Platinum Wedding Band w/Diamonds Lost in the Sand, Found and Returned Wrightsville Beach NC
Shortly before noon on June 15th, Demie called me asking if I could help find her Platinum Wedding Band at Wrightsville Beach. I told her it’d take me about an hour and a half to come up and I’d call the Ring Finder that covers Wrightsville and would call her back. I called John Finnerin and he said he wouldn’t be able to go. I text Demie back, told her I was on my way and gave her my ETA. A little bit later Demie sent me a pin drop with an address, so I knew exactly where to go. When I was close, I sent her a text saying I was about 15 minutes out. This time of year, tourist and locals swarm the beaches especially with the daily temperatures in the high 80s, and this day was no different. When I was on scene, I text her saying, “I’m here, looking for parking.” After making a couple of laps around the streets, I called her and asked if her husband was with her, she replied he was. I asked if he could come out and drive my car around while I looked for her ring. She quickly agreed and said he is on his way, describing what he was wearing. After Nathan and I switched off I headed out on the beach.
As I walked out, I saw Demie waving to me. We met up where they had been sitting and she showed me where the ring had to be. The area was maybe 2’X2’. She said she had taken her ring off to apply sunscreen and was holding the ring in her teeth. Her husband, Nathan had knocked over a chair and when she turned to see what happened the ring flew out of her mouth. I turned my Nox 800 on, and made a couple passes over the area. With a lady’s platinum ring, I knew I was looking for a VDI (visual display indicator) in the single to low double digit numbers. Sure enough, 2nd swing, and I got a solid 8 VDI. Scraped a couple of layers of sand into the scoop with my foot, shook the sand out of the scoop and bingo! When I went to hand Demie her ring, I dropped it back in the sand and it quickly disappeared. I saw where it landed, found it again and this time handed it back to her. She was all smiles and almost lost a tear but held it. Got a big hug and was on my way out to find Nathan and my car.
Demie – Thank you for trusting me to help find your lost treasure.
Jim
Jennifer called to inquire about the possibility of recovering her wedding and engagement ring, that accidently flew off her finger into the water, at the boat dock. As usual I questioned her about exactly what had happened, as well as any information she might know about the water depth, clarity, current, etc. She explained that she had opened the state room door, stepped out onto the finger dock, and was brushing some crumbs off one of the boat cushions, when both rings flew right off her finger, into the dark water below. Jennifer was adamant this was exactly what happened, and confirmed both rings must be pretty much straight down, or possibly under the other boat, or under the finger pier. The water was a workable depth of around 5′ or so, depending on what end of the finger pier I was. Knowing how deep and dark the water was, I had to gather many items to ensure I had what was needed, to make this a successful recovery. Once on location at low tide, the water did average 5′, so that was a good thing. What wasn’t so good was how black and muddy the bottom was, as you can see the nasty black mud in the one picture. after clearing MANY targets, which is common in marina locations, I got a promising signal, that turned out to be Jennifer’s wedding ring. She was quite surprised I was able to find it with all the trash on the bottom. One would figure the other ring would be right near by, but after another 45 minutes, I had no luck. I really didn’t want to throw in the towel, but I was leaving for vacation early the following morning, and had to call it a day. Jennifer was extremely grateful, as I promised her I would return the first chance I had after I got home.
