Lost IPhone in Sand .. Long Beach, CA. .. Found

Lindsey had been on the beach the night before calling me. She and her friends were sitting in the sand enjoying the sunset and adult beverages. As they walked back off the beach, Lindsey realized that she was missing her IPhone 6+. It was dark and they couldn’t find it that night.
The next morning she borrowed her Mother’s phone which she set up the « Find My Phone App » .. After four hours of frustration she found my contact number after searching online for a metal detector and called me.
It was about a 20 mile drive that took about 45 minutes. We stayed in contact via cellphone. Lindsey was sitting on the beach worried about the possibility of losing all the information she had on her phone. We decided to not trust the GPS coordinates that didn’t seem to work for her. I grid searched the location where they had sat the night before. Then the place the app had directed her. Searched north of the location about 40 feet. She was positive that they had not been south of that spot.
Here is how it works. I told Lindsey that I wouldn’t be satisfied until I did a few more lines of my grid to the south. Yes!! About 25 ft. into the location where she said they had not been. One IPhone 6 that was not lost anymore. It happens more than I want to believe. Successful searches happen when you search just outside the box. If I ever search for a iPhone using the Find My iPhone app, I will start at the pinpoint coordinates and spiral out with my grid pattern.
Lindsey was a happy to have her phone back, but she had gone through a lot of emotional ups and downs that day. Especially when we were running out of location she had remembered she had been.