Pete McGhee, Author at The Ring Finders | Page 9 of 12

Gold and Diamond Ring Lost Swimming at Tutukaka 5 Weeks ago – Found.

  • from Paihia (New Zealand)
Contact:
Ring Finder – Ring Recovery Specialist…Lost ring? Lost necklace? Lost keys?… Metal Detector Service – Call ASAP 021 401626
When I hear about a lost ring, I do whatever I can to get it back to the owner,  This has become something of a ‘domino effect’ this month.
Liz was enjoying a swim at Kowharewa Bay in Tutukaka when she felt her ring slip off her finger and disappear into the water.
Efforts to visually locate it at the time were unsuccessful, so she posted on Facebook in the hope someone had/would find it.
Five weeks later, I was in the area delivering another ring back to a happy owner, and since I was so close…Well, it’d be rude not to have a go.
The bay was relatively shallow with a fine silt bed, perfect to swallow rings as soon as they touched the bottom. In amongst the Eagle Ray feeding holes were scattered scoop marks. I knew another trusted detectorist had had a go in the shallows, although he had been unsuccessful. I decided to concentrate my efforts wide of his earlier search, as I could always re-search his area once the incoming tide forced me in closer.
The water was calm, warm and clear which made a very pleasant change from my normal water searches in surf. I was enjoying not having to use the scoop, and instead just sinking down onto the seabed and fanning the silt away with my hand, to find yet another fishing weight, or pull tab off a can.
Accompanied by a school of fearless and inquisitive juvenile fish, I systematically searched the bay in the area where she thought she lost it. The pouch slowly filling up with lead and tabs along with assorted ancient car keys and bits of brass from boats that had passed by over the years.
About 2 hours into the search the phones whispered a bright, clean tone that (nearly) always tells me my search is over. I once again sank under the surface and wafted away the silt – my entourage of followers darting in instantly for any unlucky invertebrates lifted up into the water. As the cloud of silt and fish dispersed, there was the unmistakable outline of the edge of a ring in the bottom of the depression.
I picked it up, and the diamonds flashed in the sunlight, I discovered diving masks leak when you give a huge grin…
It was another fortnight before I could hand Liz her ring, completing a bizarre sequence of connected ring reunions:
I originally travelled down to Tutukaka to recover Merryns ring, lost in the surf at Whangaumu Bay.
After meeting Merryn at Tutukaka later to hand the ring over, I decided to have a go at recovering Lizs ring nearby that I’d read about on Facebook.
Two weeks later, and I’m back in Whangarei to hand Liz her ring, but I travelled down early and successfully recovered Karens ring, that had been shared on the local Metal Detecting Facebook group.
So, one recovery request leads to three separate recoveries and a trio of very happy people, none of whom have met, but all with a connection through TheRingFinders.
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Wedding Ring Lost at Ocean Beach, Found after Two Months in the Sand

  • from Paihia (New Zealand)
Contact:

Ring Finder – Ring Recovery Specialist…Lost ring? Lost necklace? Lost keys?… Metal Detector Service – Call ASAP 021 401626

At the end of December, after a day at Ocean Beach near Whangarei, Karen arrived back home to realise she had lost her ring back at the beach.
She had taken it off to apply sunscreen and presumably left it on the towel, and flicked it off when she packed up.
She drove out again to try and find it with her friend who owned a metal detector, but had no luck.
Successive attempts by various people with detectors were also unsuccessful, and she had all but given it up as lost.
As is often the case, it was the sentimental rather than the monetary value that hurt the most.

I was in the Whangarei area to hand over another previously found ring and had come down very early to spend some time at Ocean Beach to see if I could find her lost wedding ring.

Sitting in the carpark just before dawn, I went through her Facebook post again. She had noted several crucial times: When she was at the beach initially, and also when she went back to look and found the tide had covered the spot. Quick flick back to the December tide tables allowed me to work out how far below high tide mark she had been sitting.
She had also had the presence of mind to take photos of landmark alignments which while giving a relatively accurate fix, could equally work against us if a casual detectorist had intentionally sought to pocket it.

A very small white gold ring, lost on a popular surf beach with nearly a two month headstart and an accurate description of the location posted on social media, I wasn’t too optimistic to be honest – but you have to believe it’s there… having that valuable edge of experience to sway the odds in your favour helps.

It was still dark and no moon, but I could see the silhouette of the landmarks against the city glow behind the hills. After a few dry runs to get the best of three guesses as to location, I took the average of the three and started the grid.

Within fifteen minutes, I had the ring in the pouch.

I posted a photo of the ring as a reply to Karens original post, and hoped she would see it before I had to head back north. She did, and several hours later, I met up with Karen and handed her ring back to her.

