lost wedding band Waikiki Tag | Page 27 of 37 | The Ring Finders

This ring find began when I got a call on my way home from work from Eric who resides in Hawaii Kai. While enjoying a day at the beach with family his lovely wife Aida put her wedding & engagement rings in a towel for safe keeping. Unbeknownst to her sister she picked up the towel and the rings got flung into the sand and disappeared. After an exhausting search they were able to find the engagement but not the wedding ring. I met Eric in the parking lot and we walked down to the beach where the rings were lost. I could see numerous raking marks so the ring could be anywhere by now. I always tell folks to leave the sand alone and wait for the ring finder to arrive. Most don’t listen. After making my grid I started my search. Thankfully the beach sand was nicely clean and I only found to cents before I got a growling low tone. As I scooped into the sand I saw the twinkle of a diamond. I pulled my scoop away and there exposed halfway out of the sand was Aida’s wedding ring. I reached down and pulled the ring out of the sand and handed it to Eric. A sigh of relief came over him and his sister-in-law. Time to enjoy the rest of their vacation. Aida arrived from taking her baby home for some comfort after being at the beach so long and she was so grateful for the recovery. The pic says it all. Aloha to Aida & Eric!

This ring find began when I was approached by Jordan who resides in Honolulu. He saw that I was detecting and I noticed he was sifting. Jordan actually had a sifter and was scooping up the sand in various places in hopes of finding his ring. The day before after going on a hike with his wife Erika they decided to cool off by jumping into the Four Seasons’ lagoon. The King tides were coming in full force and almost immediately Jordan’s Silver Wedding Band came off. He looked for a few moments but it was so silty he couldn’t see the bottom. He remembered the area and I had him stand in the water as a marker. It was low tide now and not so bad. I searched the area thoroughly but no ring was found. Jordan was in chest deep water and we searched to waist depth. Jordan had to go to church so I told him I’d try a shallow to deep search and see if I missed a spot. Jordan told me the ring had a Koa Wood design and was engraved MARK 10:8. After he left I started my search again. On about the fifth leg in ankle deep water on the shoreline I got a great tone and there was Jordan’s ring in the scoop after three scoops. The King tide turned out to be just that; it moved his ring from chest deep water to ankle depth. The distance was a good 30-40 feet. That’s quite a distance for over night. I’ve never had a ring move that much ever! Jordan happened to be on my side of the island when I called to give him the good news. So we met at the Kahala Mall for the return. I met his lovely wife Erika and they both were so gracious and thankful. Aloha to Jordan & Erika!

This 100th Ring Find began when I got a text from Peter who is a resident at Ko Olina on Tuesday May 9th. While paddle boarding in the lagoon his wedding band came off in 12-15 feet of water. He immediately tried finding the ring with a mask & snorkel but the powdery sand in the deep part of the lagoon swallowed it whole. I told Peter I’d come over that weekend and see if I could find it on scuba. Peter said the ring was a silver metal square shaped ring. No luck on that first dive as the surf silted up the area and I couldn’t see where I had detected. I planned for the next weekend and I told Peter I’d bring a grid line to take under water to keep on track. The next weekend I laid my grid line and started the hunt. After the first leg I moved the grid line and started down the next leg. Four feet from the end of my grid I got an amazing tone and five hand scoops later there was a 14k white gold square wedding band in my hand. It was also engraved LOVE YOU COLLEEN. I called Peter and texted him a pic of the ring. Amazing he replied. No one can believe it. And all those years he thought it was silver. We met at Kahala Mall at the Jack Lord statue for the ring’s return. Aloha to Peter!

