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big island Tag | The Ring Finders
Recovered small key saves church big funds, Big Island, Hawaii
THE LITTLE THINGS CAN BE VERY IMPORTANT TOO
We got a desperate call from a woman whose church group had helped organize a concert here on the Big Island – and one of the church’s parishioners had lent his car to the concert’s head performer.
The performer had a few hours to kill before his first concert so went to one of our local beaches. As he went back to get ready for his first performance, he suddenly realized his key – and the only key to the car – had been lost in the sand.
He looked for the lost key and finally had to ask to be picked up or miss the concert!
Some of the church members went to the beach the next morning to search for the key with rakes, carefully combing the sand in the area the musician had been.
After three hours they looked online and we got the call – and went immediately to the beach to join them in the hunt.
The site where the key was lost was quite small and had been scoured with rake marks. I searched the area for about 15 minutes with my Excalibur II metal detector, finding wire, fishing weights – and then hit a big target in the sand.
The car key materialized in my scoop as the sand strained out of it. 
A key is such a small thing, but finding it saved the congregation from having to hire a tow truck to come to this remote spot and re-key the ignition.
We were happy to help – and remembered that sometimes the most valuable things are often what seem of least value – until they’re not!
Lost Wedding Ring Reunited with Owner after Two Months – Brings Hope
It was a busy day for Big Island Metal Detecting!
Two desperate callers rang within 10 minutes of each other requesting searches for their lost jewelry.
What started out as two recoveries ended with the discovery of a third ring!
Since all searches are time-sensitive, Sylvie searched one beach looking for the lost wedding ring – while Brent searched another beach with his friend for a lost earing.
During his search, Brent found a very large ring under the water with the inscription “Dario Loves Fallon” written on the outside.
As the ring did not belong to either client, we went to work to track down the owner, a feat we thought would be nearly impossible, especially without a last name to search the World Wide Web!
A Google search turned up only one page that promised a little hope of identifying the owner. A Go Fund Me webpage had the matching names, “…Dario, Fallon’s husband..” The Go Fund Me page was set up to request contributions because Fallon had a life-threatening medical emergency and required immediate surgery. Following the page links and using the new details, it was then possible to then find their Facebook pages – which indeed had photos of them on the Big Island of Hawaii a month earlier!
We were excited and emotional at the prospect of having found the owner – and if this was indeed them, then we knew that such fantastic news would be welcome news due to their current, grave situation. Rings can be so incredibly sentimental and in our experience, it can make such a huge difference to have a ring returned that was thought to be gone forever. We sent a message to them on Facebook and excitedly checked the next morning for a response.
Dario Palavra replied, “I’m so shocked that you guys found my ring. We were just in Hawaii in August!.It is my wedding ring – my wife has a matching ring. I figured it was long gone. I thought I lost it in the deep water since I love to swim. I’m so happy that you guys found it – since we got back from Hawaii we been dealing with a lot of health problems with my wife – I almost lost her – she had less than 10% chance of living and now when you tell me you found our wedding ring, that is amazing. Once I get it back it is going to be glued to my finger!!!”
We express mailed the ring to Dario, and soon afterwards got a photo of him wearing the ring he thought he would never see again!
If you’re interested further in this story – or would like to read about Fallon’s Go-Fund-Me page, go to :
https://www.gofundme.com/GoTeamFallon
Big Island Metal Detecting 
Lost Men’s Wedding Ring Found in the Ocean at Beach 69, Puako, Big Island, Hawaii
« Never Go, Never Know »
Meredith called me and was not happy. Her husband had lost his wedding ring while in the water at Beach 69 just up the road from the famed Hapuna Beach.
They’d waited three days before calling – having spent their time snorkeling to look for it. Should they call me to look for it professionally, or just assume it was lost to the water and waves of Hawaii’s Big Island? They didn’t know what to do. « Was there a chance I’d find it before returning home to Vancouver tomorrow? » she asked.
I’ve found lost rings up to a month after being lost and asked her about the ocean conditions. Beach 69, like Hapuna, can have a vicious west swell so I’m cautious with my predictions due to waves and current. Conditions were calm and the water clear she assured me. I got to the beach and conditions were excellent – the water was clear and there was barely a ripple.
A happy client with his lost gold ring – now a found gold ring by Big Island Metal Detecting’s Brent Madison! Beach 69, Puako, Big Island Hawaii.
Meredith’s husband met me on the beach and showed me how he’d been throwing a football (he’s left handed) in the water and getting tackled by his brother-in-law. It could be anywhere along a semi-rocky area 100 feet long just off the sandy beach. I started my search at the deepest point in the water that I could reach to beat the rising tide, hoping all along that the ring hadn’t gone flying off his hand into yet deeper water.
