I got a call from Brandon on Sunday that his wife had lost her wedding rings and a necklace at the Moraine State Park Regatta near Pittsburgh, PA. She had been swimming in the lake with her nieces while Brandon was on the shore with their dog. When she came back to the blanket, she reached up to her neck where her rings and necklace had been. Brandon said she had a look of sheer terror when she realized the rings and necklace had come off somewhere in the water.

I met Brandon at the state park the next day. After getting permission at the park office to search the water, Brandon and I headed down to the water to start the hunt. I had my Garrett AT Pro metal detector and Brandon had his snorkeling gear as he wanted to join in on the search. The odds were stacked against us… There was a detectorist in the area who had just worked the beach and reports of someone searching the water earlier in the morning. The swimming area is murky and has a concrete base which made my sand scoop essentially useless and my metal detector sound like a screaming child in the grocery store (for the metal detecting enthusiasts, I turned down the sensitivity of the machine and notched out the signals from the rebar in the concrete, making only the gold range audible). Brandon was pretty sure his wife had lost the rings in waist deep water which reminded me I still need to get waterproof headphones, especially if I have to bend down to pick up a target.

After about 30 minutes of grid searching, I found the first ring. « Is this it? » I said to Brandon holding the ring high in the air. He looked over in amazement with a huge smile on his face. A minute later I found the second ring and the smiles kept coming. I told him necklaces were really hard to find but we would certainly try. We searched in the same area for about 5 minutes and I kept getting a faint signal in the waist deep water. I reached under the water with my pinpointer but to no avail- it wouldn’t pick up the signal. Finally I said to Brandon that the signal is right under my coil and if he could dive down and pull up scoops what little sand there was down there we may find it. After about three tries, he came up with the necklace in his hand. Some great teamwork had paid off.

I am truly grateful for having met such a genuine person as Brandon, and for The Ring Finders for bringing us together for the day. Literally one day after joining this group I was able to help someone. Many thanks!