Karen was playing ball with her granddaughter when she noticed her 14k gold ring was gone. The ring was promised to be given to the granddaughter, she spent one hour on her hands and knees in the grass searching for it, with no luck. She tearfully called me and I responded right away, I told her I would find it, in the grass and knowing the location would make it easy. Within 10 minutes she had the ring back on her finger.
Brent, Maria and son Chase were on a short vacation from Indiana with friends. They took a hike up to the summit of Mt. Baldhead, and afterwards Maria discovered her
car keys missing-the only keys they had for their car. They had been in her backpack at the start of the hike, but going down the other side of the dune she had fallen, and assumed that is where she lost the keys.
The easy part of this hunt was actually finding the keys. Getting to the spot where Maria fell was another matter entirely! We climbed the 302 steps to the top of Mt. Baldhead, then hiked down the other side of the dune in soft, loose sand for about 60 yards to get to the spot where she had fallen. Scanning the area I got a faint signal–and there were her keys.
As you can see, the trail behind Maria is pretty steep and we had to go back up that way and then down the 302 steps back to the cars. It was a hot and humid day, but Maria still had a smile on her face.
Mr Owen Jones of Winchester was very upset to lose his Platinum Wedding Band when playing catch with his son in his garden recently. Even though he had felt the ring be launched from his finger the good news was that both he and his wife heard the ring land close by hitting a wall. This information to all ring finders like myself is very reassuring as the search area is narrowed down and time spent reduced. This though however… turned out not to be the case.
A couple of days after receiving the call I arrived to find a small neat garden with wood chip borders and grass neatly cut. We reenacted the moments leading to the rings loss and focused on the area they had heard the ring land. The search of the garden bore nothing so the search continued over the garden wall and into the dense undergrowth. After nearly two hours in driving rain still nothing and we were quite perplexed as to its whereabouts.
Though a ‘quick look’ around the neighbors garden had been done and the ring was heard to fall elsewhere I decided the neighbors was still worth another look. We knew the ring had made a ‘dink’ sound so I began to look for hard objects it could have struck. Without even turning the CTX on my eye was drawn to a clay pot where at the base of it lay the ring.
Those first few seconds after you find what you’ve been looking for is a feeling of relief and excitement, I wonder how relieved our clients must feel?!
Mr Jones was extremely relieved to have the ring back as was I after such a difficult job detecting through the undergrowth in the pouring rain. My charity, Margret Green Animal Rescue received a generous donation from the Jones family.
Oh…. the ‘dink’ sound the ring made and the search of the wrong garden??? I put this down to the echo they received of the ring landing against the pot in the neighbors garden.
Gregory – reunited with his gold men’s wedding ring. His ring was lost during his honeymoon while snorkeling in the tropical waters off of Hapuna Beach – and found by Big Island Metal Detecting – while thousands of miles from Hawaii! We were happy to reunite him with his lost treasure! Hapuna Beach, Big Island, Hawaii.
« A ROLLING RING GATHERS SOME MOSS… »
Turns out that even gold rings gather moss.
We got an email from Gregory asking us to hunt for his lost ring at one of the Big Island’s most hunted spots by metal detectorists – Hapuna Beach.
Gregory had been on his honeymoon and snorkeling in shallow water. At dinner, his wife noticed his ring was missing – and they were gutted to think they’d never see it again! (We hear many stories of newly-weds having their lost rings discovered at dinner…!)
It took Gregory a week to find us and there were some major hurdles working against finding his ring : The first was the fact that it had been over a week since he’d lost it! The second strike was that he’d lost off of one of the the most-treasure-hunted beaches in Hawaii. The third was he wasn’t here to retrace his steps or point out the most probable places it was lost! As we discussed the area, he was on the other side of the Pacific Ocean, thousands of miles away, in Oregon…!
As I searched for the ring, I checked every crag and rock – including the little urchin holes – trying to imagine I was him on my honeymoon; an adventurous man, yet « not a strong swimmer, » as he’d described his own foray into the water. I worked from the sand – through the water, rocks and eddies made by the shifting tides. Nothing but a few pieces of junk.
As I got to the deepest point I could search, I turned around and retraced my steps back to the shallows, following the Google Maps points Greg had noted, as well as I could remember. The water was a slurry mix of fresh and salt water which causes one’s vision to blur.
