Silver Strand Tag | The Ring Finders

Ring lost at Mission Bay found

  • from La Jolla (California, United States)
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Brendan and his family were visiting here in San Diego. On their last night here, they had a bonfire on the beach. While opening a plastic bag, it popped loose suddenly, and Brendan’s wedding ring went flying into the dry sand and disappeared. Not knowing exactly where, or, even which direction it went, it was impossible to find without a metal detector. An online search for help resulted, and I got a call the next morning. As luck would have it, I was only a couple of blocks away presiding over our local detecting club monthly meeting. Brendan explained the situation and that they were leaving town in the early afternoon, so, time was fairly important in getting his ring back before they headed to the airport. The meeting soon ended and I headed over to conduct the search. We met at the site and Brendan gave me a good idea as to where ground zero was. I started a spiral pattern out from that point. First « good » sounding target ended up being a pull tab. Second good sounding target read the same, and was Brendan’s ring. A relieved Brendan can now head home with his wedding band on his finger. A pleasure to meet you Brendan, and thank you for the reward.

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Lost Phone at Ocean Beach found

  • from La Jolla (California, United States)
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Keanna spent the day at the dog beach in Ocean Beach with friends, both human and furry. Sometime during her stay, her phone came up missing. She and her friends sifted through the sand trying to find it, but, we know the results of that effort…..nada. After an online search with her friend Kristen’s phone, The Ring Finders website came up and my info. Kristen contacted me on her phone asking for help. Being early afternoon on a Labor Day weekend, trying to make to their location right away would be almost impossible, so, since they planned on being there for a while, I told them I’d come later in the day when people started to leave the beach and I would actually be able to drive to the beach and find a parking spot. I arrived a bit after sunset and met up with Kristen in the parking lot. We trekked over to the area where the phone was lost, and where I met Keanna and the gang. Maybe a minute went by on my search and I get a fairly deep and large signal on my detector. Not wanting to accidentally damage her phone, I used my pin pointer to probe into the sand for the target. I wasn’t surprised to find her phone, as this was the signal I expected, but, I was surprised that it was 8-10 inches deep. We guessed that with the dogs digging and other activities around the camp that it must have ended up in a hole that got covered. The phone was still up and working, so, a happy Keanna and her friends could head home after a long day at the beach. Pleasure meeting you all and thank you for the reward.

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Ring lost at La Jolla Shores found

  • from La Jolla (California, United States)
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Annabelle was at La Jolla Shores surfing when, while ducking under an incoming wave, her hard earned graduation ring popped off her finger and plunged in the waist deep surf. After an online search, Annabelle’s mother Ginny, called me about an hour and half later to see if I could help. Do beaches eat rings? Sure I could! At least I would give it the old college try! Surf hunts are never easy, and with a storm southwest of us causing some bigger surf, this was going to be an extra challenge. I picked 11:30pm as a time to meet, as low tide was going to be coming up at 1:15am. Annabelle lost her ring about and hour and fifteen minutes from +5.9 high tide, so, with a -.01 low tide coming up, the ring should only be in very shallow water or wet sand. I met with Ginny, Annabelle, and her two brothers on time and we proceeded to the search area. As I suspected, the surf was not going to cooperate. Rouge waves kept blasting up the wet sand wiping out my grid marks, and after a half hour and a few tries going from beach to breakers, I gave up on that plan and tried running parallel to the shore where I was able to take some bearings from lights off in the distance to help keep me on a straight line. After another 15 minutes and not finding a single non-ferrous target all night, I got a nice solid 10 on my Equinox in ankle deep water. One scoop later, and I see a nice looking ring in the basket. I walked over to Annabelle and Ginny and asked if this was THE ONE. Annabelle picked up the ring in relief, joy, and disbelief. A pleasure to meet you all, and thank you for the reward.

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Ring Lost at La Jolla Shores found

  • from La Jolla (California, United States)
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Bonnie and her fiance were visiting here in San Diego and went to La Jolla Shores to enjoy the sand and water. They went out surfing, and when coming in on a wave, her engagement ring came off in waist deep surf. An online search brought them to The Ring Finders website and my contact info. I got the call later yesterday and after looking at the tide chart, figured I’d give it a try this morning at low tide. It wasn’t going to all that much lower than when she lost it, but, every little bit helps when detecting in the surf. Bonnie sent me a Google map and I used that to start my search at 6:30 am this morning. They showed up about 20 minutes later and I discovered that I needed to move north about 50 yards and was told it should be just north of where they had cones placed on each side of the lifeguard kiosk the day before. Being early still, they hadn’t put the cones out yet, so, we just had to guess where they had been. After a new starting spot, I began my grid and after a short time, they said they had an appointment to go to, wished me luck, and left.

