Coronado Tag | Page 5 of 6 | The Ring Finders

Lost ring at Coronado, Found.

  • from La Jolla (California, United States)

Reason #2. Oh, you need more info? Ok, Neil was visiting here in town and spent the day at the Beach in Coronado sitting in the sand in front of the Hotel Del Coronado. He placed his platinum wedding band into the beach chair pocket for « safekeeping ». I know, those chairs should come with a jewelry safety warning on them! Later, when he was ready to leave, he folded up the chair and headed out. When he realized that his ring was no longer in the pocket, it was too late. The beach had swallowed it. An internet search and TheRingFinders.com popped up. He texted me at 5:45am just as I arrived home from an all night detecting hunt. Still sandy and a bit tired, I knew we needed to jump on this search right away if we had any chance to find it before someone else did, so I told  him I’d be right over. I picked him up at his hotel and headed down to the search area. We walked out to where he was camped, he circled a bit, and declared this was about the spot. I made a couple of short passes and after not much more than a minute, I got that « great » pulltab/gold/platinum reading of 12-15 on my Etrac. Poked the pin pointer into the sand and pulled out Neil’s ring. A much happier ending to his visit to San Diego than it could have been. A pleasure to meet you Neil, and thank you for the generous reward.

P.S. For future reference, reason number 1 is: « I removed my rings to apply skin lotion, put them on my lap/the blanket, and forgot them. »

 

Ring lost in La Jolla Found

  • from La Jolla (California, United States)

What I thought was going to be an easy search and return didn’t exactly work out that way. I’ll let Edie tell her story……….

« We called Mark after hunting for 5 days for my ring.  One evening I was tossing out two old oranges into the ivy-covered hillside behind our house and above our back patio.  My hands were a bit wet and unfortunately this loosened up a very special ring that I’ve worn on my index finger for over 20 years.  So when I was throwing out the second orange – my ring flew off along with the orange! Horror of horrors!!  I only saw it like a split-second whir going off slightly to the left of the two oranges. Didn’t see exactly where it landed, only an approximate area.  We hunted for several hours that night, and then on and on for 5 days, including after we bought a Pin-Pointer metal detector. The vines are very thick, though not too deep underneath them, and the vegetation has been there for decades on a rather steep hillside….  Mark looked everywhere for over an hour, even trying all of his highly sensitized equipment and doing a simulated test of my throw to approximate where the ring might have fallen.  He was very patient and calm the whole time, but even he was finally ‘running out of options,’ as he said.  Then he went up the hillside one last time, and further up and further to the left than we had ever considered it could go.  There it was lying on the ground in perfect condition, not even encased in dirt.  I had not expected to see the ring ever again, but Mark persisted in his search and continued to look beyond where we thought it could be.  We are very grateful to Mark for coming the morning after we called him and for being so persistent in his search.  We recommend him highly to anyone who has lost a ring or any other valuable metal object. »

I couldn’t have said it better myself!  The ring was found at the top of the hill in the upper right of the photo. About 4 feet from the back fence. Quite a nice throw Edie! A pleasure to meet you and your husband Jim. Thank you for the generous reward! 

 

 

Necklace lost at North Island Breakers beach Found!

  • from La Jolla (California, United States)

Vanessa and her two children were spending the day at the beach on NAS North Island Breaker’s Beach. She had with her a necklace that was a recent gift. It was in a pouch, inside a box, then inside her bag. Should be safe there huh? Not with an active 1 1/2 year old toddler it isn’t! Apparently the child had gotten into the bag, box and pouch, finding the necklace and deciding to play with it in the dry sand. Once it was realized what happened, too late, the necklace was nowhere to be seen. I met Vanessa outside the gate so she could get me on the Navy base. We proceeded to the beach where the search area was defined. Lots of dry sand to sift and lots of junk targets to raise and dash our hopes. As you can see, after expanding out from ground zero, it was eventually found and a relieved Vanessa could head home happy. A pleasure to meet you and thank you for the reward.

