Suncoast Research And Recovery Club (SRARC), Author at The Ring Finders | Page 40 of 43

Ring recovered at Honeymoon Island, Florida

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81 year old James Mahaffery and his wife were down from Gainsville visiting their son and they decided to spend some time at the beach. Last Wenesday they headed out to Honeymoon Island and were enjoying the water. James was on his hands and knees playing in the surf when his hand slipped off a rock and his custom ring disappeared into the sand. They looked for quite a while but could not find it. The ring was a custom made heavy silver ring with 2 horizontal bands of gold and had been on his hand for many years. They gave up and a few days later contacted Howard Metts to see if he could help. Howard is member of the SRARC ringfinders team so he made arrangements for the team to do a hunt on today. Six hunters showed up and within 30 minutes the ring was recovered. James son met us at the beach and when Chris returned the ring he called his Mom and she was so surprised and pleased it was a joy to hear her reaction over the phone. A big thanks to Chris Duerden, Howard Metts, Paul Hill, Mark Prue, Stan Flack, and Mike Miller for helping with this recovery.

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Lake Tarpon, Florida Wedding Ring Found

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Ammi found us on Ringfinders and contacted Tom with a request to recover a special ring that had been lost under her dock on Lake Tarpon. We happened to be in the area when Tom called to see what we could do, so we headed over to Ammi’s house. We found out that Ammi’s daughter Jen, and a friend Marie, had laid a towel on the dock and Marie decided to put her ring on the towel so it could not be lost. The ring was handed down to her by her father. It had been his mother’s wedding ring and carried a very large sentimental value within the family. Later in the day Marie picked up the towel, forgetting there was a ring on it and sure enough the ring fell between deck boards.

The space under the dock was very tight so Paul went under alone and worked for about 45 minutes before finding the ring right next to one of the support posts. The girls were just overjoyed when they saw Paul holding the ring. Some more big smiles!!!!  Way to go Paul.

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Soccer Field Wedding Ring Recovery, Palm Harbor, Florida

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Brian was having a great Sunday Soccer game until he was headed home and noticed he no longer had his wedding ring. He returned to look for it and even considered renting a metal detector but then he  discovered there was a club that offered to recover lost items. He sent an email and Mike Miller responded and then set up a hunt of the entire soccer field for the following Saturday morning. Paul Hill, Howard Metts, Elmer Stennes, and Mike showed up for the hunt. We hunted the entire field and after 3 hours Paul found the missing ring. Brian could not believe the dedication we had in searching for the ring and was very pleased with the result. As you can see by his smile he is very happy to have his wedding ring back on his finger. Way to go guy’s !!!!!!!!

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Vows Renewed after rings recovered St Pete Beach, Florida

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The weekend before my vow renewal, a few of my friends and I decided to go out.  We ended up at Jimmy B’s on St Pete Beach and after a few drinks and several hours of dancing; we decided a quick dip in the gulf would be wonderful.  We were only in for a few minutes but when we came out and posed for a photo, I noticed that my wedding rings were gone.  I cannot describe how surreal that moment was or how quickly the panic set in.  We searched for an hour before they finally convinced me to turn in for the night.  I lay in my hotel bed, unable to sleep, feeling absolutely naked without the ring that my husband had given me when he proposed.  That ring stood for so much.  He worked so hard, handpicked every stone, designed the setting, not like at Jared where you pick a pre-fabricated design, he drew it on paper and had someone make it.  That ring symbolized eight years of love and friendship, five years of marriage , two children, hard times and amazing happiness.  I couldn’t just lay there while it drifted in the ocean, so at 3:30 in the morning, I headed back out and spent the next several hours combing the beach with a flashlight (two days later my neck still hurts from looking down).  I finally called my husband to share the terrible news at 6:45.  Not only was he sweet to me and sad for me, he immediately took action.  He sent out a text to everyone he knew asking for a metal detector.  By 8:30 he had gotten into contact with someone who was going to meet us at the beach.  I was fairly exhausted from both the festivities and several hours of searching the night before but perked at the possibility of a happy ending.  I met Stan and my husband around 9:30 and Stan immediately set to work.  He was methodical and friendly.  He gave me hope.  I wasn’t able to pinpoint exactly where I was, I mean the beach is the beach right? Especially at 2 am.  Still, Stan was optimistic.  By 10:30 though, we were all feeling a little discouraged.  I had to go check out of the hotel and as I was heading away from the water, I noticed my friend’s leftover drink from the night before. I flagged Stan down to show him that this was where we went in.  I left the beach feeling terrible, so sure that ever finding my ring again was a lost cause.  What would I wear at our vow renewal?  I didn’t have a ring for my husband to place on my finger.  How would we ever replace the ring that my husband had put so much effort and love into making? I could barely keep from crying.  Twenty minutes later, while packing the last few things in my bag, I got a message from my husband. It was a photo of my rings! Stan had found them… both! I couldn’t believe my luck. I felt like a weight had been lifted (even though my neck still hurt).  I raced back to the beach and cried happy tears when my husband placed my ring on my finger all over again.  It was wonderful.  I hugged Stan.  I couldn’t be more thankful for his hard work and tireless effort to help a total stranger.  His focus and compassion have given me a happy ending against truly unbelievable odds.  Thank you Stan Flack!

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Longboat Key Florida Recovery

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Matt came to Florida from Kentucky for an extended family vacation. He was married here and had not been in the gulf since he was married 3 years ago. On his first morning here, he walked out to the beach and began tossing a football with his brother-in-law. One pass was high and he jumped to catch it. His sunglasses started to fall off as he fell into the water so he reached to save them. He was successful in saving his sunglasses, but when he looked he saw that his wedding ring was missing. He contacted SRARC and Mike Miller responded. Five hours of hunting later out came the ring. Matt was overjoyed as well as his wife and they said Mike had just saved their vacation. Always fun to see their smiles.

