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
Mark and his dear wife were in the middle of packing up their belongings for the big move and he could not stop thinking about the special gold ring he lost in the yard over 20 years ago. This unique ring was a gift to Mark from his late father, who hand crafted the ring from gold he collected as a dental technician. One day while washing his hands off in the yard he realized his ring must have fallen into the thick grass. Mark desperately looked around the spigot and along the short path he had taken from the garage, but could not find his lost gold ring. Years passed and Mark sort of gave up hope of ever getting his ring back and then the day came for him to sell his house and move to another location. As the moving day got closer, Mark toyed with the thought of renting a metal detector to look for his ring and that led him to one of my stories on theringfinders.com web site. Mark was intrigued with all the success stories and decided to give me a call. We made arrangements for Friday and I showed up ready for the challenge. Mark showed me the small area where he thought the ring was lost and I fired up my Garrett ATMax, set it to ZERO mode, ground balanced and put on just a little iron discrimination. (Mark was not real sure of the gold content of the ring and I did not want to miss being able to detect it.) I looked around the water spigot and gradually made my way out into the super thick St. Augustine grass! I dug a couple of pennies down four inches or so and 10 minutes into my search I got a solid signal that showed « 50 » on the display. Mark had watched me carefully dig the pennies with my 10 inch pointed screw driver and on this target he was ready with his shovel, assuring me he could pop out a nice big plug in no time. What could I say, it was his lawn! As I laid the big plug on it’s side I poked my trusty Garrett pro pointer into the dirt and it sounded off a good 8 inches down in the hole. And as I brushed the dirt from the target, a glint of gold showed itself and low and behold there was Mark’s long lost ring!! You talk about one happy camper! He gave me a big hug and then ran into the house to show his wife the ring and then he ran to the neighbors house to show them. What a thrill it was to dig up Mark’s ring and to see the sheer joy and happiness on his face. Maybe you have lost a ring and want me to try and find it for you! I would be honored to help! Call ASAP!
Christopher called and asked if I could help him find a very special ring that was lost at his high school football field. He explained in detail that a friend had asked him to hold this ring (a wide black tungsten carbide ring with the « Lord’s Prayer » written in very small print, around the outside of the ring) and not to loose it as it was a gift given as a promise ring from the friend’s parents. While Christopher was holding the ring, another friend asked to look at the ring and check it out. At first Christopher hesitated but finally gave in and let the boy look at the ring. Later Christopher asked for the ring back and it was thrown to him from a distance, instead of simply having it handed to him. As he went to catch the ring it glanced off of his hand and went rolling across the track and into a grassy area under a chain link fence. Christopher desperately tried to find the ring but as the class ended he had to go. Later he came back and looked some more and that led him to the internet. He found my number on theringfinders.com website and told me what happened.
Allot of rings are lost playing volleyball and unfortunately many times the rings are never found by their rightful owners. Some owners try their hardest to sift thru the sand using their fingers and rakes in a desperate attempt to locate their precious rings. There are a few people who actually find their rings and are so relieved, vowing to never wear their ring and play volleyball at the same time-ever again! But most poor souls figure their rings are gone forever–never to be seen again.
Mr. Dave was born in 1928, grew up in Salem Oregon and graduated from High School in 1946. At 89 years of age, he has seen allot of life and he and his dear wife of 66 years are still very much alive and in love! Early in their marriage they felt God calling them to be missionaries and in 1957 they went to Papua New Guinea and served for 44 years. Now they are residents at our NTM Homes retirement center here in Sanford, Fl. and I and 40 other staff members have the honor and privilege to help care for them in their old age. Earlier this year their sons came down to help them move from a duplex apartment to one of our Adult Living Facility rooms. Going through closets and household stuff is not always easy and in the process Mr. Dave’s ring was no where to be seen.
Brandon had just recently bought himself a really nice, shiny cobalt ring and was still getting used to wearing it. He and his girl friend were out driving around and as his custom was, he would hang his hand out of the car window. Normally that is not much of a problem but on this night he was in the passengers seat and he was wearing his new ring on his right hand. As they were driving along he had his hand sticking out of the window and he sort of liked the feel of his new ring. It was so smooth and had that heavy feel of a quality ring and before he knew it the ring came off of his finger and dropped into the darkness. His girl friend had the presence of mind to immediately pull off the road. Even though it was dark Brandon could faintly see about where they were when the ring came off of his finger. So they decided to stop and try looking for his lost ring. The long grass and the darkness made their search seem futile, so they figured they would come back and try again in the morning.
