Lost Gold Ring and a Special Dime!
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!
Steve called me asking if I could find a ring. Steve’s wife lost her new anniversary ring while doing some yard work at their home in Navarre. Their backyard has a lush landscape with a thick carpet of grass where a ring could easily fall in and be hard to locate. In addition there property bordered a forested area with fairly thick understory vegetation. They didn’t know where the ring was lost, so Steve and I recreated their activity as best he could remember. First I carefully searched the grass areas with no luck. Next was going into the shrub plantings, also no luck. Then I expanded the search area assuming the backyard was the most likely place to look since that’s where she was working, no luck strike 3. In desperation I decided to look in the forested area bordering their backyard. I started a north/south grid about 5’ wide. There were no targets in the understory, clean ground with no metal in it. So when I got a signal it screamed, the sound was unmistakable, the sound of gold! Somehow the ring had left her finger and traveled about 15’ into the woods. I never met Steve’s wife because she was working that day but Steve called her and she was overjoyed. Ring recovered, everyone smiling, no more worries, made my day!
Hal called me about 4 in the afternoon to see if I could find his wife’s lost wedding ring. He and his family were staying near the Alabama beaches and decided to take their boat out to a secluded beach in Florida called Johnson Beach. Johnson Beach is part of the Gulf Islands National Seashore and the ring was lost on the intercostal side of the beach. Hal sent me a location and there wasn’t a way for me get to them by car without a 3 or 4 mile walk through the National Seashore which doesn’t allow metal detecting for archeology reasons. I tried calling the Park service for a permit but I think everyone was off work and I got a recording. I discussed this with Hal and he said he would come get me from a marina several miles away. By the time I got to where the ring was lost the sun was getting pretty low in the sky! his wife was afraid she would never see her ring again. the area to search wasn’t that big but the water was dark from recent rain. I ask lots of questions about what they were doing to try and pinpoint the location to start the search. His wife and daughter described at one point they were in the water doing cheers routines and animated with their arms the activity. It was the clue I was hoping for and asked about where they were. They identified and areas about 10 foot wide and I started the search. Within 10 minutes I got the unmistakable tone of a gold ring. Ring recovered, everyone happy and I didn’t get arrested by the Park police, a good day all around! 
