It didn’t take us long to meet up with newlyweds Paul and Barbara on the beach after we’d gotten their call.
Paul was an Irishman with a new American lass for a wife – but Barbara had done all of the talking on the phone as Paul’s Irish accent was so thick. « Are you Ring Finders? » she asked.
As soon as we heard that Paul hadn’t seen his ring all day we knew we’d have a challenge. And they didn’t know where it could have been lost…!
Paul and Barbara had been married just five days earlier and were enjoying the restaurants and shops near their hotel here on the Big Island of Hawaii. As Paul tried on some Maui Jim sunglasses, he looked as his hand to admire this wedding ring – which was missing!
They’d seen a detectorist in the early morning combing the beach and didn’t want to loose their ring forever – so looked us up online to find and return their ring. We got to their hotel as soon as possible and decided that the small bay they’d spent the morning swimming in was a good place to start. Again, they weren’t sure if it was lost in the water, the sand, the hotel or the shops…!
Brent Madison of Big Island Metal Detecting explains the basics of the Excalibur II metal detector and how small, lost gold rings can turn into big, found signals for recovery. Big Island, Hawaii.
Paul wasn’t a strong swimmer so we were confident that scuba wouldn’t be necessary though we’d packed our dive gear in the car.
I looked where Paul had rented a stand-up paddleboard while Sylvie searched the sandy bottom where Paul had remembered swimming in the warm, tropical waters of the bay.
Sylvie and I started our grid pattern searches with our metal detectors.
Beaches on the Big Island of Hawaii are so heavily searched by treasure hunters that neither of us hit any of the trash often found on other beaches around the world. We were well into our search pattern – at least 45 minutes – when I heard my name called and saw Paul and Sylvie « high-five’ing » nearby.
Sylvie had been carefully following her search pattern and talking to Paul as he snorkeled and bobbed around her. Suddenly she’d hit a « huge target » in her underwater headphones – then as suddenly, lost the signal. She was so deep in the water that she couldn’t hold the target under her detector and dig the target at the same time.
Sylvie Madison of Big Island Metal Detecting gears up with her Garrett Sea Hunter metal detector to look in the water for a lost, men’s wedding ring. Big Island, Hawaii.
« Hold the detector here! » she told Paul, handing him her Garrett SeaHunter II, after she’d reacquired the signal. Sylvie dug and nothing. Then dug in the sandy bottom again.
In her scoop was Paul’s lost ring straining out of the sand. Barbara had been watching from beachside and rushed into the water when Sylvie pulled it from her scoop.
We all stood in the water admiring their newly found wedding ring, delighted together in Sylvie’s find. We laughed that Paul could start relaxing again on his honeymoon!
A platinum wedding ring which was lost and found on the beaches of the Kohala Coast, Big Island, Hawaii.
Not knowing where they’d lost it, it seemed it had been the luck of the Irish to reunite them – a small ring in such a large world! Barbara was quick to qualify the reason – she’d been praying to St. Anthony, her patron saint, since they’d discovered the ring had been missing.
God knows the reasons some rings are found or not – and in the end, Paul, Barbara and us at Big Island Metal Detecting are all thankful that we could be part of the discovery of their lost treasure. Especially so early on in their new marriage!
Sylvie, Paul, Barbara and Brent give the Hawaiian « shaka » after their successful recovery of Paul’s lost wedding band. Big Island, Hawaii.
