Tokerau Tag | The Ring Finders

Swift Recovery of Cable Bay Wedding Ring

  • from Paihia (New Zealand)
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Sam texted me yesterday to say he had just lost his wedding ring at Cable Bay.
Forty five minutes later I was kitting up to start the search.

Cable Bay is a much more dynamic beach than Coopers Beach in the previous recovery, so Sam contacting me as soon as possible gave him the very best chance of getting his ring returned.

I started down the beach to the low tide waterline, turned and started the first return sweep.
Two or three paces and a smooth golden tone was clear in the headphones.
First scoop wasn’t enough, but the second bite left the hole silent.
I sifted through the shells at the side of the hole and Sams wedding ring stood out in the afternoon sunlight.
I held it up to the unbelieving couple with a big smile, « This yours? »

Most recoveries are pure hard graft, physically and mentally.
It’s nice to have one like this once in a while.

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Wedding Ring Lost at Coopers Beach

  • from Paihia (New Zealand)
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The first of two recoveries at Doubtless Bay this week….

I was contacted by a friend of Dean after she heard he had lost his wedding ring in the sea a couple of weeks previously.
Hand crafted in the Shetland Islands off Scotland, he only wore it on special occasions.

Dean had taken a dip at Coopers Beach before the wedding, and felt the ring slip off his finger while in the water.
He had given it up as lost, as so many unfortunately do, but his friend Joanne heard about it and contacted me.

Although we had had rough seas since the loss which would have put it a little deeper under fresh sand, two weeks head start was still a very high probability of success for Coopers.
Unfortunately no-one who was there on the day was available, so by playing « Chinese Whispers » with Dean over the phone and some guidance from Joanne as to their regular swim spot I made a start.

Dean mentioned he had been « pretty much straight out from the kayaks », I arrived and found the cluster of kayaks tied up under the trees and set to work.
The search area progressively grew larger and larger – I operate to 95+ probability of detection and the search pattern markers in the sand expanded further outwards with no sign of the ring.
I had just closed off the area, and started to work on the wildcard possibilities. Unlikely to hold the ring, but I always close off the What-If scenarios, so often they aren’t where people think they should be.

Looking back across the search grid, I was happy I hadn’t missed it. Had a casual walker spotted it and picked it up? Was it really here?
Joanne arrived as I was starting to expand the area yet again, and informed me that Dean was referring to her kayaks further up the beach – that were no longer there as they had been removed before the rough weather!

Back to square one.

Search 2 now started in front of the kayaks that were no longer there…
I worked the new grid, but after another hour, there was nothing but the usual metallic rubbish of ancient bottle caps, can pull tabs and a couple of aluminium rivet heads worn off dinghies years ago.
Joanne had to head off with the kids, so I said I’d finish the next sweep and call it quits.

That sweep finished, I wasn’t ready to let it go so started another, and another… It takes a lot for me to walk away from a ring.

Joanne was long gone when, a quiet tone in the headphones, very faint – almost imperceptible but a definite fluctuation in the threshold hum of the machine but consistent.
I glanced at the display, the detector software didn’t even know it was there! My experienced ears could hear it though.
The scoop went in, me standing on it with all my weight to force it through the layers of tightly packed shell, and the signal remained in the hole.
Another bite, and another until in the fluid sand at the bottom of the hole I saw a flash of yellow nearly 40cm down.

I reached in and pulled a handful of sand out – As my fingers unfolded, the outline of Deans wedding ring emerged.
I sent a text to both Dean and Joanne – « Gottit! »

Dean was back up from Auckland the following weekend, and we arranged a meet to reunite him with the ring.

