Iowa Tag | The Ring Finders

A fun day on a pontoon ends up with a wedding ring at the bottom of Clear Lake in Iowa. After reading other finds Margi gave me a call and asked if I was willing to come look for her ring.  I was more than willing except for one problem. I had a broken toe and was currently in a boot cast. After a visit to the doctor that week, I was told that I could start the transition away from the boot and into an ankle brace.

The ring was some where by the beach and swim area of the State Park and Campground. We made plans and made a reservation at the campground for the following weekend and meetup with Margi and her husband Dan at 8am on Saturday.  When Saturday came we met and walked to the beach area. There was a large swim area marked by buoys and boats would anchor just outside the swim area and have fun. In the summer afternoon this would attract dozens of boats and hundreds of people.  They had anchored the pontoon and proceeded to jump in the water and play.  They actually had a photo of her jumping in the water. Studying the photo, you could clearly see the ring on her finger and you could see the left 2 buoys as you were facing the shore. To give a little perspective, we were 400 feet from shore and only 4 foot of water.  Using the buoys as our reference point we started searching. After 3 hours of searching we found many bottle caps, a 2020 penny, a 1966 dime, an old ring type pull tab from the 1970’s, and a top of a beverage can that was opened with a churchkey so dating prior to mid 60’s. Boats and people were starting to come so we had to suspend the search but I assured them that I would be back the next morning.  During our time together I found out that the ring had not left her finger for 30 years. Dan saved up for 3 years and had it custom made so it had a lot of meaning.

That afternoon, my wife Jeni and I regrouped. I went and bought a waterproof case for my phone so I could take it out in the water with me. The next morning at 7am, Jeni and I went to the beach and we went back out using the GPS coordinates of the photo. We searched what I thought was the correct place for another couple hours and found more junk. At this point, I was needing more sun screen so we went back into the beach. I ended up downloading a GPS app to my phone and put the coordinates of the photo into the app and when we went back out I was able to stand at the exact location of the photo.  The thing was at this new location which was left of the buoys which did not make sense as we have focused all our time right of the buoys that the photo clearly showed.  Jeni stood at that new location and I used her as a reference. I started to scan the area and within 5 minutes I got a hit at a location that was consistent with where she would have jumped in. I scooped and there it was less than 10 feet from where my gps said the photo was taken. I turned to Jeni and I could not even speak and she saw the look on my face and asked what was wrong. I was able to get the words out that I found it. After finding so many bottle caps it was just unbelievable.

We made our way back to shore at which point I gave Jeni the ring as I was shaking. We went back to our camper decided to shower to wash off all the sand and change before we called Margi.  We gave Margi a call on speaker and I explained that we had been searching since 7am and we were going to pack up but then asked if she wanted to come get this rock before we left. There were tears over the phone which made Jeni and I start to cry. Margi and her daughter came and we reunited her with her beautiful ring. It was a fun weekend that ended with so much joy.