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Dog-gone Ring Recovered

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Gina was on her back patio with her six month old puppy when she decided to do some yard work. She took her two rings off and laid them on the lounge chair to make sure she did not lose them.
She proceeded to work in the yard for a while. She then returned to the chair to get her rings but only one was there. After looking around she realized that the puppy must have pick up the ring and carried it off.
After a day of searching she found SRARC and called Tom Jones who happened to be about ten minutes away.
Tom arrived at the home and asked Gina to bring the puppy outside then proceeded to scan the coil of his detector around the dog to see if it possibly swallowed the ring. He got no signal from the dog then started to hunt the yard. The whole yard was hunted right up to the last 10 square feet where Tom hit on a platinum signal. He then looked down to see a shiny circle lying in the grass.
It turned out to be the platinum and diamond heirloom ring. The ring had been passed down from Gina’s late mother to her and she had hoped to pass it on to her own daughter one day.

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Swedish Ring Found and Returned to Swedish Owner

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For Mike Miller it started out as a normal trip to do a little water detecting at St. Pete Beach. Pickings were slim and when he heard a very sketchy signal rang out while in waist deep water. Thinking it was a bottle cap and indicating near the surface Mike decided to dig it and get it out of the way.   What popped out was a ring that had him shaking his head and more than a bit curious. When he got home he confirmed what he thought he had seen. The ring was marked…18kt 925 Iron. This would explain the strange signal he was getting on his CZ-21. Also inside the ring was the name Katrina and what looked to be the makers mark, Elin. Doing a Google search turns up a jewelry maker in Sweden. Mike sends an email with a picture of the ring to the jeweler and explains the circumstances and hopes she can identify the owner so that it can be returned. She had originally thought that Mike’s email was junk so she disregarded it. The owner of the ring contacted her to see if a replacement could be made. She explained that she had lost it at the beach in Florida. This jogged the jeweler’s memory of Mike’s email and the jeweler replied…”I know” which really confused the owner until she explained the email she had received from Florida. Mike finally after about a week gets an email from the owner with a picture of the ring. However, here is a twist…in the picture that Mike received the name is Caroline, not Katrina. So Mike emails back saying he is sorry that the ring he found must not be hers since the name didn’t match the one he found. She then replied that she was sorry, English is not her first language and the name inside the one she sent was an identical ring that she and her partner had custom made. Needless to say she was extremely excited to get the ring back noting that the gold used to make both rings was from her grandmother’s ring. She explained that they used iron because “its ruff look symbolizes life together isn’t always easy and shiny but can still be very beautiful.” Both she and the jeweler were both amazed that someone would go to that much trouble to find the owner and return the ring. (Those of us who know Mike are not surprised) The jeweler asked for the details of Mike’s find because the news media in Sweden had heard about the recovery and wanted to interview her about this remarkable story. Katrina also asked for a picture of Mike with the ring for her Facebook page.

Needless to say we at SRARC are extremely proud of Mike for this wonderful ring return. The hobby is better off because of people like you!

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Lost Heirloom Ring Recovered From Yard

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Stan had just gotten out of the water in Indian Shores last night and was still parked in the lot when his friend Helen called and with a jest in her voice asked if this was the ring finders hot line.  Why yes it is, you lose something Ms. Helen?  A ring in my yard…possibly.  So off he went to her house still dripping wet.  Stan was joined by his wife and detecting assistant, Linda who thought they were both joking.  The Camp’s live around the block from them, so it’s on the way home.  Pulled up, asked her the usual questions and narrowed the area down.  Turned out to be her moms ring, a family heirloom.  Stan found her mothers teeny tiny ring in about 30 seconds.  She’s a happy camper thanks to one of our dedicated members.

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Redington Beach Wedding Band Recovered

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On Sunday, July 27, 2014, Keven (that’s how he spell’s it) and his wife Jessica Jones were at Redington Beach with some friends when he tried to catch a football with his ring hand and watched in slow motion as it flew off.  Thought gone forever, Keven told his friends about his mishap.  Lucky for Keven, It turned out Keven’s friends happen to be my neighbors daughter who immediately called my wife looking for me.  Oddly enough i was already at that beach.  I tried in very rough water that evening to find his ring, family heirloom passed down in his family, but no luck.  Tried again on Thursday but too rough.   We then got our crew of ring finders organized for one last try on Saturday morning in flat seas.  Mike Miller, Howard Metz and Stan Flack gave it a go for about 45 minutes when Stan managed to get the ring under his coil and Keven was pulled from the dog house.  High fives all the way around.

 

 

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Baptism Cross recovered at Indian Rocks Beach, Florida

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On Saturday we went to Indian Rocks beach, FL. We were in the water a lot, and my girlfriend was jumping off of my shoulders into the water. After a few hours, we walked back onto the beach and left. After getting back to the hotel, I noticed that I lost my baptism cross that I always wear around my neck. We knew it had to be lost in the water. Disappointed, I assumed it was lost for good. After some conversation, we decided to do a Google search for underwater metal detecting and came across a website that eventually linked us to Stan. We contacted Stan and met with him the next day. He was persistent and patient while searching the general area of water we were in. He then asked us to recall our path out of the water the previous day. We walked the path and searched the beach, but still didn’t find it. It was then that Stan followed the same path back into the water, and after a few minutes of searching, he found the cross!

We were shocked and very thankful!  Thank you for providing us with such a great service!

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