Two rings handed back in one day – It’s a good feeling.

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Ring Lost in Surf at Whangarei – Found after Four Days

  • from Paihia (New Zealand)
Contact:
Ring Finder – Ring Recovery Specialist…Lost ring? Lost necklace? Lost keys?… Metal Detector Service – Call ASAP 021 401626
Merryn was having a swim at Whangaumu Bay near Whangarei in New Zealand when she felt her wedding ring slip off the finger. The water was too murky to see it, and it would have buried itself in the fluid sand instantly anyway.
It was with a heavy heart she walked away from it.
Shortly after, Merryn happened across a detecting mate of mine and mentioned it to him. Steve wasn’t able to help as it was a marine recovery – but he knew I could as an experienced ringfinder, and passed on Merryns details.
Four days after the loss, I arrived at Whangaumu with a rough verbal guide as to where it was, to get me started until Merryn was able to get there and pinpoint the spot.
I walked the dry sand above the high tide line looking for evidence of where she had been, and spotted two old towel marks in the sand. Must be the spot and I started work.
After a couple of hours being slapped and dunked by the surf, Merryn arrived and confirmed I was in the right place, but the towel marks weren’t hers! It was pure coincidence or human behaviour unconsciously picking the same spot for whatever reason!
The surf was quite dumpy with a lot of sand flowing down the beach. I told Merryn that in these conditions with the four day head start, odds were getting slim. She had to leave to go to another commitment so after watching anxiously for several minutes, left me to it.
Thirty minutes after she had driven away, I picked up a deep tone. Fanned the sand away with my feet and looked down through the suspended sediment to see the outline of her ring in the deep crater.
I scooped it, switched off the machine and headed straight back to the car to TXT her that her ring was now secured 🙂
This morning, I met with her to hand back her freshly polished ring…
Then promptly headed off to find another one nearby, this one lost in the sea five weeks ago.
That one was also saved and will be reunited with the owner in a couple of weeks. Watch this space 🙂
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iPhone se Found on Random Hunt at Matauri Bay – Traced and Returned

  • from Paihia (New Zealand)
Contact:

Ring Finder – Ring Recovery Specialist…Lost ring? Lost necklace? Lost keys?… Metal Detector Service – Call ASAP 021 401626

Not all recoveries are planned, some are random exercises in detective work.
I was working Matauri Bay beach doing a casual hunt before work this morning, when I dug an iPhone SE. Usually phones are no more than fancy spirit levels when they come out of the tide but this one was a recent loss and showed potential to be able to at least allow the owner to salvage their photos and contacts.

I headed off to work a bit early in order to put the phone through intensive care, quick rinse in fresh water, dried it off and delicately picked the sand out of the charging port. Firing it up, it flickered to life, complained about flat battery and shut down. It lives! Hopefully I could now reunite the owner with their rather expensive phone.

While I charged it, I swapped the sim out into my phone to discover a couple of missed calls which occurred after loss and looked promising leads.

Dropped the sim back into the found phone and sent a text to both numbers from my one explaining the situation and asking if they had a name I could follow up…and waited.
On the off-chance it had been dropped by a camper at the adjacent holiday park, I phoned the office to enquire if anyone had lost a phone recently.
« Yes, a white iPhone », « Well, I have found it! » – A cheer is heard in the background at the other end of the line. I arranged to drop it off after work.

It seems Nakita had dropped it a couple of days previously, the fact it had survived at least three tides was a testament to the quality of the phone as it had lain under the sand at about the half-tide mark spending quite a few hours underwater at each high tide.
A family member gratefully accepted it on behalf, and I headed home.

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Two Rings Lost at Tapuaetahi Beach – Found!

  • from Paihia (New Zealand)
Contact:

Ring Finder – Ring Recovery Specialist…Lost ring? Lost necklace? Lost keys?… Metal Detector Service – Call ASAP 021 401626

It’s been a long, hot, and very dry summer – Perfect for beach-goers to relax on the sand, and lose their precious jewellery.