Joe had just gotten his son, Jack, a new I-phone and had it fit with the new water proof case and all was going good until Jack said that he lost his phone in the water at a near by park! Apparently some of Jack’s friends were jumping into the water from a tree and Jack was trying to take some photos with his phone from the same tree, when two boys decided to jump at the same time. The leaning palm tree sprang back and Jack lost his balance and in the process dropped his new phone into the murky water 10 feet below. Scrambling down the tree Jack frantically searched for his phone and convinced the other boys to help. His phone had somehow disappeared! Just below the tree the water was only about a foot deep but the bottom sloped away quickly and Jack feared his phone had fallen into the deeper water. Then a bigger fear settled over him….he had to tell his parents!! And thankfully his dad, Joe, had some ideas. He first tried wading into the water feeling with his feet for the phone, but could not locate the lost phone. It became apparent that he needed something like a metal detector to help locate the phone. After searching « Underwater metal detector » he discovered that there is a group of metal detector specialists that actually help people find lost items on land and in the water. He quickly gave ma a call and we made arrangements to meet and conduct a search. An hour and a half later I suited up with my wet suit and scuba boots and grabbed my trusty Tiger Shark (water proof) metal detector and off we went. The area was flooded so we sloshed along until we came to the leaning palm tree and Jack showed me exactly where he was standing and the small area where he said the phone hit the water. I figured the phone had to be close, so I wadded in and started swinging my metal detector. Back and forth across the 8 foot area and a few small signals sounded in my headphones but no loud beep like I was expecting. I went out up to my chin and still no phone. I was afraid it had been pushed into deeper water and after 15 minutes or so I said « It’s just not out here » and waded into where Joe was standing in ankle deep water watching my every move. Just to the side of the search area in shallow water was a medium size Cypress tree and it’s roots were sort of jutting out here and there. Earlier I had casually run my coil over the tops of the roots when I first started my search and as I came up out of the water Joe says to me « Did you check real good down in these roots? » So I grabbed my Garrett Pro Pointer AT and started poking it around into each dark crevice and low and behold it started beeping! There tucked under one of those roots in just a foot of water was Jack’s lost phone!
Jared wrote, « Hello! I wanted to reach out to let you guys know how grateful I am for Mike McInroe! What a blessing he is. Our lost ring story begins 33 years ago when my mother was pregnant with me. Due to the swelling she wasn’t able to wear her wedding ring anymore and being from the poor midwest, she felt awful not having her ring on and being pregnant. Despite their financial situation my father came home one day with a new, larger ring so she would have something to wear while she was pregnant. It wasn’t much but it meant the world to my mother! She decided while she was pregnant with me that one day she would give it to me or my spouse to wear when we were expecting our own. 33 years later, that day finally came. While she was visiting us for our baby shower in Orlando from the cold of Minnesota she brought the ring to give to my wife and to share that story with her. Heartbreakingly she never got the chance. The day she decided to give it to my wife we were all fishing off our dock in the canal. My mother was wearing the ring on her pinky finger and when she went to cast the rod–she dropped her precious ring of 33 years into the muddy water. Needless to say my mother was heartbroken– as was I for her! I searched in the water for an hour or two, to no avail, bringing up bucket after bucket of mud in a hopeless search. Meanwhile my wife was laughing at me–having no idea why in the world I would be in the water and having no idea about the ring or the family story. We did not find the ring and my mother flew home to Minnesota heart broken. (A few weeks later she bought and mailed us a ring that looked similar, feeling it was all she could do.) I was determined to find that ring! In my search to figure out how to build a pump and dredge system to dredge and sift the mud, I found theringfinders.com while searching for « How to find a ring underwater. » I emailed Mike on a Friday morning and by that evening we had a time set for the following day. The next morning I explained to Mike how the ring had been lost 4 weeks prior and showed him the dock and where we thought it might be. He said a little prayer as he climbed down the ladder into the canal and began his search. About 20 minutes later we heard the wonderful buzzing of his metal detector, picking up a strong signal. A couple of muddy scoops later and with a huge grin on his face, he pulled the ring out of his muddy sifter. Mike was an amazing spirit and a blessing to come and find our lost ring. We had our baby just a few short days after finding the ring and I can’t wait to surprise my mother when she comes down to meet the baby and to find out we found her ring–the ring she had been holding for 33 years!
Todd gave me a call with a very unusual request! He needed to find his mother’s pacemaker because their dog had apparently grabbed it off of the counter and had possibly buried it somewhere in the backyard! WOW!! You can imagine the questions that came to my mind but Todd was quick to explain « the rest of the story »! Unfortunately his mother had passed away and her pacemaker was removed for the purpose of making sure it had been functioning properly. I had never been asked to search for a pacemaker before and was not exactly sure just how one would ring up on my metal detector. This particular one was made of titanium and that usually rings up on the low end of the non ferrous readings.
Dawn and her son, Tristen, were swimming at their favorite spot on Lake Harris and enjoying the cool water and digging clams. They would feel in the sand with their toes and when they found a clam they would dig it up and put it in their bucket. Now and then they would find old bottles and an assortment of junk. Some of the items were down right dangerous to be stepping on, especially in the water, and this made Dawn and Tristen tread very lightly. One of the clams was buried rather deeply in the sand and as Dawn tried to dig it up she actually felt her ring slip off of her finger. She frantically dug down into the sand trying to feel for it and after numerous failed attempts she gave up. This special ring was her son’s birthstone ring and Dawn had been wearing it for at least 8 years and now it was gone. Dawn’s heart was broken and she felt she would never see her ring again and that thought led her to do an internet search on « How to find a lost ring in the water »!