Lost Ring from the Boat – FOUND!!!
Bryan is a Police Officer from Tennessee and brought his whole family down to Perdido Key to enjoy a well deserved vacation. They decided to rent a boat and headed down the waterway to the East and finally settled at a place where a lot of boats pull up close to the shore and enjoy the water and sun and sand. Bryan’s wife took her ring off to apply sunscreen and put it down on the boat and quickly forgot that it was there. It was only later in the day after they had moved the boat a couple of times and started to head back to the boat rental place that she had the panicked realization that she didn’t have her ring on and it was nowhere to be found. Thankfully, when they got back, a kind soul saw them distressed and suggested that they reach out to me. Bryan wasn’t completely sure of the name of the place and as he described it, I got a knot in my stomach. All National Parks, National Seashores and Florida State Parks have made it illegal to metal detect. To make matters worse, this was very close to a National Historic area and that makes it crazy illegal. I explained to Bryan that I couldn’t go there and of course he understood. Over the years, I have had this happen a few times and I’ve learned that the best way to approach it is to have the person who lost the ring reach out to the Park services. We spent the next few hours googling and ultimately finding some contact info. It wasn’t long until a contact that Bryan spoke to in Ohio of all places was able to put him in touch with the Chief Ranger here in FL and before you knew it, we had written permission to go on an adventure. Bryan lamented that they no longer had the boat and were leaving for home on Saturday. I was so vested in this ring now that I told him I would not only take vacation from work on Friday but I would also take him out there in my own personal boat. We made plans to meet Friday morning and I called my Father-in-law, Tom and asked him if he wanted to go on a big search. As always, Tom was ready to go. The three of us headed out this morning in my boat and enjoyed the calm water and the dolphins rolling. We even had a big spinner shark put on a show in the air off the starboard bow. We were on a mission though and as soon as we dropped anchor we all piled off into the water. Bryan had a pretty good idea where they started the day but as I mentioned before, they had moved the boat a few times and weren’t sure where it had fallen off. I told Tom that I would start on the right and he took off to the left. We both started our grid searches and it wasn’t long until we realized just how big this area was. I learned more about Bryan though as we walked along and determined that regardless of how things went, I would consider him a friend. After about an hour, I sent Bryan over to check on Tom. I saw from a distance that Tom had a signal and I stopped to watch since targets had been few and far between out here. Tom gently scooped a couple of times so I knew it was deep. He held out the scoop to Bryan and pulled something out that I couldn’t see from that distance. I yelled “Did you find it” but I needn’t have bothered. Even at that distance I could see Bryan’s expression change to one of shock and disbelief and gratitude all rolled into one. Bryan had his wife’s ring back! It was an awesome ride back with more dolphins and a huge group of jet skiers but the best part was facetimeing with Bryan’s happy bride. Bryan, you are a good man and I thank you for all you do for your community. I’m glad we could make that drive back to Tennessee a little bit easier tomorrow. Nice Job to you Tom! I’m glad you are on my team.