At 11:30am on August 11,2023, I received a text that stated a wedding ring had been lost at Goose Rocks Beach, in Kennebunkport, Maine. And then “Are you able to help”? I immediately called back and told him I absolutely could help. I asked if the ring had been lost in the water or the dry sand? Up on the beach in the dry sand, was his reply. He then told me that she had 3 rings in the pocket of her beach dress and they had fallen out. Two of the rings had been found already, one in the sand and another had landed on a beach chair. However, a wedding ring was still missing and was not found by anyone in the group. I told him that I would leave immediately and be there in 30 minutes +- a few minutes. He texted me the GPS address and my wife and I were off to Kennebunkport. We arrived at the address in about 25 minutes and was met at the address by Chip. Chip explained that the family was still at the beach, which is just down the block and across the street, a 5 minute walk. Once we arrived at on the beach, Chip and Allie (owner of the lost wedding ring, explained how the rings had been lost and where within the 10’ X 15’ area they thought the ring was lost. I fired up the Minelab CTX-3030 and made my first swing. At the end of the very 1st swing, I received a nice low tone and a 12-05 reading on the CTX-3030. I then asked Allie what type of metal the ring was made of. Platinum was her reply and I told her that this target was promising. I pulled out my pin pointer and located the target. I then moved some sand away with my hand, felt around and pulled out The Platinum Wedding Ring. Allie was very happy and relieved to have her ring back and I also had a big smile that I am still wearing.
Mark was playing football out in about 4 foot of water when his ring came off. I had to wait until the next day due to the tide. It took me about 2 hours and had to get Mark to come out and help me locate where he had been. They were both very grateful and happy with the return.
Josh lost his ring in the yard and could not find it! He searched online and found my number. It was definitely a little harder to find than I thought! He said his wife will be happy and I got him off the hook!
Tuesday, August 9, 2023 was a long and hot August day, one that made the refreshing swim in Lake Michigan a most-welcome reprieve for Milwaukee resident, Tanner Vandevelden and his wife. Then the unthinkable happened. Tanner felt his wedding ring slip off his hand into the choppy water. But it wasn’t just any ring. It had been worn by Tanner’s grandfather for 60 years! The thought of it being lost forever made Tanner feel sickened in his stomach. Despite repeated dives and frantic searching of the lake bottom, the ring was nowhere to be seen.
An hour later I received a text message from Tanner asking if I might assist. I knew from experience that time is of the essence for rings lost in Lake Michigan. The lake’s currents and shifting sands quickly bury heavier rings sending them out of detection range for even the most advanced detectors.
As I drove eastward to the Milwaukee shoreline from Waukesha, the setting sun shone a deep blood red in my rearview mirror. It reminded me of the old sailor’s adage, “Red sky at night, sailor’s delight. Red sky in morning, sailor’s warning.” It occurred to me that the following day promised to be another beautiful one. I prayed that Tanner’s sense of foreboding might similarly be turned to delight, that we might find his wedding ring quickly, before the night was done.
It was getting dark when I arrived. By the time we positioned a weighted buoy in the vicinity where Tanner was swimming, nighttime had settled in. Even with the eerie glow of Milwaukee’s city lights, I could barely make out the contents in my scoop. 
Several signals invited examination but none proved to be Tanner’s ring. I had just begun to expand the search area when a promising signal announced the presence of another target in my XP Deus 2 headset. I raised a scoop full of seaweed, pebbles, shells and sand. As I felt through the contents with my fingers, a round object proved to be a ring. Was it Tanner’s? Upon returning to the shore and with the help of a cellphone flashlight, the ring indeed was the lost and now found heirloom.
The smile on Tanner’s face, like the earlier sun in my rearview mirror, was evidence that tomorrow would indeed be one of delight. The emotional storm was gone, proving what I have asserted so often, “It’s more than a ring!”
This was one of my first calls to help find his wedding ring. He said he had to have lost it doing some concrete work on his sidewalk and was ready to rip it apart if I thought it was in there. I looked for a while and couldn’t find it so we retraced his steps what all he did that day. I found it about 150 feet away from where he thought it was. Sometimes it helps to investigate. He was jumping up and down with joy and gave me a hug lol.
This young man called me and said he lost his wedding ring that used to be his grandpas. He was standing on a wooden wall and fighting the big waves in lake michigan in Chicago. It took me a little while but I found it in about 6 feet of water. He couldnt believe it but was very happy to have it back.
This young man lost his wedding ring when swimming at a friend’s house on the lake I found it in about 7 feet of water in some weeds.
