When I get a call about a lost ring I have the owner mark the closest spot to where they think it was lost and then I draw a box around the area and start griding it off. In this case it only took about 5 minutes! Another smile to add to the book!
This ring find started with a phone call while I was at work. Jenny called me and asked if I was free and available to come over to Kailua and help her find her lost wedding ring which is in the water around chest to waist deep. I asked Jenny some important questions to narrow down the search site all the while getting the equipment ready and loaded into the truck. I lock up the business and head out to help find this lost precious rings. Having to travel halfway across the island in the middle of the evening and knowing the sun is setting soon brings upon anticipation and a streak of determination. I Arrive at Kailua Beach and gather the CTX 3030 and the xtreme scoop. I meet the family on the beach and gathered more information concerning the place they believe the ring dropped in the water and the time so I could adjust concerning the tides. I Powered up the machine and had enough information to start looking and let the family know that the rings are exactly where we will find them. I know this hunt has a time urgency and down the beach I go… I can see the sun setting over the mountains as I enter the water. As I enter I get my first target and dig it. It’s a bottle cap. I hold it up to show the family that it’s not what we’re looking for. It was excitement in their eyes until they realized it was not the rings. I yelled out I’ll continue to move on and with excitement in their eyes and hope on the edge of the seat the family gazed while I grid the ocean floor. I receive a few other tones that makes me dig and i come up with pulltabs and coins. There in the Pacific Ocean in waist deep water I get a beautiful tone knowing this is the ring. I scoop with caution because it is a diamond ring. I look in the bottom of my scoop and there is one of the two lost rings. I search a little farther and lo and behold I hear the sound of the other ring. I dig and look in the bottom of the scoop and there it is the other beautiful diamond ring shining as the sunsets behind the koolau Mountain Range. I walked out of the water looking at my detector and as the family walks to me I placed one of the rings in the bottle cap and tell the family… well seems like I found a bottle cap and hold out the bottle cap with one of the rings sitting inside of it. And I can hear the joy as they all realize the ring is found. And as they look at the ring that was lost and now found I can see the questions in their head of where is the other one and that’s when I was able to pull out the second ring and say we done it! here is your loss rings that is now found. And as I returned the rings and got the most warmest hugs from the family I got to take a step back and see Such a beautiful family with The heart and care for one another. Truly the Hawaiian way of living… close as always.
I’m thankful I was able to help and I’m happy to know the rings are in the rightful owners hands. Another successful recovery and beautiful sunset to go along with it.
This recovery started out by a referral from one of Hawaii’s known Ringfinders Joe Au’ franz who called me and asked if I was available to help search for a lost gold chain in the ocean on the North Shore. I received the information I needed to contact Jojo Aka Mom and called her to let her know I’m gathering my gear and will be heading out to meet them. As I was on the road I decided to call and get details. Jojo informed me that Her and her husband Alan are on their way to the beach also with scoop nets to try and help their son Justin who actually lost it the moment he dove into the water which was in waist to chest deep. When I got to the location Jojo sent Justin to the parking lot to meet me and show me to the place in where he believes the chain will be. As I get closer to the waters edge I see Alan Justin dad in the water looking. I asked Justin as we stood on the beach looking out at the water a few important questions regarding his recollection of the event and I gathered as much information as possible. There was surf and the tide started to change. So I knew this was gonna be a task. It’s been close to 3 hours since the drop and with our currents and surf a big thick gold chain can move around so I needed to get out in the surf quick as the day was coming to an end. I turned on the Minelab equinox and head out to where Justin recalls him losing the chain. I start my search and being diligent to grid very carefully all the while dodging waves as they pound over me. After a few passes I notice the chain is not where Justin remembers. I call Justin into the water to ask a few more questions and got a little more information. So I started another approach… outside of the surf zone there is a drop off and since the tide is going out there could be a chance of it rolling into the deeper water. I carefully followed the trench line and came up short! Not a single tone. I needed to move quickly because time is of the essence. So, I start to go into shallower water and that’s where I started to get a lot of targets. Many sounding like Gold but to only find old aluminum and trash. As I continue to look in the shallow water I notice out of the corner of my eye Justin looking at me. It’s not a look of excitement but of HEY RINGFINDER… your in the wrong place. And knowing that look started to play with my mind. One part of me wants to please Justin and go back to the place he thinks but my knowledge of the ocean and metal detecting got the better of me and I turned away from looking towards Justin and continued to search the shallow waters. As I was in knee to ankle deep water I hear the tone of what could be Gold. I turn back over my shoulders to look at the family and as they were all looking towards me with many emotions I decided to turn away and dig this target. After the first scoop I see a huge gold chain slide out of the side of the scoop and fall back into the water. With excitement I turn to the family and yell… WE GOT IT! I put my had in the water a pull out Justin’s huge Gold 10mm chain. The family on the beach all screamed with joy as I held up the chain in the air to show what was lost is now found! People on the beach were looking as the family and I celebrated the recovery. Another beautiful day here in paradise a place we call home. Mahalo for the referral brother joe!
