Lost gold chain and cross in Lake Howell, Winter Springs, Florida….Found and Returned!
I received a call from Mr. Robin inquiring information about « Underwater Metal Detecting ». You see, he runs a unique day camp for kids during the summer months and has a number of young adults that help work with the little ones doing all sorts of outdoor activities. In January of 2018, one of the young adult men, named Frankie, was on the dock, horsing around with some of his friends, when he decided to dive into the chilly water. And yes, the lakes are fairly cold during the winter months here in Central Florida, at least to us thin blooded Floridians! Well, Frankie dove in a couple of times and after his 3rd dive, as he was coming up the ladder he noticed his gold chain and cross were not around his neck! This chain and cross was a gift from his grandmother and he just had to find it and get it back around his neck. He and the others dove numerous times hoping to find it, but each time they came up with only weeds and clam shells. Later on they even had someone with scuba gear try and locate it but soon they realized they needed someone with a metal detector. Thankfully I was able to get my scuba certification and I agreed to try and find Frankie’s lost chain and cross.
I arrived at the camp Saturday morning with all my gear and was shown just where the target area was. It was only a 15X20 square foot area but the challenge was the lack of visibility in the murky water. Once you dig a target the whole bottom gets all stirred up and from then on you go by feel. I was able to hold the shaft of my Tesoro Tiger Shark metal detector in my left hand and go over a small area and then with my right hand I would use my Garrett AT Pro pointer, (the Garrett Carrot) to check out each signal. It was a really slow and difficult process and to add to it all I could not go in a straight line and would invariably angle off to one side or another. I did find numerous targets, like a brass whistle, a bunch of pop cans, a few coins, some screw tops and an assortment of nails, screws and other junk. About 35 minutes into my dive I felt the chain under my coil and as I pulled it from the sand and weeds, I realized there was no cross on the chain, so I continued to search. Three targets later up came Frankie’s cross. I said a short prayer and thanked God for helping me find this sentimental treasure and headed to the surface! It is hard to express in words how it feels when one is reunited with something so precious and valuable! Lost something valuable? Call, text or e-mail me ASAP!
Mike McInroe—thankful to be a member of TRFers
Jennifer was enjoying a cool afternoon walk along her favorite grassy back road and thinking about how loose her engagement ring felt on her finger. As she walked along she was thinking, I wonder if my ring would come off if I shook my hand a bit and sure enough, the motion was enough to send her ring off into the thick grass! Shocked at what just happened, she immediately stopped and tried searching through the grass, desperate to recovery her now, lost ring! After searching for several hours she realized she needed to at least mark the spot and by using her foot she scuffed a bare spot on the grassy road and then went to her truck to find something to better mark the area. All she could find was a machete and some red surveyors tape, so she returned to the mark and stuck the machete into the ground along side of the road directly across from the bare spot. She then called her fiancee and together they talked about renting or buying a cheap metal detector. Later they went on Google and typed in « Metal Detection Professionals » and up came theringfinders.com. Jennifer gave me a call and we met later on that afternoon and drove out to the unique machete marker along side of the road. I set out four flags and began my grid search and did not walk more than 5 steps before I got a really nice signal on my Whites DFX metal detector. Because the grass was so thick I decided to use my Garrett Pro Pointer and there was Jennifer’s lost engagement ring! I motioned for Jennifer to come pick up what I had located and you talk about one happy young lady! Here’s what Jennifer wrote two days later. « While out walking,my favorite ring fell off my finger and even though I knew the location where it fell off, I was unable to find the ring after several hours of looking through the tall grass. I contacted Mike after finding his information on the internet and he responded as soon as he was able. Mike asked a few questions, set up a boundary and started looking. And within minutes of him arriving at the site, my ring was found!! I am so grateful to Mike for his help and my fiancee and I would like to give him a big thanks! Again thanks so much! »
Shaunan called me on Friday and asked if I could possibly help her find a very special lost ring. She explained that Saturday night she was playing with her dog in the back yard and when she came back into the house, her ring was not on her finger. She said she was almost 100 percent positive that is where her ring came off. The lost ring was a gift from her parents when she started college and that was over 4 years ago!
Brandon was enjoying a beautiful day at NSB with his family and as he thought about going out into the water he wondered where he could put his wallet for safe keeping. Not wanting to leave it somewhere exposed, he decided to bury it in the sand under the corner of his towel. And as the afternoon wore on Brandon sort of forgot about his wallet and picked up his towel a couple of times to dry off. It wasn’t until later that he remembered his wallet.
