lost Ring in the Gulf Tag | The Ring Finders

Lost ring throwing football, Orange Beach – FOUND!

  • from Orange Beach (Alabama, United States)

The other day I got a late message from Randi asking for help over in Orange Beach. Her husband Brayden was throwing a ball out in the Gulf and when the ball hit his left hand he watched as his wedding band dropped into the Gulf. They enlisted the help of some friends to look for an hour but didn’t have any success. When I spoke to Randi on the phone I told her that was my specialty and I’d be glad to help. That afternoon I drove over to Orange Beach and realized that it was at Romar House. They are wonderful people there and sure enough when I went inside they remembered me helping some other guests and immediately gave me a temporary parking pass. When I came back out I met Brayden and he quickly filled me in and explained that he had only been married since October. I told him that we had to find his ring and it was so new it was still shiny. 😃 When we got to the beach, Randi and several of their friends were lined up in their chairs ready to watch “the show”. I waded out with Brayden and one of his buddies waved us a bit more East. I took about 4 more steps to the East and then based on the tide charts, I took three more steps to the South and yelled over to Brayden not to move so I had a reference point. I literally went about 5 feet and heard a great tone. I got it on the first scoop and yelled over to Brayden, “It’s that easy” with a big smile. I didn’t realize that Randi was videoing but it definitely shows the excitement better than I can explain it. Thanks Brayden and Randi for trusting me. Now you have an awesome story for the rest of your long and happy marriage.

Lost Ring in the Waves! – Found!!!

  • from Orange Beach (Alabama, United States)

Yesterday afternoon I was wrapping up a nice weekend when I got a call from Marcus. He was out at Pensacola Beach and had dropped his large, solid gold class ring out in the Gulf while throwing football with his friend. This is a problem anytime but it was made bigger because Marcus said that he was between 4.5-5.5 feet deep. This is about my limit without scuba diving because it is so hard to set the scoop in deep water when you keep floating off in the current and waves. Marcus had a really good mark where he was though and seemed like a very nice guy so I decided to give it a try. My wife decided to tag along and she is always good luck. When we got there and walked out to the west side of the pier where the surfers go, we met Marcus and recapped where he thought he had dropped it. He had counted seven pilings of the pier out and had marked about 200ft west with his chairs. I had a good starting point as I waded out. I noticed that the water was just gorgeous and it was so clear I could easily see the shells on the bottom. As I made my way to the 7th piling I started to worry a bit because I was taking quite a few large swells that were well over my head. I got set and started my grid trying my best to stay online. I tweaked my machine a bit for the conditions and as soon as I put it back to the sand I heard a screaming gold tone. I knew that had to be his big gold ring and tried to set my feet to scoop it. I started to panic as I kept getting pushed off the spot and I worried I would lose the mark. As soon as I heard it again I put my scoop down and tried to push down. That didn’t work as the next wave rolled me inshore. I made my way back out and heard it again and told myself to relax. Marcus had given me great directions and this ring was so large that I knew I would find it again so I took my time. I waited for a lull in the waves and then set the tip of the scoop where I knew I wouldn’t scratch the ring. I looked up to double check that I had time between the next incoming wave. I blew all the air out of my lungs to make myself as heavy as possible and jumped up to forcefully land on the scoop driving it into the sand. I fell backwards to lift up the scoop under where I hoped Marcus’ ring would be just as the next wave put me under water again. I held on for dear life and as I came up I didn’t even need to look down into the scoop. I could see that big gold ring shining through the holes in the side. 😃👍 I left the ring in the scoop and concentrated on keeping it out of the waves as I half body surfed and half tumbled my way to shore. It had been less than 10 minutes but I was worn out. My wife gave me the “did you find it shrug” but I was scared to let go of anything until I got to about knee deep water. I finally gave them all a thumbs up and a huge smile and Marcus came running in disbelief. He pulled his ring out of the scoop and said “that’s amazing, you are the man!”  That made it all worth it. Congratulations on getting your ring back Marcus. I’m so glad I could help!

Lost Gold Ring and a Special Dime!