Call Ray for rapid and professional detecting services – 571.258.7217 MyGoldFinder
I received a call early this morning from Georgia in southern Virginia and she asked if I could help her. I asked her the typical few questions to get an idea of location and scope of work and found that she was approx. 2.5 hours from my location being located in Charlottesville VA. Georgia was worried that the drive was too long for me, but I put her mind at ease stating « this is what we do », we’ll travel as far as we need to in order to recover a lost item.
Georgia had lost her ring the day before while outside on her property planting flowers, pulling weeds and doing a general clean-up of the yard. I told her I would be there in several hours and hopped into the truck. Upon arriving at her location I was so immersed in the scenic view from her propriety I almost would have forgotten why I was there, simply a gorgeous view of the Blue Ridge Mountains from her back deck. I was greeted by Georgia upon my arrival and we immediately went to the areas where she thought she may have lost the ring; in the grassy area leading towards the woods where she had been tossing yard waste and then back along the same path towards the back of the house and into a raised garden bed.
I started working in the brush pile first to see if she had maybe lost it while tossing the yard waste into the woods. After a brief search at the surface level I decided I would come back to this area and do a more in depth and expanded search…so we headed towards the back of the house and Georgia explained what she had been doing with planting the flowers and that she had even taken them back out to try to find her ring. I started by search with my Minelab Equinox 800 and immediately started to receive a pulsating rhythm in the tone (found out later there was an electric dog fence in the back-yard which what probably caused the pulsating). I determined I would still be able to hit the desired targets and started the search. I conducted a brief scan in the grass before stepping up into the raised garden bed. A few scans around the flowers and the immediate vicinity I did not locate the ring….then only several feet away and on the surface in the mulch there was Georgia’s beautiful Snowflake Platinum ring shining in the sunlight like a beacon.
Georgia was so excited that I had found her ring so quickly and couldn’t wait to put it back on her finger. I asked if possibly the ring was too large and if that’s why it fell off, but actually she stated for the yard work she had placed it on the opposite hand which her finger on that hand may be a little smaller and made it easier to come off. A lesson not soon lost 🙂
Georgia was simply charming and wonderful to talk to, I was so pleased to be able to return her ring to her today.
Another happy recovery, another happy customer and another Holiday memory saved. God Bless!