Blurry but free of moss, I put the gold hammered ring back in place to take this image where I found it in the rocks surrounded by sharp sea urchins. Hapuna Beach, Hawaii
The lovely, tropical bay where Gregory’s ring was lost. We found it – and returned it – a beautiful hammered gold men’s wedding ring!
A mossy circle grabbed my attention between two sea urchins jammed in the rocks. A piece of pipe most likely. The blurry water and the swaying moss growing on the object felt almost dream-like as I pulled it out of its home between the sharp spines of the urchins.
I often put men’s found or recovered rings on my thumb to keep them from being lost again!
Almost as a magician had waved a wand, the object shed all of its camouflage as I pulled it close to my mask to inspect it – from green moss to brilliant white and yellow gold – the ring glimmered into reality in front of my eyes!
I took a moment underwater to thank God, appreciate this beautiful, ornate and heavy ring, and contemplate what it would mean to Gregory and his new wife that I’d found it.
A Hawaiian « shaka » with Gregory’s found gold men’s wedding ring. Big Island, Hawaii.
The ring had been hidden but it had almost jumped out at me as I passed even though it had « grown » moss over the week it had been lost. We’re so glad to have been part of this story in their new marriage. Mahalo for trusting us to find your treasure!
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A beautiful men’s gold wedding ring – lost – and found – at Hapuna Beach by Big Island Metal Detecting. Big Island, Hawaii.
Big Island Metal Detecting is Hawaii’s TRUSTED ring-recovery service and a proud member of Hawaii’s Kona-Kohala Chamber of Commerce. See more of our details at www.BigIslandMetalDetecting.com
While vacationing in Puerto Rico, Darren Webster and friends lost a Diamond Ring in the sand.
Not wanting to get in the water wearing the ring, Darren had is friend hold the ring for him. The « ring keeper » lost the ring in the sand!! After much searching Jeff Birchmore decided they needed help. Jeff found me through The Ring Finders and called me to the rescue.
It would take me two hours to get to Ocean Park, all the while Darren and friends waited anxiously. When I arrived Darren’s face lit up with hope that his ring would be found.
Darren described what had happened and what we were looking for. I briefly explained how metal detecting works and what I would be doing to find his ring.
So, I got to work with my AT Pro and Stealth Scoop. First finding a few bottle caps and pull tabs. But it wasn’t long before I got a good signal and BOOM, there it was, this beautiful gold and diamond ring! There were cheers all around us. I had found the ring in less than 10 minutes!
Thanks to Darren for the generous reward. You have quite a story from this vacation!
Seeing Darren’s face when I found the ring: PRICELESS!
Yesterday, one Ringfinder guy was busy and referred this to Gregg Larabel who was also busy. That left it up to me.
Picked up my fellow Ringfinder, Chuck Raison, to accompany me on the 3 hour ride up to Thumb Lake. Katrina was playing in the lake with her two boys when she noticed her engagement ring was missing, but her wedding ring was still on her finger.
She was sure it must be in the water, so that’s where Chuck and I searched first, but without success. Finally I made two passes over the spot where they had been sitting on the beach itself, and there it was.
Katrina was on vacation in the area and was feeling quite blue about the bad turn her trip had taken, but we brightened up her day. Her smile tells it all, but our smiles were just as big!
Just a heads up to let you know that you’ll be seeing a story from a member of TheRingFinders who was called out to search for stolen jewelry that was dumped in a swamp after the burglar was chased by police. Our member of TRF found 200 pieces of jewelry! Amazing!!
Last night around 8pm I was getting ready to go out and search the Vancouver beaches after the sunny hot day we had, and we haven’t had many! Just before I left I received a call from a young lady asking if I can help her find her lost ring. Of course I dropped everything I was doing and started on my way to Crescent Beach to help her.
After 6 hours of searching for the diamond engagement ring Jen & her husband went online to search for help and that’s when they found me on TheRingFinders.com. They said that they were a little concerned about having someone they didn’t know come out and search for the ring but after seeing the website and reading the testimonials and see all the smiles they felt more comfortable with the idea.
When I arrived I met Jenn and her husband and they show me the area that they had searched, they told me a lady stopped and helped them and she recovered the wedding band.
This was good news because I knew that meant the other ring was close! That being said they didn’t mark the area where the other ring was found so it took a little while to find what I was looking for… but I did!
I love my job! I wish I could help people all day & everyday!