I combed the sand-and-stone bottom carefully and as I got shallower, with more breathing room, could get creative. I asked where the guys had gone charging into the water, where the tackles happened and where they’d snorkeled. In the end, I decided to start my search in the general area where he’d first gotten into the water. Back and forth I went, hearing nothing through the headphones – and then a big signal.
I dropped to the stony bottom underwater on my knees and fanned the sand with my hand to expose the target below. Nothing. I did it again, going deeper through small stones and sand. Suddenly a massive gold ring with a central platinum band emerged out of the hole. In only three days in the water, the ring had been buried – deeper and deeper – by its shear weight and the gentle motion of the waves.
I held the ring in my hand underwater and admired it, thanked God for letting it still be there, then surfaced. Meredith rushed out and her sister-in-law started clapping as did others on the beach who’d been watching the search.
A beautiful, large men’s wedding ring made of gold and platinum found in the water by Big Island Metal Detecting Hawaii for their client from Canada on Beach 69, Kohala Coast, Hawaii.
« I didn’t think you’d find it!, » she said before taking it and swimming back to shore with it tightly in her hand. Her husband swam over from deeper water and congratulated me. He told me they’d thought it would be on the ocean floor forever – that they had called me as a last desperate move, a final Hail-Mary as it were before heading back to Canada.
To find lost rings, we can never know what the final outcome will be – though, my wife Sylvie often says, « Never go, never know. »
Call us at Big Island Metal Detecting to find your lost ring on the Big Island of Hawaii. We’re Hawaii’s TRUSTED metal detecting and ring recovery service. (808) 430 – 5660.
Lost Ring?! Call us immediately to help you find it! We’re Hawaii’s TRUSTED metal detecting and ring recovery service.
Diamond Engagement FOUND after Snorkeling in Hilo, Big Island, Hawaii!
« Rae of Hope »
We got the call to go to Hilo to find a lost diamond engagement ring on a recent, rainy afternoon. It’s an two hour drive away and the ring was lost at Onekahakaha Beach Park in the public swimming area.
Raelyn met us in the parking lot with her young son and we quickly got the full story. She had tried snorkeling for the first time ever in the large but protected, rock-and-sandy bay. After only a few minutes of putting on her mask and snorkel, she stood up in chest deep water and realized that her precious diamond engagement ring was missing from her finger. It had definitely been on as she’d gotten in the water as, ironically, she’d removed her gold wedding band so as not to lose it!
A happy moment after finding Raelyn’s lost engagement ring at Onekahakaha Beach Park, Hilo, Big Island, Hawaii.
We retraced her steps into the water along a small sea wall which jutted into the shallow bay with little steps down either side. She showed us how she’d walked into the deeper water, put on her mask and paddled around into deeper water. As the tide was at its lowest, we decided to start at the deepest point she’d been, which was now just over waist deep. As we searched, Raelyn and her son swam and watched us carefully metal detect the sandy bottom. Every once in a while we’d ask her to try and remember exactly where she’d been, or if we were still in the same area she remembered being in.
Several times when retracing her movements she mentioned swimming away from shallow, brown stones. I thought it was an interesting thing to remember and asked her to show me where the brown stones were. Just near the entrance of the swimming area, where she’d first put on her mask, was a small field of algae-covered, cannonball-sized stones. I decided to try my luck and started searching the area using a newly purchased Minelab Excalibur. Sylvie faithfully continued hunting the deeper water with her Garrett SeaHunter. Looking over at Raelyn, she was now sitting on the nearby sand talking to her husband on the phone while her son played in the shallows. A glint of white gold peaked out from under the sand in about knee-deep water as I turned back. I’d found it!
A beautiful, recovered diamond engagement ring from the shallow waters of Onekahakaha Beach Park, Hilo, Hawaii, found by Brent and Sylvie Madison of Big Island Metal Detecting.
I signaled Sylvie and Raelyn then turned on the GoPro to film it coming out of the sand, « live »! Both ladies rushed over and I pulled the ring out out of the sand and handed it to a jubilant Raelyn! She held her hands over her mouth for a moment in disbelief. « I’d just told my husband on the phone I didn’t think we’d find it! »
There IS always a ray of hope when looking for lost rings – and we’re so happy when it shines down on our clients.
Contact us immediately if you’ve lost your ring or other valuable! We’re Hawaii’s TRUSTED metal detecting and recovery service.
Lost Men’s Wedding Ring Found at Makalawena Beach, Big Island, Hawaii!
I got a phone call in the late afternoon from a woman asking if I were « that Ring Finding guy ».
« That’s me! » I replied and another lost-ring story unfolded…
Marina and Sergey had been down on the remote Makalawena Beach taking photos while on their honeymoon. The couple, visiting from Oregon, had only been on the Big Island of Hawaii for a few days.