Marion contacted me after hearing about The Ringfinders, and explained how she had been holidaying as a guest at a private beach, notoriously difficult to access and requests from non-residents – Including Ringfinders on a recovery mission, were met with a negative answer.
Marion was also unable to regain access so I knew that I would have to call in some favours on this one in order to get through the electronic gate and be able to find her rings without coming back to find my car towed.
This is when I recalled a discussion with Tim last year after I found his ring at nearby Matauri Bay ( Story here). At the time, Tim had queried the likelihood of finding another ring with a 30 year headstart, lost in a rocky bay while surfing at the same private property. It wouldn’t have moved or been detected, but thirty years… and clefts and crevices would be needle in a haystack. The upside was he could gain access through his contacts, and I would spend some time looking for his ring first.
The duly appointed day arrived and as the gate slid open and I drove through, it felt like I was entering Hallowed ground. It was several kilometres to the bay, surrounded by the residents houses. Fully expecting to be challenged I was surprised to be waved at as I passed walkers and people tending their gardens. I casually waved back while working out a plan B in case I returned to find my car had been towed due to a breakdown in communication…
The bay where Tim lost his ring was a sea of basalt boulders, most weighing 40+ kg. Tim, his wife and I of us spent a full hour, each with pinpointers rummaging in and around, but short of a systematic stringline search taking some weeks, any recovery would have been pure dumb luck. We located the remains of a fishing reel and one fishing weight. Tim conceded his ring had a new home and at least we had spent a cumulative time of three hours on it.

We headed back to the main beach and as I got kitted up at the car, Tim and his wife took their chairs etc down the path onto the sand.
With my experience in Search and Rescue, I have developed a fondness for tracking humans, a skill which has served me well as a RingFinder.  It wasn’t surprising to see that Tim and his wife had set up their chairs in the primary area of interest. Humans can be so predictable in their unconscious decisions!
« You are kidding? » when I asked Tim to move a dozen metres to the right. I briefly explained behavioural profiling and how we, as a species, tend to follow the same instinctive actions. They took it in good humour as they moved their new basecamp.
A few minutes later, Marions’ first white gold ring appeared in the scoop – right where Tim and his wife had been sitting! Tims wife didn’t believe how fast it had been found and as they were admiring the ring, I started the spiral search and less than a metre away, the second emerged.

I texted Marion the good news and as I headed back to the car, a young lad passed me with his metal detector heading for the beach…

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Ring lost in sea at Long Beach, Russell – Found by Ringfinders

  • from Paihia (New Zealand)
Contact:
Ring Finder – Ring Recovery Specialist…Lost ring? Lost necklace? Lost keys?… Metal Detector Service – Call ASAP 021 401626
Emeralds and Diamonds, oh my…..
Got a call yesterday from Grant that his wife had lost her ring in the sea at Oneroa/Long Beach in Russell 8-10 days ago. Fortunately the seas had been favourable since the loss, so there was a very good chance of a successful recovery.
I met Grant and Sarah on site (always increases the odds greatly if you can meet me) and as I kitted up, they marked out their best guess as to where ‘X’ marked the spot. As the tide was still falling, I did the easy bit on the wet sand first – just in case…
Alas, it was not to be and I had to head into the water, which was still surprisingly cool! I had been searching in waist deep water for a short time when I got a promising tone – on the second scoopful, the hole was silent and I washed the sand out of the scoop to be greeted with a beautiful ring sitting in the bottom. Job done 🙂 I was going to call Grant and let him know I had something for him, when he turned up with Sarah, who gave me a big hug, despite me still being soaking wet 😁
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Gold Earring Lost in Sand at Whangaroa, Found and Returned.

  • from Paihia (New Zealand)
Contact:

Ring Finder – Ring Recovery Specialist…Lost ring? Lost necklace? Lost keys?… Metal Detector Service – Call ASAP 021 401626

I got a call late last night from Sophie, asking if I was able to find a lost gold earring in the sand.

She had been playing volleyball on the beach at Tauranga Bay near Whangaroa in the Far North of New Zealand, and at some stage in the rough and tumble the earring was lost into the sand. A fellow camper at the Tauranga Bay campsite had heard of or witnessed my successful recovery of a lost engagement ring there just a couple of days ago. It was a simple matter to track down The Ringfinders to save the day (well, night)

It was just about low tide when she phoned, dinner could wait but time and tide waits for no-one, it was 50km away and night searches in the water aren’t fun. I threw the water kit in the car and headed off.

They had left the net up so I could see where they had been playing, but the giveaway was the parallel lines and grubbing about of what looked like a group of people doing a shoulder to shoulder contact search through the sand. It was just on sunset when I started and worked the court area and the principle traffic area back towards the camp.  I became aware of an audience in the dark, comfortably seated and watching what must be the most boring spectator event ever!  However they were to disappointed as the only two targets found were a hair clip and a 10c piece.  Confident I had cleared the site, it was either deep or not in the indicated area.

After confirming clothing etc had been checked to make sure it hadn’t been caught up, I said I would return in the morning with a deeper coil.

Up at 4am to drive back to the beach. Aside from a few torches of bleary-eyed campers stumbling around the campsite it was just me and my detector.  I re-ran the original grid, picking up some deeper junk targets before widening the search area.   I dropped over the change in contour where the waves had lapped on last nights high tide and off to the outside of one corner of the original grid I picked up a quiet ‘double-thud’ of a circular object – but could be an old can pulltab down deep.