Ring lost in Paradise Hills found

  • from La Jolla (California, United States)

Elizabeth called and asked for help finding her husband Carl’s lost ring. After eating some cherries in the front yard, Carl tossed the remains, and felt his loose fitting gold ring come off his pinky finger. He and his family searched the grass, raked it several times, and even rented a metal detector, but, without success. They even had video of him doing it through their security system! A first for me, actually seeing the loss happen. Even after repeated viewing of the video,                              we couldn’t really see the ring fly, but, it at least showed the throwing motion and approximate direction. It looked like it should be straight out in the grass, but, after 10-15 minutes of gridding the small front yard with no ring, I expanded the search to include street, gutter, a drainage ditch. Still no luck, so, I continued past the side fence and up on a landscaped side hill. Sure enough, it was waiting for me there! After receiving a promising signal, I could just spot the edge of the ring poking out of the apple ivy ground cover. Carl wasn’t home, but, a very happy Elizabeth greeted me again at the door and their daughter contacted Carl with the good news and posed for the photo with the ring. A pleasure to meet you and thank you for the reward.

Lost Rings found at Pacific Beach

  • from La Jolla (California, United States)

Last night I received a call from Jose asking for help finding his wife Deisy’s engagement and wedding rings. They were enjoying the beach with their two children yesterday and Deisy had removed her rings and put them in her pants pocket, and then put the pants in her beach bag. Good idea to keep them safe, right? Well, it didn’t turn out that way. Later in the day when they were ready to leave, she got her pants out of the bag and put them on.  A few minutes later, when they got to the house, she reached into the pocket and, no rings. Back down to the beach to search for them, but, as is typical, it was fruitless. They could be where she put on the pants (most likely) or anywhere along their hike off the beach and to the house a block away. After searching for help with the lifeguards and online, they came upon TheRingFinders.com website and me. Being a popular beach to detect, I hot foot it down there and meet Jose who takes me to where they were camped out that afternoon. It was now just after high tide and the area had been washed over a bit by some waves, but, not a lot of erosion, so, the rings should still be there. I began an ever-expanding grid search from that point, and after 20 minutes or so, I get a good solid 8 on my Equinox. Out comes the pin pointer and I find the engagement ring just under the sand about 20 feet from my starting point. Great, the wedding should be close by….not! I gridded that area 6 ways from Sunday and not a sound. Oh well, we’ll do it the hard way. I expanded the area even more and made 4-5 passes all the way to the stairs thinking it might have fallen along the way. Nope, found a few coins, lots of foil junk, a junk ring,and a couple of stud earrings, but, no wedding ring. Since the tide had gone out significantly since I started a couple hours earlier, I decided to go back to the original site and expand down the slope toward the water. Sure enough, after a few passes, I get a nice solid 6-7 reading and up pops the wedding ring about half way down the slope. We headed back to the house where I met a tearfully grateful Deisy. Glad to have met you both and thank you for the reward.

 

Lost ring in Coronado found

  • from La Jolla (California, United States)

Chris called me to see if I could help find his wife’s ring lost in the dry sand in front of the Hotel Del Coronado. I said I would go home and get my gear and head over. When I arrived and met up with them, I got the story of how it was lost. His wife Kristina (I know, that’s probably illegal in some states to have virtually the same name!) was dusting sand off her hands against her pant legs and the ring went flying. Running their fingers through the sand trying to filter out the lost ring proved fruitless, so, they went into the hotel and asked the Concierge for help with a metal detector. The hotel doesn’t have one, but, they have my contact info on file and called me on their behalf with the follow-up call from Chris. In less than 2 minutes of searching, I handed Kristina her beautiful ring. Their trip back home in AZ will be much happier now. Thank you for the reward.