After applying sunscreen, the two posed for fun photos, playing in the wet sand near the water. One photo Sergey had his ring on – then the next – he didn’t! They literally showed us photos in the series on-and-off!
« My ring!, » he’d exclaimed. A heavy, tungsten ring, it had vanished without a trace in the deep sand. The group spent the rest of the afternoon digging for it to no avail.
The next morning Sylvie and I picked up Marina and Sergey and their cousin in our truck and started the long, bumpy 4×4 trail that headed down to the remote beach.
Once we’d hiked to the spot along the beach, my heart fell. Though we’d checked the tide charts, high tide was on its way in force – washing higher and higher over the spot Sergey had noticed the ring had gone missing.
Switching the detector on right away I got a target signal but digging the spot only hit lava rock below a thin layer of sand. Sylvie scanned the beach above the tide line in case the ring had been washed up there during the night’s high tide. I came back and back to that same place where I’d gotten the signal, fighting the water and waves as they got higher.
Sergey had tried digging with his hands while I showed him the place. Our long-handled scoop was useless as it was blocked by the lava rock buried beneath the sand – the water came in waves too strong and too rapid to have a chance to get to it. Sergey was on his hands and knees. « Try to feel under the rock and in crevasses for anything that moves, » I told him as both his arms were buried in sand. Almost two hours had passed at this point and we’d all lost hope that we’d find it.
Suddenly, Sergey stood up and yelled, « I got it! » – He’d felt under the rock and took hold of what moved in his fingers. If it had slipped, the ring would have been sucked out into the now-heavy surf.
All of us jumped around and celebrated. « This ring couldn’t be replaced, » explained Marina. « It was blessed by the church and we believe that we can only get one of these in our lives! »
Better get it resized!
Also check out www.BigIslandMetalDetecting.com for more photos!
Large Diamond Ring Found in Kailua Kona, Hawaii
The latest ring found in Kailua Kona!
We got the call to find a lost diamond ring – a 2+ carat stone set in heavy gold – at a private residence.
The ring had bounced out the bedroom door at night – and couldn’t be found on the balcony or yard below. Due to the massive rains we’d been having, and the fact that the grass would be mowed the next day, we got the urgent call and luckily could come over the same day.
I looked under the balcony, around the bushes to the side of the balcony, and finally in the yard. About 20 yards away it sat tucked in the thick grass below – the ring must have rolled down the length of the balcony before tumbling off. Another happy ring recovery!
Lost Ring Found Waikoloa Beach Area, Hawaii – Speedy Recovery
This was a great recovery for several reasons!
First, it marked the first ring recovery we’ve done since moving to the Big Island of Hawaii and joining Ring Finders three months ago.
We were so happy to help Pedro and Martyna from Poland find her lost engagement ring!
Second, this recovery set a new personal speed benchmark for finding lost rings!
Martyna had put the ring on a hat to shoot at sunset in memory of their one-year engagement at the same spot. Unfortunately the ring fell off the hat the moment a wave swept up and it was gone…!
They spent the evening looking for the ring with their fingers in the sand, and by the time they’d called us and we could make the hour’s drive to their location out at Anaeho’omalu Beach, Waikoloa, it was noon. Martyna told us she’d spent the night in tears.
Arriving on the beach, I was a little worried to see Pedro and Martyna’s friends – about six of them – all on their hands and knees raking fingers thru the sand and digging piles of sand here and there. Fortunately, they showed me the exact spot she’d lost the ring. I asked everyone to stand back and switched on our Excalibur II metal detector. Two, then three sweeps of the coil and, « HELLO! » I hear the growling lowish tone of platinum. 5 seconds… I asked Sylvie to switch on the GoPro but by the time she’d turned the power on, the ring was in the scoop and Martyna was hugging, Pedro, me, Sylvie and all her friends! Total search and recovery time was about 10 seconds! I wish all recoveries were that straight-forward – for everyone’s sake!
Brent and Sylvie’s Ring Recovery Feedback:
Pedro and Martyna did a few important ring-recovery steps right at the beginning which helped the speed of our recovery. We were fortunate that the waves were small with no rip along the beach. They were lucky enough to know exactly where they’d dropped the ring, so made a note of that exact location. They also marked the time – which gave us a chance to check tide levels and approximate wave height when they’d lost their ring. On the challenges-side, having their friends dig around seems natural, especially if one knows the locale, but…it can dislodge a ring’s precarious place in the sand and allow it to be swept out with the waves. Fingers-in-the-sand-technique has about a 2% chance of finding anything… Also the chances of recovery get smaller and smaller quickly with passing time. By the time we got out to the site, 18 hours had passed. Call as soon as possible and we’ll be there as soon as available! Again, so happy for small waves and good « X-marks the Spot » info!
So happy Pedro and Martyna are still rejoicing!
