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Wedding Ring Recovered at Honeymoon Island State Park


Leanne and her husband were at Honeymoon Island enjoying a sunny day her husband. He was crab walking through the stones to get back to shore and lost his ring in the rocks. After looking for a while, they asked at the ranger station if anyone had turned in a ring. The Ranger said no but that he knew some people that would come help them look for the ring. She gave them Howard Metts phone number. They contacted Howard and he called Stan Flack and asked him to meet at 2 o’clock on Honeymoon Island so they could look for the ring. The conditions were very rough, 3 to 4 foot waves on an incoming tide. Howard and Stan ventured into the rough water and after about one and a half hours of hard searching Howard was able to get a good signal. After some digging through all the rocks the ring was recovered and returned to Leanne. She returned to the car where her husband was waiting in the car with their young daughter. She returned his ring and he was very happy and they all ended the day with great big smiles. Howard is now the King at Honeymoon Island. Nice work guy’s!!!!!!

Honeymoon Ring 2 Honeymoon hunt 2

Engagement ring lost at Honeymoon Island State Park, Florida recovered

SRARC Ring Finders Metal Detecting Service – Tampa Bay Area, Pinellas County, Manatee County & Sarasota County

Lost something important? We can HELP! Our services are FREE! Donations to the Club are accepted.

We will send a team of metal detector experts to search virtually any location. Some of the most common are parks, beaches, creeks and even your own backyard.  If you have lost your ring or any other precious item, “Don’t Wait – Call Now.”

Engagement ring lost at Honeymoon Island State Park, Florida recovered

Linda from Clearwater was at the beach with some friends enjoying a sunny afternoon at Honeymoon Island when a wave hit her from behind and knocked her engagement ring off. After searching with no luck, Linda asked the guard station if anyone had turned in a ring and the Ranger told her that there were two ring finders looking for a cross at the beach for someone and maybe they would help. Linda found Howard Metts and Stan Flack at the beach and showed them the place at the next pavilion down the beach where she lost her ring.  After about 45 minutes of hunting Howard was able to find the ring and smiles were all around. Nice work Howard.

Honeymoon Ring Honeymoon hunt

Indian Rocks Beach Ring Recovered

Marlita and Lani first met and became friends while working in the medical profession in Saudi Arabia. They had not seen each other since 1993 but had just reconnected and Lani was visiting from Connecticut. They decided to spend the day on the beach and relive old times. After a few hours of sunbathing, Lani decided to go for a swim. She was wise to the danger of losing jewelry when in the water so she took off her bracelet and ring, put them in Marlit’s hand and ran off into the water. Marlita quickly put what was in her hand into the beach bag. She did not realize that there were 2 items in her hand and somehow dropped the ring without knowing that she ever had it. When Lani returned and looked for her jewelry she discovered her ring was missing. They searched and searched but could not find it. They left the beach that night broken hearted. Lina had received the ring from her husband 30 years earlier and it was very precious to her.

Marlita was so devastated that she had been the one to lose the ring and the next morning she found The Ring Finders on the internet and contacted Tom. Tom went right up to the beach and met Marlita and Lina. He searched the best he could but with the beaches so full for spring break there were many area’s he could not cover. After finding nothing he organized a hunt that evening after the crowds had cleared out. The group, Stan Flack, Ed Osmar, Rick Magyar, Chris Duerden, Mike Miller, Jim Thobe, and Sharon Holcomb, showed up at 6:00 pm and by 6:30 pm Stan had the ring in hand. Marlita met us shortly after and was overjoyed to see Stan pull it from his pouch. She call Lina immediately and told her the good news. It was smiles all around!!!!!!! Great job team, thanks for being there for Marlita and Lina.

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Clearwater Daycare Diamond Stud Earring Recovered

Vanessa was out on the playground supervising the preschool children during recess. As kids will do they were running around and having a good time chasing each other. Vanessa knelt down and one of the children run up to her and gave her a big hug. She stood up and moved to another location to keep an eye on some of the other children. Sensing something was amiss, she reached up to her ear and felt something hit her hand. She looked down and there was the back to her Diamond earring. She frantically looked for the earring and asked the rest of the staff and children to help her look. They found nothing. Vanessa went to a store and purchased an inexpensive metal detector and soon discovered that she didn’t know how to operate it. She searched the internet for help and found SRARC, She made contact with Mike Miller and he put together a team which included Rick Magyar, Ed Osmar, Chris Duerden, and  Tom Jones. They searched that afternoon until the rain ran them out. The next day they returned and hunted for another hour and all of a sudden Mike got lucky. We are so happy that we were able to find and return Vanessa’s Diamond Stud and she was nothing but smiles when we dropped it into her hand. The kicker is that in the process of hunting we found a ring and pendant that had been lost by other staff members and were able to return them as well. Great Job Team!!!!!!

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Lost Ring Clearwater Beach, Florida…Found!

Adam and his wife Lori had just moved to sunny Tampa from rainy Oregon and we’re taking in a gorgeous February day with relatives at the beach.  During a game of volleyball Adam spiked the ball and then watched as his ring flew off his finger into the deep sand.  Quick thinking and a Google search lead him to our SRARC ring finders sight.  Lori spoke with team member Tom Jones who gave Stan Flack a call to see if he could give it a go.  Fortunately for Adam he saw exactly where it went in to the sand.  A 30 second sweep by Stan and bingo.  Welcome to Florida Adam and Lori.  Go Ducks.