I continued on with my shore-to-surf grid pattern heading north through the search area. After an hour and not a single target, I decided to go back to the starting point and head south. Half hour later and still not a signal, I began a crossgrid working parallel to the shore and working from deeper water toward the beach. At this point the tide had turned, started to come in, and the surf was getting rougher. After reaching ankle deep water and nothing to show for it. I was wondering where to search next. At that point, I noticed that the lifeguards were putting the cones out. Since they usually put them in the same area each day, I took a closer look, and realized that I needed to go south just a little more to completely cover the supposed search area. After a bit, I was just about finished with that area too. Wet, cold, tired, hungry, I was going to call it a day after the next pass or two. Just then, I got the signal I’d been waiting to hear all morning. One scoop later and I was relieved to see Bonnie’s ring. I emailed them the good news and headed home. They came by my house a little before noon and a happy Bonnie was reunited with her beautiful ring. A pleasure meeting you both, good luck with your move and upcoming marriage, and thank you for the reward.

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Lost ring at Mission Beach found.

  • from La Jolla (California, United States)
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Tim and his family were spending the day at Mission Beach on Thursday. He had set up a tent and was soon informed that camping tents were not allowed. In his haste to strike the tent and gather the gear, apparently, his ring came off. When he discovered it missing, naturally, they all looked in the bags, gear, tent, and sand, but. no ring. I get the call on Saturday in the early afternoon. They had returned to the beach at the same location hoping to find the ring. Knowing the traffic and parking nightmare that is Mission Beach on a Saturday afternoon, I was able to convince the wife to come along so she could drop me off and then look for the mythical parking spot. All worked as planned, and after meeting the wife and kids, getting the low down on how the ring was lost, and being shown the search area, I begun my search. Maybe 15 seconds later, I get my first target, a solid 21 on the Equinox, and scooped up his cobalt (only my second one of these) wedding ring. Tim got me right on the spot! Everyone was thrilled and better able to enjoy the rest of the day. My wife hadn’t found that theoretical parking spot yet, so, she circled around, came back, and picked me up. Drive time, over an hour, recovery time less than a minute! A pleasure meeting you all, and thank you for the reward.

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Keys found in Chula Vista

  • from La Jolla (California, United States)
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Angela called me to help find her lost keys. It was dark, she and her husband were outside his car in the parking lot where they lived. Angela attempted to throw her keys over to top of the car to her husband on the other side. The keys didn’t make it! They hit the top of the car and bounced somewhere. They searched the parking lot, sidewalk, and landscaping the best they could in the dark using a flashlight, but, didn’t have any luck. They searched again the next day, even cleaning out dead leaves and branches from the bushes along the sidewalk. Still no luck. Next in the process was to buy a metal detector and try again. They had « fun » removing everything imaginable from the ground cover and bushes, but, the keys just wouldn’t speak up. Eventually, they heard about The Ring Finders and gave me a call.

I met Angela at the parking lot around noon and got the low down on how the keys were lost. I started by searching all the ground area in and around the bushes and all along the sidewalk. No luck. I ran the coil over the surface of the bushes and even in the overhanging tree branches, but, still nothing. Next, I started at one end and started shaking all the bushes as hard as I dared, hoping to hear the tinkle of keys or to hopefully convince the bushes to let go of them. We made it all the way to the other end without success, but, while walking back toward where we started Angela looked down and spied them right under the corner of one of the bushes. Yes! Don’t know how we missed them at the time we were at that bush, but, hey, they’re now back where they belong, so, that’s what counts. A very happy Angela called her husband with the good news and both gratefully thanked me. A pleasure to meet you Angela and thank you for the reward.

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Lost ring at Ocean Beach found

  • from La Jolla (California, United States)
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Marcio was at Ocean Beach with his wife and child having a nice day in the sun when the outlook changed. He had been building sand castles, washed the sand off the toys in the surf, and went in for a short dip. After all this fun, he realized his wedding ring was missing. He does an online search and contacted me for help. Even though the tide was coming in and approaching the evening high, I agreed to meet them and get an idea of where the ring may have been lost, do a preliminary search, and maybe get lucky with a quick recovery. Oh well, that wasn’t to be. I searched all the dry sand around where they were camped out for the day and also hit the slope heading down to the water. The tide and surf was up on this steep section of beach and had a nasty shore break, so, a water search at this time would have been pointless. I told Marcio that I would return in the early morning hours to take advantage of the minus low tide at that time. Fast forward to 12:30am when I arrived at the beach. I started a grid from dry sand to knee deep water, and at 1:10am got the signal I was waiting for. I texted Marcio with the good news and connected with him later that day for the return. Great to meet you folks and thank you for the reward.