So I got a call from Marie-Andrée that she had been at the beach with her family and her child reached up to grab her hand and pulled her wedding ring off of her finger. They searched for over an hour in the exact spot with no luck, then found me through The Ring Finders site. I told them I could come immediately and to try to secure or maintain the site. She said they had to leave to take their child home, but her husband would return and show me where it was lost. I headed home to gear up and arrived an hour later, her husband and his friend arrived about 10 min later and showed me the area. We carried my gear down to the beach and I went into the water to do a quick search as he was very sure of the exact location using guard tower, buoys, and water height as triangulation references. Initial search found no targets, so I set up my markers and gridded off a 20′ X 20′ area, searched NS/SN then EW/WE, only turning up a loonie and some sharp garbage/junk. He was very sure of the area so I switched to all metal mode on my Garrett AT Pro International and swept the area again, finding only one rusty snap dome. then expanded my search outside the original grid going around the square. On my second layer out my headphones screamed and I knew what it was. Using my scoop I took a bite out of the bottom and the signal was gone on recheck, look in the scoop and I see a brilliant flash of circle. I called them over and told them I needed another piece of equipment, if they could mark the spot while I retrieved it. I grabbed my GoPro made the attached video. They were very excited as were the people around, who had been observing the search. I packed up and after some photos, he headed home to return the ring to his wife’s finger where it belonged. She sent me a nice thank you and photo of the ring on her finger. Thanks for calling on me and allowing me to reunite you with your lost ring and add a very cool chapter to its story.
I got a call from Matt at 7 this morning asking if I could help try and find his wife (Denise’s) wedding and engagement ring set she lost yesterday afternoon in waist deep water.
I got there about an hour later and Matt showed me the area and gave me a great description of where Denise was at when the ring came off. I started my grid and after 30 minutes I reevaluated where I was searching in comparison with the time and tide when she lost it. I moved up the beach, started a new grid and after another 30 minutes got a great signal. Bingo!!! Met Matt and Denise inside the hotel they were staying at because a heavy storm with lightening had come up and it wasn’t a good idea to be standing on the beach with metal in my hands.
Denise’s expression says it all and she stated « I thought I’d never see it again. » There is absolutely nothing better than finding someone’s special treasure that they thought was gone forever.
Matt and Denise thank you for trusting me to find your treasure and for the very generous reward. Enjoy the rest of your vacation with piece of mind.
Jim
Thanks for reading my Blog
I saw and responded to a posting on Craigslist about a Man’s lost wedding band. Not hearing anything back and having some spare time I decided to go ahead and conduct a couple of searches hoping I’d find it to return. Two days later I received an e-mail from Aimee saying her and her husband Steven would love my help. After exchanging e-mails and her telling me that Steven had been skim boarding in a 2 block area instead of the smaller area described in the CL posting I knew I’d need some help.
I contacted my son-in-law Donnie, who had helped me on a few other searches, and asked him if he wanted to help me again. About 3 hours later we were on the beach to catch the 2am low tide. I sent him south to cover one block while I headed north to cover the second block. Because of the full moon and the higher than normal tides my calculations of the general area of the beach the ring should have been were off by a number of yards. After a little more than 2 hours of searching Donnie started waving his flashlight to get me attention. I walked the block to catch up to him and I asked him if he’d found it. His response was “I think so” and handed me the ring. Bingo we had a match between the ring in hand and the picture of the ring in the CL post.
I contacted Aimee this morning and she couldn’t have been more excited that Steven’s ring had been found after being lost for 5 days in the sand. Luckily they were still in the area so I took the ring to them.
You can tell by the smiles on their faces that they’re one happy couple.
Steven and Aimee – thank you for trusting me to find and return your lost treasure. Good luck in your future endeavors.
A special thanks to Donnie for his help once again – he’s turning into one great partner!
Thank you for reading my blog.
Jim
I got a call in the early evening on 8/19 from Kevin, who with his family, was visiting from Virginia. He told me he was body surfing and was knocked into his daughter by a wave when he felt his wedding ring slip off his finger. He said he pretty much gave it up as gone forever but then later saw how much difference there was between high and low tide and thought there might be hope. He found me through The Ring Finders site and asked if I could help try and find it.
