Wedding ring lost and found in the surf

I received an email from Greg with some very clear details on the location of his lost wedding ring in the surf at Port Macquarie on the east coast of New South Wales, Australia.

The time and location of the loss including compass directions, concise distances in metres and a description of the circumstances stood out as « unusual » but was later explained by Greg’s background.

Greg had been married for about a week and was having his first surfing lesson while still on his honeymoon when his wedding ring slipped off his finger in the surf.

The drive to Port Macquarie is about 1.5 hours but low tide was three hours away so no hurry.

In preparation, Greg had « dug » a deep trench in the sand to act as a transit for the search and we hit the beach with the Minelab Excalibur II about two hours before low tide. The first target we dug was an old brass buckle about an hour into the search but otherwise the headphones were keeping fairly quiet.

Greg left on family duties leaving me to hunt in darkness and as the headphones remained quiet, I expanded the search further in to the surf and further to the south.

On the second pass in about four feet of water the Excalibur II woke from its sleep and screamed at me and after three scoops Greg’s white gold wedding band was gleaming in the bottom of my trusty scoop I call Alice (Alice Scooper in case you were wondering why).

A photograph sent to Greg elicited the expected response.

Things have been reasonably quiet over the Australian winter and I’ve been envious of all you Ring Finder guys having too much fun in the USA/Canada so I’m hoping that Greg’s ring is the start of a busy season in Australia. I promise to do more blogging this season than I did last summer. 

Nick