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Wedding Band Returned at Indian Rocks Beach

Howard Metts got a call from a National Geographics for the recovery of one of their camera crew’s lost wedding bands. The crew was filming reenactments of shark attacks and the cameraman was in waist deep water shooting the action when he felt his wedding band slip off. SRARC got a Ring Finders recovery crew together and scheduled a meet at the filming site the next morning. Six volunteers, Tom Jones, Howard Metts, Chris Duerden, Ed Osmar, Rick Magyar, and Mike Miller showed up and began the hunt. After about 30 minutes Howard Metts found the ring.

Taylor, the camera man, was extremely excited and overjoyed to have his wedding ring back. We were happy to see the joy on his face when it was put into his hand. Awesome job Howard and thanks to all who found time to join in the recovery.

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Sand Key Platinum Wedding Ring Returned

We took a trip to Clearwater in September, and one of the highlights was getting to take our 18-month-old son to the ocean for the first time. His experience was great, but after an hour of wading in the surf and walking up and down the beach I noticed that my wedding ring was gone. We did some halfhearted searching, but really didn’t expect much luck finding one small item in the ocean. That night we posted on Craigslist. That also seemed like a long shot, but we figured that the ring has a specific inscription, and if someone else found it and wanted to contact us Craigslist might give them a way. In the morning we had two responses — one from Stan at Ring Finders saying he’d be happy to meet us and search together, and a second from someone else saying « you should take down your ad and contact Ring Finders ».

 

Timing was tough for us. This was the last day of the vacation, and we had to navigate the toddler’s sleep schedule and make it to church before we left town. Still, Stan said he had a 95% success rate if we came and helped narrow the search area, and while that sounded impossibly high it gave us enough hope to give it a try. So we met Stan back at the beach, explained where we had been the day before, and let him start searching. He suggested that we stick around for an hour in case any other memories came to us, and after that he’d spend another hour before bringing others down to help search. We discussed the location a little more, and decided, based on landmarks like « this hole here, and that sign over there », that he was in about the right spot. We were just explaining that to Stan when he said, « hold on, I’ve got something right here. » He scooped up some sand, drained it, and handed my ring back to me with a smile. We couldn’t believe it. The total search was maybe 15 minutes, which turned out to be especially important that day. We’re adopting a second child, and that same afternoon we got word that the mother had gone into labor early so we took the next flight out. Without Stan’s quick response, his availability to meet us right away, and the short search time, our window would have closed and we would have left town without ever finding the ring. He was exactly the right person at the right time. Thanks Stan!

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Clearwater, Florida Park Recovery

It all started with a friendly tournament of volleyball with my company to raise money for the American Diabetes Association.  What was a very fun event unfortunately ended with park full of people searching for my wedding band.  On the last game of the day my ring flew off after an attempt to set the ball.  We had been playing in the rain so a wet hand made it that much easier to launch my ring into oblivion.  After about 30 minutes of approximately 30 people combing the court for my ring with no results, I needless to say a little bummed.  One of my co-workers presented a possible solution.  He had previously lost his ring as well and his wife handed him a metal detector to search for it.   I borrowed his metal detector and searched the court for another couple of hours in the rain.  Sadly enough I yielded no results.  Five days later I searched for possible metal detector services and came across the SRARC website.  I sent out my email for help at 1am in the morning.  To my surprise, I received a phone call hours later at 7:30am  from Stan.  We arranged to meet at the park where I lost my ring.  Stan had texted me when he approximately five minutes away.  I had run across the street to grab some orange juice and a banana for breakfast. By the time I got back Stan had already been on the volleyball court.  He proceeded to ask me about where I may have lost my ring and for me to describe what it looks like.  As I was describing my ring, Stan held up my ring in his hand. « Does it look like this? »  I cannot say thank you enough to Stan for making my day.  Despite my wife trying to make me feel better by being so wonderful and understanding, deep down inside I was sad that my ring was gone.   The service that Stan and the SRARC provided is priceless and deserving of much recognition.  Thank you Stan and SRARC.

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Ring recovered at Honeymoon Island, Florida

81 year old James Mahaffery and his wife were down from Gainsville visiting their son and they decided to spend some time at the beach. Last Wenesday they headed out to Honeymoon Island and were enjoying the water. James was on his hands and knees playing in the surf when his hand slipped off a rock and his custom ring disappeared into the sand. They looked for quite a while but could not find it. The ring was a custom made heavy silver ring with 2 horizontal bands of gold and had been on his hand for many years. They gave up and a few days later contacted Howard Metts to see if he could help. Howard is member of the SRARC ringfinders team so he made arrangements for the team to do a hunt on today. Six hunters showed up and within 30 minutes the ring was recovered. James son met us at the beach and when Chris returned the ring he called his Mom and she was so surprised and pleased it was a joy to hear her reaction over the phone. A big thanks to Chris Duerden, Howard Metts, Paul Hill, Mark Prue, Stan Flack, and Mike Miller for helping with this recovery.

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Baptism Cross recovered at Indian Rocks Beach, Florida

On Saturday we went to Indian Rocks beach, FL. We were in the water a lot, and my girlfriend was jumping off of my shoulders into the water. After a few hours, we walked back onto the beach and left. After getting back to the hotel, I noticed that I lost my baptism cross that I always wear around my neck. We knew it had to be lost in the water. Disappointed, I assumed it was lost for good. After some conversation, we decided to do a Google search for underwater metal detecting and came across a website that eventually linked us to Stan. We contacted Stan and met with him the next day. He was persistent and patient while searching the general area of water we were in. He then asked us to recall our path out of the water the previous day. We walked the path and searched the beach, but still didn’t find it. It was then that Stan followed the same path back into the water, and after a few minutes of searching, he found the cross!

We were shocked and very thankful!  Thank you for providing us with such a great service!

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