Lost earring at Coronado Found

  • from La Jolla (California, United States)

Nellie called for help on a lost earring that her husband had given her for Mother’s Day. She had been busy all day and wasn’t sure exactly when and where it was lost, but, the beach seemed to be the most likely. My wife and I finished our dinner and headed over to Coronado to meet Nellie and conduct a search in the dry sand. When we arrived, it was after sunset, but, enough light to find ground zero on the beach. Nellie had the other earring with her, so, it was helpful in seeing what it would read on my new Equinox 800. A solid 8 signal….great. I started a spiral search from the supposed middle of the search area. After making a circle over 50 feet in diameter with still no earring (or much of any signals for that matter), I started a straight line grid over to the stairs and back thinking she might have lost it on her trip to her car. It was getting a bit chilly, so, I sent my wife back to the truck to get my windbreaker, and Nellie headed up the stairs to visually check there and the parking lot. I continued another pass, and got that sweet « 8 » sound in my headphones. Ran my pin pointer over the sand and pulled out what we were searching for, even though it was a bit out of the perceived search area. I walked back toward the parking lot where my wife and Nellie were talking. My wife had my windbreaker under her arm and while I was putting it on, I asked Nellie if this earring looked familiar? Hugs all around and a happy Nellie. The sodium lights didn’t help the photo of the earrings, but, they are beautiful! Thank you for the reward Nellie.

Lost ring at Ocean Beach found

  • from La Jolla (California, United States)

Marcio was at Ocean Beach with his wife and child having a nice day in the sun when the outlook changed. He had been building sand castles, washed the sand off the toys in the surf, and went in for a short dip. After all this fun, he realized his wedding ring was missing. He does an online search and contacted me for help. Even though the tide was coming in and approaching the evening high, I agreed to meet them and get an idea of where the ring may have been lost, do a preliminary search, and maybe get lucky with a quick recovery. Oh well, that wasn’t to be. I searched all the dry sand around where they were camped out for the day and also hit the slope heading down to the water. The tide and surf was up on this steep section of beach and had a nasty shore break, so, a water search at this time would have been pointless. I told Marcio that I would return in the early morning hours to take advantage of the minus low tide at that time. Fast forward to 12:30am when I arrived at the beach. I started a grid from dry sand to knee deep water, and at 1:10am got the signal I was waiting for. I texted Marcio with the good news and connected with him later that day for the return. Great to meet you folks and thank you for the reward.

 

Ring found and returned at Carlsbad State Beach

  • from La Jolla (California, United States)

If the sun lotion scenario is the #1 reason for losing a ring at the beach, this is probably #2. It’s the « I took the ring off and put into the chair pocket, forgot it was there, folded chair and packed everything up when we were ready to leave, drove away and then remembered the ring scenario ». Marcus didn’t get far….just out of the parking lot when he realized what he had done. He returned and searched to no avail. Out came the phone and a Google search. He found my ad on Craig’s list and gave me a call. I told him I would be there within the hour and met him at the location. We walked over the the spot where they had the chairs laid out (the most likely spot of the loss) and I started my grid. Maybe 30 seconds later, I get the sound I wanted to hear on my E-trac and scooped out his ring. A happy Marcus gets to go home, tell the wife, and not have to share the accommodations with the dog. A pleasure meeting you Marcus and thank you for the reward.

 

Rings found at Mission Beach

  • from La Jolla (California, United States)

Maureen and her two friends were visiting Mission Beach from much hotter Las Vegas, when her engagement and wedding rings ended up in the dry sand. You’ve heard the tail of woe many times before…..blanket, rings removed, sunscreen, forgot, stood up…..rings disappeared from sight. The hardest part about this search was just getting there, finding parking, and hiking to the spot on this Saturday afternoon during the summer. That took an hour for me and I’m only 12 miles away from the beach! Had to park about a mile away and hoof it to where they were waiting. I got the lowdown on how they were lost and the small search area was cleared of their belongings. Two passes and that area was clean of targets…..hmm….ok, please move your belongings again and I’ll search under them. Sure enough, got a nice 12-14 signal right under their bags with my trusty E-trac. I asked Maureen’s friend Crystal if she would like to do the honors of reaching into the sand right in front of my coil and pull the ring out. She dove into the sand and sifted sand through her fingers and no ring. What? I has to be there! She tried again and came up with a zipper pull. Wonderful…..make me look like a goof why don’t you! Another swing or two and another great 12-14 sound. Ok, this has to be it this time. Sure enough Crystal was able to sift the wayward engagement ring into her hand. One more swing with the coil and a repeat of the first ring. A happy Maureen and her friends will have a much more pleasant drive back to Nevada. A pleasure meeting you three and thank you for the reward.