I got a call from Shana asking if I would help find a Silver Wedding Band lost in the sand at Sunset Beach NC. I told her I’d be glad to help but I was at the movies with my wife and I couldn’t be there until about 10pm, which she agreed to. After the movies, I called Shana to let her know I was on my way, dropped my wife off at home, grabbed my gear and headed for the beach.
I arrived just prior to 10pm and met Jake, who was the one that lost his ring, and his wife, Maria at the beach access path. On the way out to the beach Jake told me that he was playing volleyball and when he hit the ball his ring flew off, he also gave me a description of the ring. Luckily they had left the net up and set out small light loops in the area they thought the ring would be in. He also let me know that about 15 family members had been digging through the sand in an attempt to find it. I let him know, for future reference, that it’s not really a good idea to try and dig through the sand because you could actually be burying the ring deeper.
I started a north/south grid along the length of the net and on the same side where he thought the ring was and found a few junk items but no ring. I then did an east/west grid over the same area and came up with nothing. I was getting a little concerned that the ring may have been buried due to all the digging. I took a couple of steps outside the playing area and the net pole on the far side to start an expanded search, took two steps in the new grid and Bingo. I knew immediately I had it. I took a shallow scoop, shook out the sand and there it was. I nonchalantly walked back over to Jake and asked him again to tell me exactly what he did when he felt the ring fly off his finger and then asked him to describe the ring again, once he finished I held the scoop up to him and asked him if his ring looked like this one. Once he shined his flashlight into the scoop and saw his ring he got an instant smile from ear to ear and so did Maria. It doesn’t get any better than this! On the way back to the car, Maria let me know that they’re heading back home tomorrow so this was a Must find tonight.
Overall, this was an easy search but we were all surprised how far the ring flew from hitting the ball with open hands.
Jake and Maria – thank you for your generous reward and have a safe trip home.
Thank you for reading.
Jim