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Wedding Ring Lost in Doubtless Bay, Found at 2am

  • from Paihia (New Zealand)
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Marys husband was fishing at Whatuwhiwhi while on holiday in the Doubtless Bay area.
He was doing quite well, and landed a nice Kahawai.
While he was cleaning the fish in the tide, his wedding ring slipped off and was lost.
Mary later posted on the local Facebook pages asking for people to keep an eye out for it – I know the beach well, and knew it would be unlikely to be exposed on the surface until a favourable erosion event took place – if ever.
On the basis of this, and with an earlier « Pay it Forward » recovery in-hand, I decided to make the 100km trip to Tokerau peninsula to catch the next low tide…at 3am.
It was a pleasant night, clear skies meant that I was able to work the beach by starlight and the light breeze coming off the sea carried the smell of seaweed.
It doesn’t get much better than this.
I had a rough start point, so started to work back and forth along the beach as the tide dropped.
With a campground nearby, the usual aluminium can tabs were present in good numbers though.
An hour passed, then in the wash at the waters edge, I got a double-thump in the phones.
The broken shell sand was loose enough for me to push my hand into it and my fingers closed around a familiar shape.  I glanced at my watch, it was just after 2am.
I took the Trophy Photo and, as it was such a pleasant night, carried on detecting on spec.
Until the novelty of can tabs wore off.
I waited until a reasonable hour before messaging Mary, unfortunately she didn’t see it before I had to head back south.
About a week later we were able to meet up and I could hand her husbands ring back.

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Special Ring Lost in Sea at Rangiputa, Doubtless Bay – Found after 2 days

  • from Paihia (New Zealand)
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Rangiputa on the Karikari Peninsula bordering Doubtless Bay is a pristine white sand beach with crystal clear ocean waters, a popular spot for holidaymakers year round.
And Justine was no exception.

Two nights ago, as the water was so calm, she went for a midnight swim out into the bay…  It wasn’t until the following day that she realised with horror that her bespoke handcrafted garnet ring was missing.

Made to mark her 50th by a local jeweler, she was understandably distraught and as with most rings, it was the sentimental value rather than the monetary.

She got hold of my number and gave me a call about midday today – the tide was already rising, and they were due to head home in the afternoon.
I gave my apologies to my long-suffering wife, left my lunch and loaded the car.

A little over an hour later I was pulling up at Reef Lodge where she was staying. We are well on the way to winter here in New Zealand and even in the Far North the water temperature was already cool enough to warrant the light wetsuit, especially as I could be in the water for 4-5Hrs.

Rangiputa has an almost flat contour along the inner coast, a plus as there is minimal sand movement to bury the ring although the major downside is that the potential area becomes huge.
I started out wide and began working my way ashore, systematically covering every square inch with the coil. Just one less than diligent swing might see the ring missed.
This is where the discipline and methodology of an experienced Ringfinder comes into play and what gives me my exceptional hit rate…Even if it takes many, many hours.

A strong signal came through, the scoop went into the sand and…a fishing weight. The search continued. A short time later another likely target turned out to be a piece of foil, likely from some beach cooking many years ago – the heart rate subsided and I continued on.

About forty five minutes later a good double tone came through the headset and the scoop went in once again, the white sand drained out through the holes leaving a layer of small shells, and a ring.

I held it up to Justine sitting on the shore, and started to make my way in.

The wonderful reactions people have when I hand them their ‘Lost Forever’ items is the core of what really drives me as a Ringfinder.

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Gold and Greenstone Ring Lost at Coopers Beach, Quickly Recovered

  • from Paihia (New Zealand)
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Jamie posted on the local Facebook page that he’d lost his treasured gold ring, passed down from his uncle, while on holiday at Coopers Beach the previous day.
Unfortunately he had posted very detailed information as to the location.
Knowing this beach was regularly worked by casual metal detectorists, time was of the essence.
I got hold of him directly and was quickly on the road, making the 80km drive to the beach.

Arriving at Coopers Beach, it was heartening to see that there were no tell-tale scoop marks or gridlines in the sand and I got started.
Just under an hour after seeing his Facebook post, I was sending a photo of the ring to Jamie – It was now safely secured.

A couple of weeks later, I was working further down country and Jamie made the drive to meet me so I could hand over his lost ring.

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Two Rings Lost at Taipa Beach, Recovered and Returned Within Minutes

  • from Paihia (New Zealand)
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A very quick recovery a little while ago…

Kaiah gave me a call asking if I was able to locate her two sentimental rings she had lost at Taipa, she was about to head out of the district and was very anxious to recover them before she left.
Having put them in her cap for safe keeping while she went for a swim, she subsequently forgot about them on her return and grabbed the hat with the rings still inside and headed back to the car.
She met me on site and showed me where she thought they might be and I started the search, retracing her route back towards the car.

