Lost ring in Daytona Beach surf, Florida….Found and Returned!
Daytona Beach, Florida is a great place to enjoy the Atlantic Ocean. There are miles and miles of beaches, more sand than one can imagine and refreshing, warm salty water to play and swim in until your heart is very content! Unless of course you happen to lose your wedding ring. And that is exactly what happened to Bart on August 18th, 2018 while playing catch with a football in knee deep water with his young son. They immediately stopped playing and scoured the sandy bottom, desperate to find his lost ring. Unfortunately his ring had simply vanished.
Later that evening as they were searching online, they typed in « Lost Ring » and up popped a story on theringfinders.com website. They found my name in the directory and gave me a call. My wife and I were traveling in Wisconsin at the time and I referred them to other Ringfinder members….but sadly no one was available to help them.
Three weeks later I contacted Bart and he was able to describe quite accurately the exact area where he lost his ring. It took an hour to drive to south Daytona Beach and after setting up my flags in the wet sand, I proceeded to carefully grid search the targeted area. Signals were scarce and after an hour and a half I got a promising tone and there three inches down in the wet sand was Bart’s lost wedding ring! What a pleasure it was to meet you Bart and your dear wife Cindy and may your love story continue on for another 24 years! God bless and have a wonderful life!
Mike McInroe….blessed to be a member of theringfinders.com
Marcia called me on Saturday wanting to know if I was available to help her look for her lost rings. While she and her husband were enjoying swimming in the ocean they got to talking about getting tan lines and Marcia wanted to see if under her rings she had any tan lines. She was in waist deep water at the time and she pulled her rings only slightly down her finger to see if she had any of those dreaded « tan lines » and then the unimaginable happened. Her rings simply slid the rest of the way down her finger and into the churning surf. She could not believe what had just happened. She and her husband frantically began searching the water but her rings just seemed to vanish.
Today Derek wrote, « My wedding ring slipped off my finger in my friends backyard. 15 people were on their hands and knees but couldn’t find it in the grass. I called Mike up and he was super friendly and confident he could find my ring. He showed up on time and was just as nice as on the phone. We talked a bit and then he went about searching. He used flags to create a grid and methodically scanned the yard. After about an hour of searching he called me over. My wedding band was pushed into the dirt and I never would have found it. He saved me time and got me out of the doghouse with my wife! Thanks Mike! Derek »
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.
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!