Yes, it was deep, nearly 30cm down, but it wasn’t a pulltab as my fingers closed on the familiar shape of a sand-filled ring in the dark. Verified in the headlamp, and Job Done!

I scratched a message to Sophie in the sand: « FOUND IT! Back at 4pm » and headed off to work.

Later that morning I got a TXT from Sophie who had seen the message and was overjoyed at the retrieval of her lost earring.  By 4pm, it was back in her hands (to be put safely away with the other one for the remainder of their holiday)

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Silver ring lost in sea, quickly returned in Paihia

  • from Paihia (New Zealand)
Contact:

Ring Finder – Ring Recovery Specialist…Lost ring? Lost necklace? Lost keys?… Metal Detector Service – Call ASAP 021 401626

Jess was swimming at Paihia, in Northland, NZ when she felt the large silver ring slip off her finger.Her boyfriend tracked me down via a web search and I arranged to meet them at the next low tide.
The beach had largely emptied after the New Year holiday-makers so I was able to run a comprehensive grid without hindrance of sunbathers/swimmers or inquisitive children.
As the search area started to open up from their ‘Lost here’ best guess, and with the pouch slowly filling with metallic chaff and the occassional toy car I started to consider other options and second guess myself.

Had it been picked up by an eagle-eyed passer by as the tide dropped? Had I missed it with one slightly lazy swipe of the coil?
Despite these niggles, I stuck to the grid and started out into the water. It had started raining, so I was already wet and with the beach being actively dragged down by the ebbing waves I needed to work this area as best I could before the shells etc buried it if it was out there.

After about three or four passes out to the edge of the actively mobile sand, I got a faint silver tone. Wave surge made it difficult to accurately fix the position, and it was still in the hole after the first scoopful came out. I briefly glimpsed it as it settled in the slurry of shell and sand. This is where you can lose a ring down deep if not careful.  The scoop went in again, well under the ring and heaved the contents out. Hole checked and clear. I had it.

Jess and Johnny were already making their way down the beach towards me as I held the ring up… And the sun started to come out.

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New Engagement Ring Lost in Surf – Found and Returned, Tauranga Bay, NZ

  • from Paihia (New Zealand)
Contact:
Ring Finder – Ring Recovery Specialist…Lost ring? Lost necklace? Lost keys?… Metal Detector Service – Call ASAP 021 401626
Every ring has a story. This particular story was nearly cut short after it had only just begun!
One day into her engagement, Alexis was enjoying the water at Tauranga Bay near Whangaroa in New Zealand when she got hit by a large wave. Once the excitement had subsided, she realised the sea had pinched her brand new engagement ring!
Fortunately others nearby recommended me and she called immediately, before the wave action could bury it too deep.
On arrival, it wasn’t hard to see where she was in the crowd by the shoal of snorkellers searching in the shallows. After a quick Q&A, I had a good idea of the search area and started the first run.
Quick contact from Alexis and careful noting of her location enabled me to recover and hand back her lost ring within a few minutes – to screams of relief and joy echoing around the beach.
Alexis turned to her fiance, « Are we still getting married? » 😆
And the ring added a chapter to its story.

 


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Diamonds lost in sand, found within two minutes

  • from Paihia (New Zealand)
Contact:

Ring Finder – Ring Recovery Specialist…Lost ring? Lost necklace? Lost keys?… Metal Detector Service – Call ASAP 021 401626

Sarah was enjoying the summer with her family at Taupo Bay, a lovely ocean beach in the north of New Zealand.
Taking her gold and diamond wedding ring off to apply sunscreen to her son before a swim, it wasn’t until she got back to where she was staying that she realised the ring was now absent.
Fortunately, I had only recently posted in the local community Facebook page trying to find the owner of a couple of silver rings located during a casual hunt there, Sarah saw this and contacted me.
I met her on site the following day and she went through the what’s and where’s surrounding the loss of her wedding ring, indicating where the group had been spread out. A scoop hole nearby didn’t bode well, but this is a game of inches and there was a good chance a casual detector had missed it.

Kids had since excavated a massive crater in the beach in the two days after Sarahs visit, and I was fully expecting to have to return here and manhandle a few hundred kilos of sand back into the hole to get to the original beach surface under the pile of sand around it…
Luck was with me today though, another dozen paces and I got a nice « dig me » tone.
The scoop went in, I emptied it across the surface, and a line of diamonds wrapped in wet sand twinkled in the early evening sun.
Sarah was overjoyed –  and check out the cheesy grin on her son  🙂

 

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