Lost Wedding Ring in the Sand, Beach Haven NJ, LBI, recovered by Edward Trapper, NJ Ring Finder
Kenny’s vacation at the Jersey Shore took an unexpected turn when he realized his wedding ring was missing after a great day at the beach. Despite searching around for a while, he came up empty-handed and reluctantly headed back to the house. But instead of accepting the loss, Kenny reached out to me for help.
I suggested he quickly retrace his steps while the location was still fresh in his mind and drop a pin on Google Maps to mark the spot where he thought the ring was lost. The ring was lost the prior day, so this was important as the landscape changes rapidly at the beach. When I arrived, we walked together to the location, and after marking the spot in the sand, I asked Kenny to show me any pictures he had from that day. One picture, in particular, stood out, helping me line up the exact area where he had been. Interestingly, it was a few feet off from where the pin was dropped, so I decided to start my search where both points intersected.
It didn’t take long before my metal detector picked up a strong signal. I dug into the sand, and there it was—Kenny’s wedding ring! His daughter stood by with wide eyes, amazed that we had found it so quickly. Neither of them really believed it would be possible.
When people ask how successful I am, I always tell them it depends on how well they remember where their item was lost. But in the end, if you get me in the correct spot, with a little help from my metal detector, no ring can truly hide.
What a wonderful weekend it was going to be, fantastic weather, great company, car is all unloaded, and just sitting on the outside on the deck, having a cold drink, enjoying the ocean breeze, when a voice from inside hollers, “we have a problem” !!!! Linda went inside to see what I might be, and it was most peoples nightmare, a clogged toilet. One would think this is an easy fix, but unfortunately it was not. After 2 days of trying to plunge the clog, it was now backing up in the downstairs laundry slop sink. A local plumber on LBI come out to assess the situation, unfortunately without locating the outside cleanout he was not able to finish the job. She called the guy he recommended who handles much lager jobs, and would be equipped with a 200′ snake. Once again, without the location of the outside cleanout he was not able to do anything either. That’s where I come into play. After 2 days, Linda called me wondering if I was able to locate a sewer cleanout. My concern was, if it was all plastic my equipment would not be helpful. After a short conversation, I headed out to try and help. After looking the entire plumbing situation over, I received many possible signals, in the area the cleanout should be. After quite a bit of digging, the cleanout was located, and now Linda could have the plumber return to snake out the entire line. This was a “stinky” situation to start of the weekend, but ended up on a positive note.
Jennifer called to inquire about the possibility of recovering her wedding and engagement ring, that accidently flew off her finger into the water, at the boat dock. As usual I questioned her about exactly what had happened, as well as any information she might know about the water depth, clarity, current, etc. She explained that she had opened the state room door, stepped out onto the finger dock, and was brushing some crumbs off one of the boat cushions, when both rings flew right off her finger, into the dark water below. Jennifer was adamant this was exactly what happened, and confirmed both rings must be pretty much straight down, or possibly under the other boat, or under the finger pier. The water was a workable depth of around 5′ or so, depending on what end of the finger pier I was. Knowing how deep and dark the water was, I had to gather many items to ensure I had what was needed, to make this a successful recovery. Once on location at low tide, the water did average 5′, so that was a good thing. What wasn’t so good was how black and muddy the bottom was, as you can see the nasty black mud in the one picture. after clearing MANY targets, which is common in marina locations, I got a promising signal, that turned out to be Jennifer’s wedding ring. She was quite surprised I was able to find it with all the trash on the bottom. One would figure the other ring would be right near by, but after another 45 minutes, I had no luck. I really didn’t want to throw in the towel, but I was leaving for vacation early the following morning, and had to call it a day. Jennifer was extremely grateful, as I promised her I would return the first chance I had after I got home.