I received a call from Zack Tuesday, who sounded devastated at the loss of his ring. I arranged to meet him at the site right away. When I arrived I saw that he had rented, or bought a metal detector, and had been searching the beach for a long time. I knew the detector he was using would be alright for the dry sand, but wouldn’t work in the wet sand or the water. He told me he had lost the ring the day before while out with his friends. They were playing frisby in the dry sand and in the shallow surf. I decided to search the dry sand first, and covered a larger area than Zack showed me, just in case he may have misjudged the area they were using, I then concentrated on the wet, but the tide was still somewhat high for the time I was there, so I decided to go get my waders in order to get into the water. I searched the area Zack showed me, but was unable to find his ring. I felt bad to let him know I couldn’t find the ring after he told me his grandfather had given it to him, and passed away the day before he lost it. Zack looked at me, and said, « Maybe he wanted it back », at which point I told him not to lose hope because Metal Detectorists are a good group, and most try to return items when they can, so if someone found it, they might try to find him.
When I awoke the next day, I was checking the tide charts, and realized that at 12:38 AM Thursday, the tide would be very low, and give me a chance to search the lower slope of the beach. I got down there about 9:30 PM, and was able to enjoy the warm night air while walking off my dinner of spaghetti. I worked the slope and into the water in the darkness getting very few signals. I brought my pulse machine this time to try to overcome the extreme « sanded in » conditions. I also worked outside of the area Zack had showed me to make sure I covered all possibilities. It was when I was about 60 feet passed the original boundary Zack had showed me the day before that I received the signal down in the wet sand near the lapping water of the low tide and found Zack’s ring. I was so excited, that I got to the car, and sent off a text to Zack which I expected him to see the next day, seeing it was 12:30 AM, but instead I received an instant reply of total excitement. We arranged to meet on Thursday where I was able to return his ring. What a great and awesome few days.
Zack wanted to include his story, so he sent me the following to put in the blog:
Hey Steve,
Just wanted to thank you again. I am still so excited that you were able to find the ring. It truly means so much to me. Here is my story for your blog.
Best Regards,
Zack
My Grandfather had given me a ring a couple years back. I wear it all the time and love representing him as he has always been one of the most important people in my life. Unfortunately he got sick due to old age and passed away on Aug. 27 2014. Of course I was devastated and all I had from him was the ring he gave me. So I wore it. The funeral was on the following Sunday and on Monday a friend of mine wanted to take me to the beach to try and take my mind off of things. It would have been a nice day but it turned for the worst when the ring he gave me fell off my finger. Once again I was devastated and did not know what to do. I had lost something that I held so close to my heart. I searched and searched with no luck. I went online and found Steve, who came over as soon as he got the call. Just talking to him I could tell he was determined to find the ring not for personal gain but just to put a smile back on my face and do something good for someone else. He searched and searched combing a large area on the beach. Still with no luck, Steve put on a water proof suit and got into the water, searching while getting hit by wave after wave… but still after several hours, we still had not found the ring. At the end of the night, I told Steve that I appreciated all his hard work but I did not want to waste anymore of his time because I felt that there was a possibility it was deeper in the ocean than I had guessed. I thanked him and we both walked away disappointed. The next day I received a call from Steve. He told me how much he wanted to find the ring for me and that he was going back to the beach and continue searching at 10PM at night during low tide. I was speechless, The fact that a man I just met was so caring and determined to put a smile on my face completely surprised me because I had thought the ring was gone. Steve had different plans. So he went out late at night and expanded the search to a wider range. At 12:30AM I had received a Text from Steve saying he found the ring. I saw this and jumped out of bed in pure excitement. Steve is the best there is and I could not be happier to have met him. Not only because he did the impossible in finding my ring, but also because it was a pleasure to meet a man who is so genuine and caring about what he does for people. I would like to thank Steve with the bottom of my heart. I never would have found it without him.
If you lose your ring or other metal item of value, call as soon as possible. I will work hard to help you find what you thought might never be found again. I search, Beverly Hills, Hermosa Beach, Huntington Beach, Long Beach, Los Angeles, Malibu, Manhattan Beach, Newport Beach, Rancho Palos Verdes, Redondo Beach, Santa Monica, Seal Beach, Simi Valley, Thousand Oaks, Torrance, Venice Beach, and all parks, yards, gardens, and ponds (to 5 foot depths) in all of Orange County, all of Los Angeles County, and Ventura County.
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Great story Steve. Fantastic save for this devastated man.
Thanks Larry,
It was such a pleasure to see him happy again.
Yes great story and I’m sure his grandfather was helping on that search! Way to find his Smile!
Yes what a difference in countenance from the day before. What a blast!