Lost gold ring in Lake Killarney, Winter Park, Fl....Found and Returned!

Nichole called me about a special ring her boyfriend lost while swimming in a lake. Apparently Trevor dove off of a dock and as he hit the water he realized he had his gold signet ring on his pinky finger. After he surfaced he began treading water and carefully removed his ring and put it in his back swim suit pocket and reconnected the velcro flap. Feeling it was safe he continued to slowly swim around enjoying the cool water. He was in the water for only a few minutes and had to swim to a nearby boat that was parked at another dock in order to climb out of the water using the ladder. (Neither dock had a ladder!). As soon as he climbed out of the water he felt for his ring and it was gone. Trevor had actually done a somersault in the water just before climbing out and as we talked, that spot seemed to be the obvious area where the ring came out of his pocket.

Thinking that he could retrieve his lost ring himself, he borrowed his brother’s scuba tank and BCD (vest) and tried to locate his ring but the bottom was so full of aquatic plants of various kinds.

Knowing that it is very difficult to search underwater when the visibility is very limited I opted to put together a submersible PVC grid frame measuring 5 feet by 20 feet. (I first saw this idea by another member of theringfinders who lives in Houston, Texas…a mister John Volek and also Jeff Morgan from Seattle, WA. gave me some extra tips on putting it together…thank you gentlemen!). This apparatus really is a game changer when doing underwater searches and I experienced it first hand!

I met Trevor at his apartment complex and loaded up all my gear on my handy beach fishing cart and we headed to the lake. It took a little while to get all set up but by 11:00am I was in the water and descending to the bottom. I could not believe just how thick the weeds and growth were and there was absolutely no way for me to use my Tesoro Tiger Shark metal detector! So I opted to use my 6 inch Pulse Dive Scuba Detector which proved to be the perfect tool for the job. Thankfully I had put a 12 inch foot on each corner of my PVC grid and that allowed me to inch my way along as I pushed and shoved my small hand held detector in and through the mass of weeds. It took me over an hour just to cover the grid inside and along the outside and I was getting very tired and plus I had not found Trevor’s lost ring. I surfaced to get a drink and rethink why Trevor’s ring was not in the target area…where he had done the somersault. We stood on the dock talking about the details of how he dove in the water and promptly put his ring into his back pocket and I repeated my earlier question about there being no holes in his pocket….and I actually leaned back and looked at his pocket and low and behold there was a factory made button hole slit…to let water out! Trevor was shocked as he had assured me his pockets had NO HOLES! Bingo! We had us a new search area! He showed me exactly where he dove into the water, where he surfaced and where he was when he put the ring in his back pocket. So I moved the PVC grid and within 20 minutes I had Trevor’s lost gold ring in my hand! What a relief and thrill it was to present Trevor with his special ring! Again I thanked God for directing me and giving me success and encouraged Trevor not to swim with his ring on! Lost something? Call ASAP!

Mike McInroe…blessed to be a member of theringfinders.com