  • from Orange Beach (Alabama, United States)


Saturday night I was about to turn in when I got a message from Megan.  I quickly read it and knew I had to help her so I asked her to give me a quick call.  She immediately called and explained that earlier in the day she was swimming in the Gulf when the ring that was on her pinky finger slipped off.  This ring had been her father’s and she had it resized to fit on her finger.  She was frantic to get it back.  Megan knew exactly where she had been sitting on the beach so after a quick Google Map pin to mark the area, we made plans to meet in the morning.  I got there a little before she did and had already made a few passes in the Gulf when she arrived, said hello and sat down to watch.  I went back and forth with zero targets for a long time until I finally heard a good tone.  It was too high pitched for the gold band I was looking for but I never pass up a good tone so I quickly dug it up.  I called out to Megan that “it was just a dime” and kept going.  I didn’t go two steps until I heard a perfect low tone and I signaled to Megan to watch.  Sure enough, I had her delicate gold ring in the scoop and I started walking towards her.  I held it out to her and I could see that she was crying a little when to my surprise the first thing she asked was if I still had the dime.  I said that I did and gave it to her and she smiled with a tear in her eye.  She went on to explain that her family had “this thing with dimes”.  It started back in 2014 when her Grandfather passed away.  Before he left, Megan’s Grandmother asked him to “drop a dime” to let them know he was okay.  Dimes started appearing for the whole family and the stories have continued for years.  Megan’s Grandmother passed in April and she dropped dimes for Megan and her cousin within hours.  So you can imagine that after over an hour and a half of watching me find nothing, the words “it’s just a dime” made her perk up and take notice.  Megan said that when within 60 seconds later she had her ring back, all she could think was “OMG, no way Grandma”.  I love this hobby!!!  I’m so glad you got your ring back Megan and I’m very glad I could help deliver a dime!  God Bless!

Lost Ring at Navarre Beach – FOUND!!!

  • from Orange Beach (Alabama, United States)

I opened up Facebook two nights ago and saw that Pensacola Ring Finders had been mentioned in a comment. Ellyce told Amanda that if there was any hope, I could find her ring. I thought to myself as I turned in for the night that if Amanda reached out to me, I really hoped that I could live up to Ellyce’s trust in me. Sure enough the next morning I saw I had a text from Amanda and I quickly gave her a call. She told me that their family was staying in Navarre and that her niece Kaylee had lost her engagement ring in the surf while posing for a picture and they were pretty distraught. I told her that I could come out after work in the afternoon and I would be glad to help. When I got there I also got to meet Felix, Kaylee’s other half and you could tell that he was really concerned about losing Kaylee’s ring. The two of them walked me down to the water and told me where they thought the ring was lost and where they thought it might be. I started canvassing the area above the top shelf of sand with no luck and then switched to the deeper area below the shelf. I tried east and west and north and south and even expanded the search area a bit but I got nothing. Everyone had focused on two blue chairs on the beach and when two people who had helped the day before came up and confirmed the same location I thought, “ okay, it’s got to be down there I just can’t hear it”. I decided to use a trick I have learned over the years and I got down where the sand was being curled back into the shelf by the waves. I turned my machine onto a different pinpoint mode and cranked up the sensitivity. I got right in front of the chairs and heard a very faint grunt that was so deep I couldn’t hear it any other way. I started taking out sand with my scoop and after several tries I looked down and there sat Kaylee’s beautiful engagement ring 💍. That one surprised even me a little bit. 😃. I went up and showed Kaylee and as she started to cry and celebrate with her family I looked up the beach and saw Felix coming back from a trip to the room. I saw it dawn on his face that I had found it judging by all the happy smiles and he took off on a dead sprint and picked me up and jumped up and down with me in the air in celebration. This was a great reminder of why I do this and I want to thank everyone for having the trust to recommend me every time they do. I know that Kaylee and Felix are very thankful as well!  Congrats y’all.

Lost Ring on 4th of July! – FOUND!!!

  • from Orange Beach (Alabama, United States)