As I expanded the search area I quickly located one ring, then the other a few metres away.

 

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Gold Signet Ring Lost on Tokerau Beach, Quickly Found

  • from Paihia (New Zealand)
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Diane phoned me yesterday, her son had just lost his ring in the sea at Tokerau Beach in Doubtless Bay, NZ.
Fortunately it was at high tide, and the water was only a metre deep when lost.

I arrived a few hours later for low tide. Diane and Dan were there to meet me and we went through the usual twenty questions.
Diane told me that she had paced out to roughly where the ring had been lost – Textbook stuff to help your neighbourhood Ringfinder.

Both of them marked their respective « X » in the sand where they thought it might be and I started the search pattern, half an eye on the motorbikes and four-wheel drives roaring past (Tokerau Beach is classed as public highway, it’s supposed to be limited to 30km/h, but…).

It was nice to be out of surf and on nice open, flat, hard sand for the first time in a long while.

After about a dozen lines, I got a solid tone – could only be one thing.

It was about 5cm down – Dan’s face lit up as I showed it to him.

… Mums mark in the sand was the closest 🙂

 

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Lost Ring at Tokerau, Found in the sea

  • from Paihia (New Zealand)
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Back up to Tokerau Beach, NZ, for a wedding ring in the tide this time.
Nathan was playing with his daughter in waist deep water, throwing her up and catching her.
As he released her, he saw his wedding ring come off and drop into the water. They searched for some time before accepting the ring was lost.
Back on shore, Nathan took a bearing and paced out an approximate distance to where he thought it was- then gave me a call.
I arrived for the evening low tide, waded out and got to work to find his lost wedding ring.
The sand leveled out below low tide mark, so « waist deep » went out about 50m or so – A huge potential area.
I had searched the indicated area by the time failing light and tide forced me out. Regrettably I advised Nathan that I had been unsuccessful, with nothing more than a handful of lead sinkers and rusty hooks in the pouch.
But I don’t walk away easily…
Up at 4am, I was back in the tide just after 5 – sharing the shallows with the dorsal fins of a dozen Rig sharks, focused on their own search for crabs as the night gave way to dawn.
I reviewed the search area of the previous day and decided that I was generally happy that had the ring been there, I would have likely found it.
I decided to extend the search area.
After about 2Hrs using various search patterns, I got a distinct ‘double thump’ of a shallow target, some 20m from the original area.
I lifted the scoop, sifted the sand out in the water and heard that ‘jangle’ that tells me – Job Done.
I think I woke Nathan up when I phoned him, « I’ve got something of yours here… »
It didn’t take him long to get down to the beach!
If you lose an item at the beach, make a note of where you are. Line up two landmarks, even better, line up another two at right angles to the first. Then give me a call, and I’ll do my utmost to get it back to you.
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Lost Gold Bangle at Tokerau, Found with Metal Detector

  • from Paihia (New Zealand)
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Cayla was enjoying the summer playing with her young daughter in the shallows at Tokerau Beach,  soon realising that the special gold bangle had slipped off her toddlers wrist.

Her partner did all the right things by marking above the high tide mark where they were on the beach and called me straight away, time is always against us with ocean recoveries…

As soon as I got his message I gave my apologies to family, loaded the kit in the car and headed off on the 90km drive to Doubtless Bay.

We arrived at the beach only to find that out of the available 13km of beach, a family had parked a half dozen utes right on top of ground zero. Cayla persuaded them to relocate one of them in a prime area so I could search.

A few false starts with beer can pull tabs and a couple of longline fishing traces (removing several hooks out of the sand in the process) and I had reached the utes.

I changed the direction of the grid to start working parallel to the vehicles to maximise coverage before we needed to ask a little firmer if they wouldn’t mind shuffling along a bit.  On the first run at the outer line of the first pattern, I got a clear and shallow signal.

My fingers dipped into the wet sand and lifted the tiniest most delicate gold bracelet.

I turned and held it up to Cayla and Scott who were a few metres away, smiles all round.

 

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