This ring find began on 31 January 2017 when I received a ring finders email from Irena who resides in Sherman Oaks California that while enjoying a day on the Kaneohe Sand Bar her husband Arun’s wedding band fell off into 1-2 feet of water. They looked for a period of time but couldn’t find the ring. You need a boat to get to the Sand Bar however mine was getting serviced and it was going to take awhile as we waited for parts. Something you get used to here…waiting for everything. Irena asked a few contacts she had but nothing panned out. Then we were in for a spell of bad weather and high surf. The days and weeks went by then I finally got my boat back. Also luckily for me since I’d never been to the Sand Bar a gentleman named Marshall that purchased a sand scoop from us « All Island Treasure Detectors » while talking story told me he had been to the Sand Bar many times over the years and knew the navigation very well. Perfect timing just the man I need! We waited for good weather and an ideal tide to spend the most amount of time on the Sand Bar as possible. Finally on 14 April Marshall and I headed out. We used Irena’s Google Maps Pin Drop to anchor the boat and start our search area. The Sand Bar is a party location and is littered with pull tabs, bottle caps and other metallic party remnants. In addition to all that I found a Silver ring and assorted coins. It came time to depart and we started the boat for departure when I noticed the « no wake » buoy just off the Sand Bar. I remembered seeing that in some of Irena’s photos so when I got back home I asked Irena to send me as many photos she could with that buoy and other landmarks in the background. On 11 May Marshall & I got another opportunity weather and tide wise to return to the Sand Bar. This time we brought Irena’s pictures and did some cross fixes to the landmarks. As you can see in the blog pics Marshall duplicated the exact view Irena provided.

I laid my red nylon cord grid line down perpendicular to the shoreline at the point Irena would have exited their boat back in January. I proceeded to detect towards the area the three beach beauties appeared to be frolicking in. Marshall went the other direction and called over that he found a White Gold Band. It only said 14K on the inside so that wasn’t it. I found a few coins, pull tabs, a Gold Sunrise Shell Earring and a tiny Gold Ring with two Diamonds. Then the Excal screamed and I knew I was about to find something really nice. That tone I will never forget. One scoop down and there in my scoop was a beautiful White Gold Wedding Band. I looked skyward and said please God let this be it. The inscription initials and date were a perfect match. I put my scoop in the sand where I found the ring and went back to my boat to get my camera to take a few pics and to send one to Irena for verification.

She texted back, Yep!!! That’s it! The next day I confirmed mailing the ring back to California and Irena texted,  » Amazing, this whole thing is so surreal. I still can’t believe it’s found. Thank you!! » As you can see the ring is back on Arun’s finger. Aloha to Arun & Irena. A big Mahalo to Marshall for helping with the navigation and encouragement!

This ring find began when I got a voicemail from Steven who was on his Honeymoon from Los Angeles, California. While trying to entice his new bride Carolina into deeper water in the resort’s lagoon Steven’s Tungsten Wedding Band came off. Steven and his lovely wife tried to find it but as usual the sand consumed the ring and they were leaving the next day. It was late so I texted Steven that I was going to be at the Resort early the next morning and we could meet so he could show me whereabouts the ring came off. The area lined up nicely with shower stand and a tree. I went back and forth underwater from shallow to deep. The depth Steven remembered was up to his chin. After several shallow passes with no target I got a screaming tungsten tone. Surprisingly to me the ring was several scoops down into the sand already. As I went to the shower to rinse off along came Steven & Carolina…I told them I found a ring and it looked as Steven had described. Sure enough Steven confirmed it was his. Another Honeymoon ends on a happy note. Aloha to Steven & Carolina!

This ring find began when I received a text from my wife as I returned from a ring find on Kaneohe Sand Bar. Miriam who lives in Waikiki told my wife she lost her Gold and Diamonds Engagement Ring in the dry sand at Makapu’u Beach the past Saturday. It’s a small beach on the East coast near Sea Life Park. I know a buddy named Steve hits that beach regularly so I thought maybe he would have found it if I don’t. I told Miriam I could meet her at the Coco Marina Center and we could drive down to the beach together to find her ring. All went as planned and we went down to the beach to hunt. Miriam wasn’t exactly sure where the ring was lost but gave me the general area which was over half a football field in size. Only one way to tackle this get moving Joe. Long story short and several targets later I got a sizzling tone and there in the scoop was a gorgeous ring. I told Miriam, « I found a ring but its much nicer than the one you described. » « That’s it », she exclaimed. Perfect lets get out of this heat. Total hunt time about 30 minutes. Miriam told me she had prayed for the ring’s recovery that morning. I assured her prayers work! Aloha and blessings to Miriam.