I got a call about 2:30 pm from an Indiana phone number which could only mean one thing a “Lost Item!” When I answered the phone, Joni, the young lady on the other end said, “my friend lost her ring, can you help?” For some reason I thought she said earring, so I needed details. The biggest question, was it lost in the dry or wet sand, or in the water? She said they were playing volleyball and it came off. Again, I asked just to confirm it was in the dry sand. She said yes. I told her I could be there in about 45 minutes. She was talking to someone in the background and turned back to me and said ok. Still thinking I was looking for an earring I grabbed my Gold Bug detector as well as the Equinox 800 and hit the road.
When I got to the beach and walked off the boardwalk, Gracie came walking up to me. She introduced herself, saying she was the one who had lost the “ring.” Ok, it was a ring I was looking for. Unfortunately, I left my sand scoop in the car figuring it would be of little use with an earring. Gracie walked over to the far side of the court and showed me where she had been standing and how she had hit the ball. She then moved about three quarters left on the court and showed me where a friend had found her identical gold ring in the sand. I started a grid search from where she had been standing and covered that side of the court with no luck. I then moved to the opposite side of the court and searched that entire area and still no ring. It had to be somewhere, so I started a cross grid. When I got to the end of the court, I did about 4 more grid lines in the out of bounds area. I got a strong hit and was confident it was the ring. Without my scoop, I had to get down in the sand and start feeling through the sand for the ring. It took a couple of seconds, but I found it. Gracie was so excited and happy. She shared that her mother bought her that ring when she graduated from the 8th grade, and she’s worn it ever since. So happy to get the ring back to her and continue its story.
Joni – Thanks for calling me!
Gracie – Thank you for trusting me to help find your lost treasure.
Jim
About 8 p.m. on Sunday, Aug 6th, I got a text with a picture from Ariel. The text said, “My daughter lost this ring today, in the ocean right in front of 53rd N Myrtle Beach. She also lost her wedding ring which goes with this but she is more concerned with the engagement ring.” I didn’t see the text until about 3 hours later, and responded asking what time and how deep she was. Ariel responded back saying, “It was high tide, around 12:30-1:00 pm. She was waist deep. There is a walk through at 53rd street and we were to the right about 100 feet.” I did a quick check of the tide tables and saw the next low tide was around 6:30 am Monday. I texted Ariel asking if there was a chance that someone could meet me in the morning around 7 am to show me the area. She responded “Absolutely, see you at 7.”
I got there a little early Monday morning and texted Ariel that I was there. I then marked off about a 100 feet and started an east/west grid search. Shortly after that Ariel, her husband Dan, and her daughter Hailey and her husband Justin showed up. I learned the wedding band and engagement were White Gold. This told me I was looking for a low number on the Equinox 800. Combined, they had done everything right. They had used a stationary landmark higher on the beach to mark where Hailey had lost her rings. I repositioned myself another 30 plus feet down the beach and started another grid search. Not too long after that, I got an iffy signal that would occasionally hit a 5. Ok, that’s what I was looking for. I dug a couple of scoops and got the target out of the sand. Earlier, Hailey had explained what the wedding band looked like. After spreading the sand out with my hands, I saw Hailey’s wedding band. They had moved down the beach and came running when I held Hailey’s ring up in the air and called her name. One ring found with one to go. I searched in a 10X10 foot square in and around the hole I dug to find the wedding band with negative results. My thinking was if both rings came off together, then both rings should be within a foot of each other. By now I was losing the tide, so I called Matt Fry, TRF Myrtle Beach and asked if he’d like to help later that afternoon. He didn’t hesitate to lend a hand.
Matt and I both showed up about 5 pm that afternoon ready to find the engagement ring. We split the area in half, he went north and I went south. We’d been out there a while, when a couple of buddies, who were out metal detecting the beach, stopped and joined in on the search. Now there were 4 guys with 3 different metal detectors searching from above the high tide line out to about knee deep and from north to south. We were grid searching, overlapping, and basically searching the entire beach for more than an hour with absolutely no luck. Again, the tide had changed so we called it a night. The 4 of us stood out there trying to figure out what could have happened to the approximate size 3 engagement ring with a pretty good size diamond on it.
I had a hard time letting this one go, so I text Ariel telling her that I wanted to try a different machine, my White’s PI and look again Tuesday evening at around 7 pm. I had another ring search pop up that I thought I could find quickly and still be at Hailey’s spot to search. Things don’t always work out as planned so I rescheduled Hailey’s search for 7 am on Wednesday. Wednesday morning I got there and got the area confused. I grid searched south of the area which worked out because the currents on Sunday, the day of the loss, were running to the south. Ariel showed up just as I was finished and showed me the right area. So I made another trip out with the PI on Wednesday evening and did another grid search and still wasn’t able to find the engagement ring. I just don’t have an answer as to what may have happened to Hailey’s engagement ring.
Hailey – I’m really sorry I couldn’t get both rings back to you but thank you for trusting me to try.
Jim
