On August 21st, I received a call from Jake about his lost wedding ring at Jacksonport Beach, a popular spot on the east coastline of Door County. It slipped off his finger in chest-high water about 35-to-50 feet from shore. I drove out later the next day, after giving some storms time to pass by. I arrived to see white caps rolling in, but they weren’t too high close to shore in the troughs between the sand bars. Further out, they were pretty strong.
I knew this would be an arduous search because the Lake Michigan side of the Door County Peninsula is colder than the bay, and fighting the incoming whitecaps can tire a person out pretty quickly. I taught Jake how to detect small round objects with my ancient Fisher 1280, an analog model that is easy to use because it goes by sound. I used an AT Pro, which has been pretty effective for me on sand beaches. Jake used my heavy steel scoop, which has enough weight to be effective in surf. He is a bigger guy, so he could handle the deeper waves better than I could. I started out about chest deep, and worked my way into the shallows, figuring the waves may have tumbled the ring toward shore. I worked back and forth closer and closer to the beach, but only found one hammered coin of some kind, to be cleaned and researched later. Jake and his sons arrived to observe and assist, and his wife and baby boy came by later to watch and give encouragement. After the better part of an hour Jake waded in with a huge smile and his artisanal ring in the scoop! Nice recovery! Their whole family was beaming!
Jake gave me a generous reward, which will be used to bring our grandson to a Timber Rattlers and a Milwaukee Brewers game! I hated to take it, since he was the one who scooped it using my gear, but the main thing is we worked together and found it!
Something gleaming in the scoop!
(Word to the wise: Wedding bands without protruding stone settings will sink where they fall in sand until they reach equilibrium! The ring stayed put despite the waves.)
