San Diego Ring finder Tag | Page 2 of 9 | The Ring Finders

Shawn and his family were spending the day at the beach in Coronado. He had placed his tantalum wedding ring in the pocket on his beach chair for safekeeping. Later when they decided to leave, the chair was folded and the ring ended up in the dry sand. They searched and even contemplated getting a metal detector to find it, but, instead, they contacted me about conducting a search. Knowing that beach gets detected often, I planned on going there immediately, but, nobody was available at that time to show me the search area, so, I went by a map and some photos that were taken the previous day. It was mid afternoon on a summer day, so, the beach was fairly crowded. I just had to weave around between those camped there and just do the best I could until people started leaving. I was able to go by one photo to get a good line in one direction, so, I was able to grid a linear path. Without a cross photo or landmark, it was a pretty long path. 2 hours later and having expanded the search area significantly and much closer to the water than I expected the need to detect, I was walking next to a huge sand castle that a man was building. I swung my coil as close to him as I dared without being too intrusive and got a good signal. Dug down a couple of scoops and bingo! Shawn’s ring. Now the fun text and plans to reunite the ring with Shawn the next day. A pleasure to meet you and thank you for the reward.

Luke was body surfing at Pacific Beach when a wave washed over him taking his family heirloom necklace off over his head. It had a special gold turtle pendant on it too. The good news is that the necklace should still be in one piece. The bad news is that it was lost in waist deep surf. We met at a low tide late at night where he showed me the search area. He had taken a few photos of the search area for reference which helps a bunch. I picked a center line as a starting point and worked a few passes to the south without success. I then chose to do the same to the north. On about the third pass and closer to the shore than I would have thought, I got a nice solid 14 on my Equinox 900. One scoop and I had his necklace and pendant in the scoop. A pleasure to meet you and thank you for your generous reward.

Mitch and his wife were in town for a convention and spent the day at the beach in Coronado. Mitch managed to lose his wedding ring in the dry sand in a very popular area both for people who sunbathe, and also for detectorists to search for buried treasure. It had been lost more than a day when I got the call, so, it’s always possible that someone could have already found it. It was still worth a try though, so, off I went to give it a go. Since Mitch was at the convention, I met up with his wife (who Ubered over from their hotel) at the site and started my grid in the area they had been camped. Several minutes later and not a single target, I was beginning to think the area had already been cleaned of targets, but, then I got a nice low tone I had been wanting to hear. Sure enough, it was Mitch’s ring! They had a lunch planned soon, so, I drove both of us over to their hotel so they could make their lunch date. In my hurry, I forgot to take some photos, but, Mitch’s wife was nice enough to send me this photo. A pleasure to meet you, and thank you for the reward.

Namith was playing volleyball on the beach, when one of his bracelets popped loose and disappeared into the dry sand. A search ensued, but, it couldn’t be found. After asking the lifeguard service and an online search, Namith ended up at our door and my contact info. My wife and I had just finished dinner with friends at a local restaurant, so, we were ready to go work off a few calories. After heading home to get my gear, we headed over the the beach and met Namith. We discussed the details of what I needed to find and the approximate search area. I then got to work gridding the area. After a couple of junk targets, I got a steady 4 on my Equinox 900. A scoop later and I had the target out of the ground. My pin pointer zeroed in on it and I pulled the bracelet out of the clump of sand. After removing the sand stuck to it, we found that the clasp was missing. The search continued, but, I wasn’t able to find it. Namith was still very happy to get his bracelet back. A pleasure to meet you and thank you for the reward.

Rowan walked out into the surf to meet her fiance and take his surfboard to try her luck with the waves. She didn’t want to do that with her engagement ring on, so, she took it off to hand to him so he could bring it up to where they were camped on the beach. Ooops, fumble, and into the drink it went in knee/thigh deep water. It instantly disappeared under the sand and no amount of frantic searching was going to make a gold ring pop back up again. After a recommendation to try TheRingFinders.com, Rowan contacted me and we set up a time a couple of hours later (at a lower tide) to conduct the search. We met up at 7:30pm that night with no problem and decided on the boundaries of the search area. I had asked earlier for them to take a few photos of the search area, and count how many paces from the dry sand to the approximate « drop » point it was so it would help zero in on the spot. We picked a line running from sand to surf to start my grid. After several passes on both side of that center line, it was recommended that it was more likely to be toward the south rather than north. I ran another dozen passes to the south with only one cent being found in that entire area. I went up and asked how far south I should go and we decided to resume my grid north a couple more passes before I decided to start my cross grid parallel to the water’s edge. On the 2nd and last planned pass to the north, I hit a most promising 31 on my Equinox 900. One shallow scoop and I had a beautiful engagement ring matching the description in my scoop. It was now dark and Rowan and her friend had taken a walk, but, her fiance and his friend were waiting up on a blanket in the dry sand. I walked up to them and asked if I should go any further to the north. They didn’t think so. I asked if they had a light so I could look at something as I had left my phone and keys there with them while I was in the water. I said good, as I was getting cold and glad I didn’t have to go back into the water to find this…..and produced the ring in the light! They were bowled over and hatched a plan to surprise Rowan. We took a few photos of the ring, called Rowan to say I was calling it a night, and asked her to return to discuss a future search. When she and her friend returned, I handed her my card and said she could have it, as it was my prop for this….and handed her the ring. An overwhelmed Rowan shed a few tears and gave me a big hug before we took a few more photos and bid each other farewell. A pleasure to meet you all, my best wishes on your upcoming wedding, and thank you for the reward.