If you’ve lost something and need help finding it contact a member of TheRingFinders.com nearest you!
You can watch the video of the recovery here…
I received a call from Bryan, he had lost his wedding band during a work party out at big island on lake Minnetonka Minnesota. He and some co-workers were out on a pontoon ride, they stopped at Big Island; a great spot to hop out into the water. The water is crystal clear, the bottom is sand and it’s only about 4 feet deep. Bryan was tossing a football around when he noticed his ring flew off his finger while attempting to make a catch. He and his co-workers searched to no avail. He made a mental note as to where he was in the water and tried to mark the spot with a bottle. When he was back home searching the internet for help, he came across the ring finders website and gave me a call. I told him that time was of importance as many metal detectorists search Big island as it is a « Hot Spot » for people partying. We hopped on a pontoon and headed out for the search. Bryan did a great job putting right at the spot, though I never did see the bottle; I found his ring in approx. 10 minutes. So glad I could help out, tell your wife congrats and she picked a great ring for you 🙂
Darrin
Pat Wipeout
This hunt started with a mysterious call from some unknown lady asking my wife if we sold underwater metal detectors. As the only Metal Detector Business on Oahu « All Island Treasure Detectors » my wife told them yes and asked « What can I help you with? » She said she would get back with us. I got the same call on my cellphone a little while later. I told them if they need help finding an item I provide that service too. Not sure what transpired but I finally got a call Sunday June 26th from Patti from Fort Worth Texas, while jet skiing with her granddaughter at the H2O Hawaii Kai Jet Ski course on Thursday 23 June they went over a rogue wave and Patti fell off. After swimming back to the jet ski she noticed her 35 year old Rolex watch was no longer on her wrist. Her heart sank. How was she going to find it in the murky waters of the Moanalua Bay. After reading my ring finders blog Patti realized I was the one to search for her treasured Rolex watch. I had to wait for the surf and wind to subside as the area is shallow 4-10 feet deep where the watch came off. My first attempt was July 7th. Jordan from H2O Water Sports took me out in their Zodiac to the spot he had snorkeled extensively hoping to find the watch. This turned into more of a familiarization with the area dive. It was murky and the visibility was only about 6-8 feet. Any movement near the bottom stirred up silt to the point of blindness. It was apparent I needed a grid line in order to do this hunt properly. Jordan put together a bright orange 100 foot long rope with mushroom anchors at both ends for the second dive. We stretched the rope parallel to the jet ski course on the shallow west end working east to the deeper water. I went up and down the length being careful not to stir up too much silt with my Excalibur detector. Thankfully the course was fairly sterile of trash and I only found a fishing weight, a pull tab and a coin. After an hour and a half underwater I told Jordan my air was nearly gone and we’d have to do a third dive. While on the surface Jordan reviewed all the still shots we had of Patti’s jet ski ride. They are from Go Pro videos available for purchase after your exhilarating ride. Each jet ski has a Go Pro mounted to video your experience. We actually had stills of Patti’s wipe-out and the Rolex watch separating from her wrist. Buoys and landmarks helped tremendously. With hurricane remnants fast approaching Oahu Jordan and I agreed the next morning was going to be our next best chance for awhile so we arranged to meet at 6 AM the next day. Jordan reviewed every possible angle of film to get several cross fixes of where Patti went into the water. He put my dive flag on that spot. I started my grid search where I had left off the day before and worked east toward the dive flag. I found two lead weights and three targets were too deep to be the Rolex so I passed them by. After encountering a small moray eel I found an Andrew Jackson Presidential dollar. Was this a sign? Sure enough on about my 6th leg I got a screaming target. There 2 feet in front of my face slightly exposed was a golden object. It was lying between a chunk of coral and some leafy sea growth. One wave of my hand and Patti’s watch fully exposed itself. I immediately grabbed it and stood up. I was in 5 feet of water and Jordan was snorkeling about 20 feet away. I yelled, « Finally, I got it. » Jordan came over and we high-fived each other. I then turned around and within 10 feet was my dive flag where Jordan had triangulated where the watch should be. That’s damn good and a GPS quality fix. As soon as we got back to H2O Jordan texted Patti that the watch was found. Two hearts and a thumbs up emoji was all I needed to see. Persistence and Jordan’s navigation made my most difficult hunt to date successful. Aloha to Patti and of course Jordan for all the help.