AITD KHON

This ring find began when I got a call from Detlev who lives in Kailua. While his wife Dayna was enjoying some time at the beach earlier that day with some school children she took off her wedding rings and placed them in her towel. A short time later she grabbed her towel and in that moment the rings got flung into the powdery beach sand and disappeared. They searched frantically for several minutes but neither ring was found. A Google search found « The ring finders » and that’s when I received the call. Detlev said he could meet me at the beach park around 3:15PM and we could go down to he beach from there. A rain storm blew through the area so hopefully that kept the typical sand detectorists home for the day. As we arrived in the area the rings were lost you could see numerous hand raking marks in the sand. Only if it was that easy. Detlev pull out the diagram he and Dayna drew to show me where the rings were lost. I started a grid search while Detlev sat on a bench nearby. On my return leg I got a nice platinum tone and two scoops down was Dayna’s ring with the solitaire diamond. Now to find the Wedding band. I continued on but only found 3 cents. I asked Detlev if the other ring was supposed to be near where we found the other ring and he said, « No the diagram has it out front of this bench a ways. » As I continued on the grid search Detlev yelled out, « Joe the ring is right here » Detlev happened to glance down and it was exposed in the sand. We must have done that when we walked over to the bench. In any case both rings are now back on Dayna’s finger. Aloha to Detlev & Dayna!

This ring find began when I got a 8PM call from David who was on his honeymoon in Hawaii with his lovely wife Lindsay and they both are from my home state of Pennsylvania. They had eloped that same day. So the ring wasn’t even on his finger 24 hours. He explained, while enjoying a day at the hotel beach David went for a swim. He barely got wet when his White Gold Wedding Band came off in chest deep water. He immediately called Lindsay who was tanning in a lounge chair to come help him find it. They got some swim goggles and tried desperately to find the ring but that wasn’t to be. I told David I wanted to take a shot tonight and that I was just on the hill above the hotel. We went down to the beach and entered the water. David took me to the spot he thought he was at and I started a grid search. Fairly sterile area with only some metal scrap pieces. There just wasn’t enough moon or ambient light to see and do a proper grid search so I asked David if we could try again the next day. They were checking out at noon so that would be a great opportunity. I met them at valet parking and we went back out to the spot. After a Florida State quarter and a dime I got a nice gold tone. The ring was thin and played with me a little bit before it would go in my scoop. But finally it emerged and I called over to David who was my grid marker…I got a ring come look and see if its yours. Sure enough perfect fit. David said Joe this is how memories are made. He’s right. Honeymoon saved and these two still have plenty of adventure time in Hawaii. Aloha to David & Lindsay.

This ring find began when I received a voicemail from Pastor Les Araki. While metal detecting on Waikiki Beach a young couple Bruno & Maria on there honeymoon from Uruguay approached him and said Bruno had just lost his ring in waist deep water. Pastor Les was pressed for time but took a quick hunt however he didn’t locate the ring. They borrowed the lifeguards cellphone and called me at home. Since I’m only 10 minutes from Waikiki I told Bruno I would load up my gear and be right down. I met Bruno & his lovely wife Maria on the beach and asked Bruno to join me in the water where he thought the ring fell off. We went about halfway into the protected area and Bruno looked ashore to see if Maria agreed to the location. She gave a nod and I turned on the Excal and started walking parallel to the beach. Five paces later and ten feet from Bruno I got a nice tone and two scoops down out came Bruno’s Gold Wedding Band. He was astonished how quick the recovery occurred. As we walked toward the shore the beach goers in the area started clapping. One gentleman said, « How did you find it so fast? » « Great equipment and a little experience by the operator, » I said. A few hugs and hand shakes and Bruno said, « Thank you for saving my honeymoon. » Aloha to Bruno & Maria.