 

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Silver Strand State Beach lost ring Found!

  • from La Jolla (California, United States)
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I got the call this morning a little before 8am as I was about to leave and meet up with a detecting buddy for some old property hunting. Kim had lost her wedding band/engagement ring combo in the dry sand so my morning plans would have to be delayed a bit. Instead, I hot footed it over the the Silver Strand State Beach to search for a supposedly sterling silver wedding set. After getting the boundaries of the search area established, I started my grid. It was next to a block wall with rebar inside, so, getting right up next to it might pose a problem. a couple of minutes later, I get a nice low tone 12-07 on my E-trac….. probably a wad of foil…..not what I was looking for, so, I almost passed it by, but, I figured, what the heck. It was a good strong signal and removing it would keep any masking problem from occurring. I stuck my pin pointer into the sand and located the target. Fished it out with my fingers and to my amazement, it was Kim’s ring! I said to them, this is not sterling silver, it’s reading gold. Kim said, « oh yeah, it’s white gold, not sterling »! Good thing I didn’t ignore it! That’s why we ask what type of metal we’re asked to find. With most high end modern detectors, we can discriminate between metals and ignore some of the ones we’re not looking for, so, knowing exactly what we’re looking for is very important. In a large search area, that can be a real time saver. Everything turned out good and a very happy Kim and her husband John can now get some much needed sleep! Oh, I didn’t mention that they were just married and were on their honeymoon when this happened! In fact, it happened last night and they spent the night sleeping in their rental car at the beach so they could keep an eye on the area! Now that’s people who wanted that ring back! A pleasure to meet you both! Have fun on the rest of your honeymoon, a safe trip home, and thank you for the reward.

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Lost ring found at The Silver Strand State Beach

  • from La Jolla (California, United States)
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Emily left a message on my answer machine, my voice mail, e-mail, and texted my phone about her engagement ring lost in the sand at the Silver Strand. I figured she must want it back! 🙂 We made arrangements to meet at the scene in a couple of hours so they could show me the search area. When I arrived, I got the story on how it was lost. She had caught a football and the ring popped off her finger. She immediately dropped to her knees and started sifting through the sand, but, couldn’t find it. She was joined by the rest of her group, but, the same result….no ring. Now, several days later, my concern was that someone else might have found it. There is a campground at the other end of the beach and many campers like to detect too. The good part was that they were in a less used area in front of the parking lot normally closed off during the week. She remembered where she was when she caught the ball, so, I started there and spiraled out from that point. I was finding a few good coin targets, so, I figured that nobody had beat me to the spot and gridded the area. After almost and hour and many promising foil targets, I got another weak foil signal and a couple of scoops later, saw a beautiful white gold engagement ring in my scoop. Needless to say, Emily was overjoyed to get it back and amazed that I found it, and that it was so far from where she had caught the ball.  That’s the way the ring bounces sometimes! A pleasure to meet you and thank you for the reward.100_1482 100_1483

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Ring Lost at Silver Strand Found!

  • from La Jolla (California, United States)
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Alisha contacted me about her lost wedding ring. She had been to Silver Strand State Beach with her family last Sunday, and lost it out in the surf. She was in waist deep water when it slid off her finger and into the sand below. The visibility of the water at the time was poor, and try as they might, they were unable to retrieve it. Heartbroken and discouraged, she figured it was lost forever. Just contacting me gave her a small ray of hope, as I explained what needed to be done. We agreed to meet at the location where she could show me the search area. Having not taken any specific landmarks or photos to show the exact area, we would just have to do our best. She even waded out into the surf to give me an idea as to how far from the beach and how close to the breakers she had been. The conditions were not good. Very close intervals between waves that would sometimes overrun each other producing very powerful water flow and made it hard to keep your place to grid and/or scoop. After gridding both directions for about an hour and a half with my trusty Excalibur, I had only found 6 targets. 2 iron sounds that kept falling through the scoop until lost, 3 pieces of scrap metal, and finally, a ring. I headed up on the beach where Alisha was doing some business work while she was waiting, and asked to see a photo of the ring again. When she brought it up on her phone, I knew I had THE one! A happier person you will never see. I was pretty happy myself! Both for making her happy, and also,  that I didn’t have to go back out in that surf to get pounded again! With a beautiful sunset, it ended a beautiful day and a continuing ring story. A pleasure to meet you Alisha and thank you for the very generous reward.

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