Lost Diamond Ring in Daytona Beach surf….FOUND!
Friday morning I received a phone call from Marilyn asking if I would help her find a very special ring. As I listened to her story I could not help but hear the pain and disappointment in her voice as she explained the details. Earlier in the week the family was down at the beach, swimming and enjoying the beautiful Daytona Beach sand and surf, when Chante noticed that her anniversary ring was missing from her finger. They tried searching for the ring but soon realized the futility of such a search and then one of the family members thought to purchase a metal detector. They tried the detector but were unable to get it to work properly. They had been taking pictures all day and soon figured out that Chante had her ring on when she went into the water but no longer had the ring when she came out of the water carrying her surf board. The next step was the web and during her search she came across the ring finders. She told me that after reading some of the recovery stories under my blog she knew right away that I was the one to call. (That sure made me feel good!!) So during our phone conversation I realized that « Time was of the essence » and the sooner I got out there and started searching the better.
On our central Florida east coast so much depends on the tides and how large the waves are on that particular day. And thankfully it was only one to two foot waves with a rising tide and another 3 hours till high tide. So off I went anxious and thrilled to be helping hurting hearts with the hope of bringing joy and happiness once again to their lives. And of course hoping to put those smiles back on their faces!
After a 40 minute drive to the Sand Castle Motel in Daytona Beach, I got my gear together and followed the ladies down onto the sand. Many times my first thoughts are « Man, look at all that sand and water! I sure hope they have it marked off well enough for me to be successful! » And sure enough the ladies were able to show me an area approximately one half the size of a football field and I began the tedious task of grid searching from the wet sand and then out to about 4 feet deep. Marilyn and Chante were sitting watching me for the next hour as I steadily paced back and forth- stopping every now and then to dig a target. Bobby pins, pull tabs and a few coins could not stay hidden from my trusty Whits DF! Then the magic moment came when that perfect , clean signal sounded in my headphones and there it was glistening in the sunlight in the bottom of my scoop. I immediately turned towards the beach and raised my detector above my head and waved it to the ladies. Chante was the first to notice and came running towards me stopping momentarily to verify it truly was her ring in the scoop and then proceeded to give me a long, awesome bear hug which we were soon to be joined by Marilyn! Thru tears of joy the ring was put back where it belonged–on Chante’s finger–and we headed back to the Motel.
The thrill and sheer pleasure of reuniting a ring like this to it’s rightful owner is a truly awesome experience! Thank you so much dear ladies for your generous reward. It was my honor to help you.
Maybe you’ve lost something precious recently–or even a long time ago– and want to try and find it. Give me a call or send me an e-mail.
Mike McInroe …thankful member of theringfinders.com