 yards across the dry sand to the stairs up to her vehicle. Once at the vehicle, she discovered her engagement ring was not on her finger anymore. She hadn’t taken it off and was at a loss as to what could have happened to it. Checking her possessions, and retracing her steps back to where she was camped didn’t result in finding the ring. She had a rather sad 2 hour drive back home. She and her mother managed to get my contact info and called me for help. Being she was a bit unfamiliar with that beach, all I could get was a general area where she had been, so, working with just a map would have been pretty tough. Skylar volunteered to drive back and show me the search area in person. Wonderful! That always makes thing easier. She and her mother drove to the beach, and met me the same day she called and at about the same time she had left the previous day., so, things should look very familiar. We proceeded to the spot she was camped and I started my search. Quite a few people were still there on the beach at 7pm, so, I had to be mindful of that and not encroach too close to anyone. After coming up empty searching the surrounding area where Skylar had been sitting and storing her gear, and as close as I wanted to get to a couple close by on their blanket, I asked Skylar to try and take the same path to the stairs so I could follow and check that section of beach. We got all the way to the base of the stairs without finding the ring. I mentioned that maybe they could look upstairs in case it fell out there and was maybe (but extremely unlikely) still up laying there in plain sight by where she had parked. I turned around and headed back to the camp site, taking an abutting path slightly closer to the water. I made it all the way back to ground zero, but, still no ring. I then expanded out a bit more around that area, even closer to the couple on their blanket, and got the signal I was waiting for, just 2 feet from where I had stopped when I first started the search! I turned around and headed back toward the stairs, but, didn’t see Skylar or her mother initially, so, I just slowly detected my way back thinking they must be upstairs. I dug a few junk targets along the way, and when I got close to the stairs, I realized they were waiting there. They thought I still hadn’t found the ring yet, seeing me lollygagging my way back but, I pulled out the ring and surprised them both. They were both very happy and will now have a much more joyful ride back home. A pleasure to meet you both and thank you for the reward.

Ring lost at Imperial Beach found

  • from La Jolla (California, United States)

« Sam » and Gretchel were enjoying a day at Imperial Beach. Sam took his ring off and put it on their blanket. Later, Gretchel moved the blanket to a another location close by and the ring was swallowed up in the dry sand. Gretchel did an online search and found TheRingFinders.com website and my contact information. I gathered my gear and headed to meet them. I actually found a parking spot right across the street from where they were camped! A minor miracle in itself for a Sunday afternoon in the dead of summer. After finding out the story and ring description, I found the ring after only 3 short passes and maybe 2 minutes or so. Gretchel was relieved that Sam’s sentimental ring was found. A pleasure to meet you both and thank you for the reward.

Lost rings in Coronado found

  • from La Jolla (California, United States)

Erika took her platinum wedding and engagement rings off and set them in her lap. Forgetting about the rings, she stood up. That’s all it takes for rings to hit the soft sand and disappear. After an online search, she found TheRingFinders.com and my contact info. Erika called me around noon time asking for help and I quickly rounded up my gear and headed over to Coronado. Early afternoon, summertime, warm sunny day in Coronado, yeah, parking was going to be scarce. Sure enough, the place was jammed with beach goers. I managed to luck into a spot next to the beach, but, a good half mile south from where I was to meet Erika. A nice hike later,  I met Erika and she explained what happened and showed me where she was sitting and then standing. 20 seconds later, both rings were recovered from right in front of her chair and a happy Erika was reunited with her rings. A pleasure to meet you and thank you for the reward.

Lost ring at Mission Beach found

  • from La Jolla (California, United States)

Nathan was body surfing at Mission beach when he realized that he was wearing his wedding ring, not something he normally does. In checking the ring to see how tight it was fitting, it came right off and dropped into waist deep surf. With our surf, it will disappear in a second, so, no way to spot it. A sad Nathan now had to go confess to the wife that his wedding band is gone.  His wife wasn’t satisfied with accepting that fate, so, she found TheRingFinders.com on a search and contacted me for help. The ring was lost at a +4 foot tide, so, a minus .7 tide at 5:14 am was just the ticket for this search. Nathan met me at 3:15 am and showed me the search area. He even came out in the surf and helped me keep on my grid pattern. This section of beach was real clean. An hour and half later, I had only found 3 non-ferrous targets, 2 pull tabs and a junk ring. At that point I had changed direction on my grid and now went north-south instead of my earlier east-west. Second pass doing this in ankle deep or less water, and another 16 pull tab reading on my Equinox. Only this time, it looked this was going to be Nathan’s ring. I called him over, and by the light of his flashlight, he saw it was indeed his ring. He now would have a much happier conversation with his wife when he got home. Next month is their 2nd wedding anniversary, so, this recovery will help the ring story continue into chapter 3. A pleasure to meet you Nathan, and thank you for the reward.