Mick contacted me wanting to find a pendant that his father used to wear before he passed. Mick himself buried the gold nugget pendant on the other side of a retaining wall in the back yard of the family residence for safe keeping. Now, years later, the mother has passed too and the house is to be sold, so, time to dig up the pendant….except Mick can’t quite remember exactly where that is, or, how deep, except that he didn’t think it was more than a foot. After some digging in a 3′ X 15′ area, he decided using a metal detector would be much easier. I met him at the site this morning before it got too blazing hot. A relatively small search area, but, rebar in the retaining wall, irrigation plumbing, various metal junk, and landscape lighting made it a bit more difficult. After using both my 15″ and 6″ coils without success, it was time to scrape off a layer to get to deeper targets. With the sun starting to poke through the overcast, I could feel why shoveling this dirt was plan B. Another pass over the search area finally produced a non-ferrous signal worth investigating. Even though the pendant was initially buried inside a plastic bag, no remnants of said bag came to light, but, the pendant did! A happy Mick can now sell the house without any sadness or lingering doubts about leaving his family heirloom behind. A pleasure to meet you Mick, and thank you for the reward.

Nouhrra spent the whole day at La Jolla Shores and when she got back to the car, she realized a precious ring given to her by her mother, was missing off her finger. Since she had been in many areas that day and didn’t feel it come off, there was no way to know where to look. A friend of hers contacted me for help. They couldn’t stay and show me all the areas where Nouhrra had been, but, they sent me a couple of videos of two of the areas in the dry sand. The ring could have been lost in a grass area too, as well as the parking lot. When I got to the beach, I started to eliminate each area one by one. I started with the dry sand area shown in the video. No good there, so, off to the path she had taken to the grass area, and then the grass area itself. Nothing turned up after 4 hours of searching, so, I had to break the bad news that it just wasn’t in those areas, or, it may have been found by someone else. I asked for a photo to keep on file in case it turned up. I always check with fellow detecting club members and others I know that detect that area on rings that I haven’t been able to find. I received the photo, but, it didn’t match the description they gave me. I was assured that the photo was correct, so, I kept it even though it was a bit blurry. Fast forward a couple of weeks, and I’m back at that beach for fun and detecting a nearby area. Well, right up against the sea wall, I get a sketchy signal. With the rebar inside the wall, any repeatable signal is worth investigating, so, in went the scoop, and out came a ring that looked sort of familiar to me. When I got home I went through my recent messages and came across the « lost and not found » ring. With the poor photo, I was still uncertain it was the exact one. A few more texts, questions back and forth, and another photo that showed the ring more clearly, confirmed that it was the one Nouhrra lost. A pleasure to meet you Nouhrra and thank you for the reward.

John went to South Mission Beach to enjoy the sand, sun, and surf with his son. He decided to go into the water, so, removed his wedding band and stashed it into his shoe for safekeeping. After returning from the surf, toweling off, and shaking sand from his blanket, his ring ended up being flung into the soft dry sand. They tried searching for it, but, as usual, that search was in vain. In John’s search for help, he was recommended to contact TheRingFinders.com where I come into the picture. Being a warm, sunny, Sunday afternoon, I knew the traffic and parking was going to be a chore, but, waiting until that night, or, next morning was out of the questions as in that period of time, probably a dozen detectorists would have combed that section of beach and the ring would probably be in someone else’s pocket by then. My wife and I headed straight down there,  lucked into a parking spot, and after contacting John for a meeting spot, he directed us to the search area where his son was waiting. John had gone to his car and would meet us shortly. We arrived on site and discovered that the search area was marked out in a 10′ X 10′ box. I went ahead and started to grid while waiting for John to arrive. The first two passes were quiet, but, on the third, I got a very promising signal right in the gold ring/pull tab range. At that instant, John arrived. After introductions and details, I asked John if he still wanted to stay married, as this was his last chance to bail out! He said YES of course, so, I zeroed in on the signal, poked my pin pointer in the sand, and pulled out his ring. An amazed John was very happy and hugged my wife and me in joy. A pleasure to meet you, and thank you for the reward.

Sydney along with her family and friends were visiting here in town. They were having a beach party on Mission Bay to celebrate a friend’s upcoming wedding. Sydney went out into the bay, and when she returned to the sand, shook the water off her hands, and discovered in horror that her engagement ring was also flung off her finger and into the dry sand. Everyone tried to help « finger rake » through the sand to recover the ring, but, no luck. A friend of their’s found TheRingFinders.com and my contact info. I dropped what I was doing, gathered my gear and my wife and headed down to the bay to help. After finding parking a bit away, we walked to the bay boardwalk and beach. Looking down the beach, we could see a white canopy and many people gathered. That looks like the place and it was confirmed after a short text to Sydney. After introductions and the story on how and where the ring was lost, I started my grid of about a 15′ X 15′ box they scraped into the sand and felt was the likely search area. I started at one edge and on the first pass came up with 3 crusty zinc cents, return pass produced just a token and then on the third pass, the sound I was waiting for, a nice engagement ring in the scoop. Cheers all around and a nice hug for me!  A pleasure to meet you all and thank you for the reward.