He gave me the location and a description of the ring and after checking the tide tables, I saw that the low tide was at 5:33 am the next morning. So after doing the calculations of drive and search times I told Kevin I’d be there by 4:30 in the morning and that he didn’t have to meet me there that early and I’d call him when I found the ring. I set my alarm for 3 am, which is way to early and dark to start a search for a ring but it worked. I got there about 4:15 am and marched off the 75 yards Kevin said he paced from the dunes and added another 25 yards. Kevin also told me it was about 5-10 yards north of the stairs of the beach access and I made it 15 yards. Dragging my scoop behind me I made a nice little search grid that put me right in the middle of the mid-tide line. I’m thinking this is a good sign and there is hope in finding this ring.
After a north/south grid search and finding nothing, I started an east/west grid over the same area and on my first line I extended my search grid to the low tide line. Coming back on the 3rd line, I got the one and only signal I had and Bingo. The ring ended up being buried about 4-5 inches deep and about 105 yards from the dunes. Naturally my head lamp batteries were too weak to show enough light but luckily I had grabbed a flashlight out of the car before I hit the beach and what I had in the scoop matched his description. I texted him at 5:17 am saying « Good morning, does this look familiar? » and added a picture of his ring. Got a response in about a minute saying « Incredible ». I also told him I was going to go eat breakfast and I’d be back about 6:30, this would give him a chance to wake up. When I got back, him, his wife Kristi and 2 young daughters were walking towards the beach. We introduced ourselves and then proceeded out to the beach so he could see where I found it. He told me that since he was getting his ring back that it was such a great start to the day that he and the family would watch the sunrise. And what a sunrise it was!!
Total search time was 45 minutes.
Kevin and Kristi – Thank you for the very generous reward and the opportunity to help you get your treasure back.
Kevin did all the right things in ensuring he had the best opportunity in getting his ring back – he paced off the approximate location and had land marks to his lost ring.
Thank you for reading my blog.
Jim Wren/The Ring Finders/843-655-5889
On July 10th, 2015 I received a call from Scott stating he had lost his wedding band in the Ocean and wanted to know if I could help. I started asking Scott the obvious questions of what time he lost it, how deep in the surf he was, etc. There was no way I wasn’t going to help him but my dilemma was the fact that two days earlier I had had 3 separate surgeries at one time and the doctor had me on a lifting weight limitation of nothing heavier than a jug of milk and I could not get any of the areas wet and risk infection, so I was restricted to about knee deep water.
Scott and his family were headed back home to Charlotte, NC so they put me in touch with Scott’s parents Bud and Martha who were staying a few extra days on vacation. I met up with them on the beach and they showed me the area Scott lost his ring. Things weren’t looking good for me as far as the depth of water I needed to search. I searched out to about thigh deep water and started getting some bigger swells that were getting to close to my wounds.
After doing about as much as I could, I contacted my son-in-law who has never metal detected before and ask if he could help. He showed up in about 15 minutes and I started running him through the process of using my White’s PI Dual Surf detector, laying targets in the sand for him to interpret and showing him how to search.
About an hour of watching him search the surf and coming up empty I brought him back in and relieved him and started searching the low tide line towards the high tide line. At this point it’s about 10:30 pm, very dark and I’m thinking of calling it for the night and returning at low tide the next morning.
I was talking to Bud and Martha and decided I’d work a little further up towards the high tide line when my son-in-law spoke up and said “I’ll do it”. So I stepped back and let him go, at this point I’m thinking that I had created a monster. And what a monster he turned out to be, about his third pass in the grid I saw his face and watched him dig up a scoop full of sand. I walked over and showed him how to dump the sand out of the scoop, spread it with his foot and narrow his target area. Soon as he did the flashlight picked up a small round object and there was a ring. I verified the inscription that Scott’s wife Diane said would be inside the ring and we had the right one.
I called Scott and gave him the good news and his response was priceless, so was Diane’s which I heard through the phone.
Scott – Thank you very much for the gracious reward which I gave it all to my son-in-law.
Note from Scott:
Sooo Awesome!!! We cannot thank you enough!!! We will be back in August and give you a call. Thank You!!!
Thank you for reading my blog!!
If you’ve lost your ring on the beach or in the ocean contact a member listed in the directory at TheRingFinders.com web site as soon as possible.
Jim