Ring lost at Cardiff State Beach found

  • from La Jolla (California, United States)

I was out detecting with a buddy, when a guy named Ian rides his bike up to me and asks if I could possibly search for his wife’s lost wedding band at Cardiff State Beach. I said I’d be happy to do it and that to let me know when we could meet there and conduct the search. He said it would take him a bit to bike there and would text me when he was available. I got the text, actually found a parking spot, and met him at the location out on a busy beach. Ian and his wife were here visiting from a sweltering Tucson, AZ and were enjoying the beach yesterday, when while applying skin lotion. the ring slipped off into the dry sand and vanished. They sifted with fingers for several hours, but, no luck. Looking for a small gold ring, the signal can be pretty low on the scale and weak as well. I figured I’d be digging foil for a while, but, actually didn’t get many signals and ended up expanding the search area a bit more than we thought we would have to. I finally got a weak, but, repeatable 7 on my Equinox and after a couple of scoops, had the ring in my hand. A happy Ian can now go back and surprise his wife of 15 years with her ring….oh, and it’s her birthday today! Happy Birthday and ring reunion! A pleasure to meet you Ian and thank you for the reward.

Ring Lost at Pacific Beach found

  • from La Jolla (California, United States)

Jordan was visiting here from out of town and went to the beach with a friend. They were throwing the football around a bit when disaster struck. One of Jordan’s throws was more than just the football. His special ring went with the ball and ended up in waist deep water. Jordan had already left town and returned home when I got a call from his mother Silvia asking if I could help recover it. Surf losses are never a sure thing, but, this sounded fairly straight forward even though it had been a couple of days. At the time of the call, the tide was not in my favor, so, I decided to search a bit after midnight to take advantage of a nice low tide at 2:30 am. The water level at that point should be about 4 feet shallower that when it was lost, so, I was hoping for a wet sand hunt. In getting the details about the ring, I found it certainly was a special ring! It was purchased by Jordan’s grandmother as a wedding gift to Jordan’s father on his wedding day. Not an actual wedding ring, but, a wonderful gift none the less. It’s an 18K, custom, one-of-a-kind beauty that was made in Bolivia and eventually was passed down to Jordan who was devastated that it was lost. This just had to be found! With just a map with an X on it to go by, I started my grid at the south end of the search area. After about an hour and a half of mid-slope to knee deep surf I got my umpteenth pull tab signal (16 on the Equinox) in ankle deep water, but, was happy to see Jordan’s ring in the bottom instead. I texted Silvia that the lost had been found, and that I’d contact her later in the morning after I got some sleep. Jordan’s sister Nicolette lives close by and was able to come by yesterday, pick up the ring, and pose for the photo with Jordan’s football friend. I’m happy everything worked out well, and thank you for the reward.

Ring lost in Coronado found

  • from La Jolla (California, United States)

Anna contacted me about 8:30am saying that her husband of 5 days lost his wedding ring when he shook water off his hand, and the ring went flying off. They’re honeymooning here from Boston and would be leaving the next day, so, they were hoping I could find his ring before they left. Being July 3rd, Coronado has a big parade starting at 10am and would be very crowded soon , so, I had to get on my horse and ride! The trip over wasn’t too bad until I got into town where the parade was to take place. I eventually got over to the beach about an hour later, and tried to find a parking spot. None to be had anywhere close, so, I ended up parking a bit over a mile away. I finally get to the meeting spot in the dry sand where the ring was lost and got the low down on how it was lost and about where it should be. Sure enough, after a couple of scrap aluminum targets in 2-3 minutes, I got a nice solid 11 on my Equinox and pulled the ring out of it’s sandy resting spot. Now the happy newlyweds can head out and continue their life together with the rings they came with. A pleasure to meet you both and thank you for the reward.