Imagine that you are getting married in two weeks. Imagine that your fiancé proposed to you with a beautiful diamond ring. Now imagine that you have come down to Fort Walton Beach to celebrate with friends before the wedding and you dropped the ring in the Gulf of Mexico. That is definitely a problem! 😳. To make matters worse, this is no ordinary ring and as Hillary and her friends explained it to me, I knew I had to help. This ring had an amazing story because the main diamond actually came from the Grandmother of Hillary’s fiancé. It had been with their family when they fled Germany all the way back before the Holocaust. They had come over and became part of a small German settlement in Mississippi called Gluckstadt. To build a life and pass down your ring to your Grandchildren so they could start a new life with their loved one is a true American dream. Was I going to let this American story end today??? On the 4th of July???  Not if I could help it!  Hillary and I came up with a plan and I agreed to meet her at sunrise to get past the Holiday traffic and all of the people in the gulf. When I got there I saw that the waves were pretty big and they were crashing into the sand right where Hillary felt like she lost the ring. I headed out and immediately got knocked back so hard that I took the sunglasses around my neck back to the beach. I came back out and made it a little way before I again got slammed and my headphones went flying off of my head. As I chased the ear cups I walked back to the beach. Hillary had gone back to the room so I asked her two friends how tall Hillary is. They said she is 5’2”, I smiled and said “guys, I’m almost 6’3” and I weigh 220lbs, there’s no way she could have been walking around out there if the waves were similar in the days before.” They quickly said that Hillary was nervous I might miss it and was erring on the safe side. They both felt like she had lost it closer in. I explained that I would start shallow and move out but I promised I would go as far as needed to find it. I took a few passes as people started to come out to the beach and I got to the area where they had pointed. I got a high tone and battled to scoop it in the surf. I dig every signal on a return so unfortunately this turned out to be a dime but I only went about five feet further when I heard the tone I wanted. Again it was a battle but I was able to gingerly lift the scoop and let the water and sand rush out of it. Staring back at me was a beautiful diamond ring and I was absolutely thrilled. I started walking in with a big smile on my face and they gradually realized that I had it. Hillary was in disbelief until she got it back on her finger and even then she still couldn’t quite believe I had found it. I am so glad that I could help keep this amazing American story going and even add a new chapter that their family will remember. Congratulations Hillary and Happy Independence Day everyone.

‘MERICA!!! 😉🎇🇺🇸

Lost Wedding Ring – Pensacola Beach- FOUND!!!

  • from Orange Beach (Alabama, United States)

Today was such a cool day because I got to help out a fellow detectorist. 😳👍 Allan and Ami came down for the weekend to celebrate their 16th anniversary and unfortunately Murphy’s Law struck quickly. As they were waiting to check in they decided to wade out in the beautiful Gulf waters. Allan was explaining to Ami that she had to be very careful out in the deeper water because your ring can fall right off your hand. As he touched his left hand to illustrate his point… you guessed it, Kerplunk! Allan’s ring fell straight down in the water and quickly buried in the sand. Luckily they emailed me and although I didn’t get the email until late last night, we touched base first thing this morning. I quickly started getting ready and unfortunately tragedy struck. I badly pulled a muscle in my upper back and had to be helped to lie down. My wife sent Allan and Ami a text explaining that I was hurt and there was no way I could come today. They are very nice people and were more concerned with my health than anything else. I took some Motrin and laid still for a few hours until I dozed off. I woke up and realized that whatever had popped in my back was back where it was supposed to be and although I was really sore, I gingerly went to the front yard to see if I could swing my detector without too much pain. It hurt but I knew Allan and Ami were leaving town at 2pm and I really wanted to send his ring with them. I gave them a call and luckily they were still here and about to have lunch at Pegleg’s. I was quickly enroute to the beach.  Well Allan has done a lot of land detecting and he had tried to mark the location of the ring when it fell and did a great job. I always do a larger area and overlap my passes multiple ways because I have learned what Allan was about to; it’s never where it’s supposed to be in the water. 😃. The first thing I found was an iPhone X in a Lifeproof case complete with multiple credit cards (stay tuned for that return story this week 😉). Although it definitely wasn’t their ring, I think it gave Ami some hope that I really could find stuff buried in the sand out in the water. It wasn’t too many passes before I was worried that Allan might be getting concerned that I was in the wrong area. But then I heard that beautiful sound!!!  I called to Allan and waved him out to join me. He looked shocked when I told him that I thought I had located it and asked if he would like to do the “honors” and “dig it up”. He told me to go ahead and I very gently dug a large scoop full of sand. When I verified with my machine that I had whatever it was in my scoop, I just smiled and handed the scoop to him. Well, he smiled even bigger when he washed out the sand and saw his ring gleaming back at him. It was a great moment when he quickly put that ring back where it belongs and began striding back to Ami to show her that their anniversary weekend just got a whole lot better. 😃

Thank you Allan and Ami for letting me help you and for your patience and understanding when I was hurt this morning. Thank you also to the very nice front desk crew (especially Gillian) at the Holiday Inn Pensacola Beach who allowed me to park on property and even helped us celebrate when Allan showed them his ring!  👍👍👍