Rob Ellis: Underwater Ring Recovery Specialist. Call or text 703-598-1435
June 7th, 2020 James River, Midlothian (Richmond), Virginia
Jake was paddle boarding off of his neighborhood dock when his gold wedding band slipped off. He called me and we set a date to search. My wife, son, and I met Jake and he took us to the dock. As you can see from the photos, it was a beautiful day for a search.
Trail to Dock
Beautiful Day
The depth was about 10 feet with visibility from zero to five feet. After discussing the variables with my shore crew, I decided to use a circle search reel of my own design. There were some sunken logs and debris entangled with fishing line and hooks. This complicated the search. After about 45 minutes, I got a signal on my safety line to surface from my dive master. After some more discussions with Jake, she recommended I shift my search area about 40 feet upriver. It’s a good thing since that is where I found the ring!
Nikki and her husband David were enjoying their lovely backyard with the family. While David was playing with one of the children, his ring flew off and bounced off the patio and into the wet grass. After they searched unsuccessfully, they called me. I searched about 45 minutes before finding the ring embedded in the mud under the wet grass. So happy to have met patriots like Nikki & David. A portion of their reward has gone to Fisher House.
Find of a life time is a common phrase heard in the metal detecting community. It has a different definition than what you will find in this story. Last Monday I got a text concerning a very special lost ring in Natick, MA. A very common story where the parents were playing with the children in the back yard when one action or another dislodged the women’s ring from her finger. The play immediately ceased and the family spent the rest of the daylight looking for the lost ring with no success.
When I arrived at the home the first thing I noticed was the landscaping. The ground in the back yard reminded me of a green and brown loop pile carpeting. In other words there was no real place for a ring to go, so I figured Id be out there in a few minutes flat. Well after 30 minutes of covering the entire back yard with a grid search I came up empty I expanded the search to around corners, under and in any yard toys, and on and in a small shed, but still a big nothing. At that point I made a joke about climbing over into the neighbors yard or checking the gutters. The next words out of my mouth were, « Do you have a ladder? » I am still not sure what that look on Jennifer’s face meant! I got the ladder to check the gutters, but as it turned out they were not going to need a handyman to come by later this fall to clean them out and the roof was pretty much debris free also except for a large platinum ring with 8 crazy diamonds.
Two people playing keep away, an air filled ball, a loose ring, and of course physics will send a ring flying every time. Hope I can attache video and be careful it’s a little loud, but pay attention to the wife and not me. She was very happy!
Video is loud so be careful!!
YOU REALLY SHOULD SEE VIDEO!
On October 16th I was outside playing ball with my family. I reached up with both my hands to catch the ball and I felt my wedding ring come off my finger. All of us immediately started looking for it. My husband
marked the spot where i was and we continued to search. After 1/2 hour my husband decided to go buy a metal detector. My kids went inside and I stayed outside walking back and forth through the yard. My husband returned
and he began to search with the metal detector, still no luck. After 3 hours of nonstop searching i had to come inside to cook dinner. I began to feel hopeless. I have had my wedding ring for 10 years and I felt I had lost a piece
of myself. My husband searched online and he came across ring finders. We contacted Guy and he asked if we wanted him to come out that night or the next day. We agreed that he would come out the next day. I anxiously waited for him
to arrive and was hopeful that he’d be able to find it. The morning I met Guy he asked were the action took place I took him to the backyard. He asked where we were playing and where I thought the ring would be. He began his search
walking up and down the yard. He said the ring might have went over the fence and we might need to search the neighbors yard also. I guess anything could have been a possibility because where I thought it was we weren’t having any
luck. He also had asked if I had a ladder so he could check the gutters/roof. I was thinking that there was no way that it could be in the gutters or on the roof with the way that it had came off my finger. I gave him the ladder from
the shed. He climbed up and was looking all the while I was thinking I should get ready to go ask the neighbors if he could search their yard then Guy pulled out his phone I didn’t realize it then but he was recording this moment
because he had found my ring. I would have never in a million years thought that it was up on the roof. I still get emotional thinking about the moment it was back on my finger. It must have hit the ball in mid air and that’s
how it ended up on the roof. I appreciate Guy so much for his patience and thinking outside the box. I am forever grateful.
Hello Guy this is Jennifer Edwards I apologize for the huge delay in this email but here it is.
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.
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.
