Treasure Island Tag | Page 4 of 4 | The Ring Finders

Wedding Rings Returned at Fort Desoto North Beach, Florida

Maria and Dimitriy are visiting the area from the Netherlands. They were at Fort Desoto North Beach enjoying the beach and Sun. When the decided to go swimming, Dimitriy put both his and Maria’s wedding rings into his shorts pocket to keep them safe. After they returned from swimming they laid out in the sun warming up and tanning. Soon it was to hot so they decided to move back on the beach to where there was a shade tree. Later when they decided to leave Dimitriy put on his shorts and reached for the rings. They were no longer there!!!!!! They searched in the sand over the whole area they had been playing in, but had no luck. Dimitriy used his smart phone to search for metal detectors and soon found SRARC through The Ring Finders. Tom and Mike responded and after searching for about 10 minutes Mike found both rings hiding in the sand. They were very happy to have their wedding rings back on their fingers.

 

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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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Another Smile on St Pete Beach

Dustin and friends were down from Georgia to attend a wedding. After the ceremony they all had a great time relaxing at the beach. In the evening they got a couple of Volleyball games going and when Dustin went to clean up for dinner he noticed in the shower that his wedding ring was missing. The whole group searched for hours in the sand around the volleyball court but with no luck. The next morning, Dustin was searching the internet for places to rent metal detectors when he stumbled on The Ring Finders site and found SRARC. He contacted Mike Miller and Mike organized a quick hunt as they were preparing to leave for the trip back to Georgia. Chris Duerden was able to join Mike and the each took one side of the volleyball court. In about 5 minutes Chris yelled “Here it is”. Dusting was as happy as could be, Way to Go Chris!!!!!

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Family Heirloom Returned at St Pete Beach, Florida

Who would have thought that a wedding band lost in the Gulf of Mexico would ever have been found again. This is a story with a wonderful ending thanks to the wonderful guys at SRARC.com. My husband an I were just married in April of 2014. My husband is very close to his family and especially a grandfather who has since passed away. He had his grandfather’s wedding band that had WM to BW 1946. They got married right after he got back from WWII. They were married for 46 wonderful years. We took the gold wedding ring and « soddered » it in the middle of two white gold bands from me. So there was an heirloom from his grandfather and a piece of me, we then added our own inscription to the existing inscription. CB to WS 4/2014. We had our own special love story. We dated for two years in NY and then I moved to Florida for work – Long story short, Bill stayed in NY, he was a teacher and wrestling coach and had a great teaching job in NY. We spent every holiday and vacation back and forth between Florida and New York. Bill showed up one day unbeknownst to me when I was visiting my father in Orlando to say he was here to stay, he was teaching in Tampa. We were married ocean-side in a beautiful ceremony just a few months later. I was so happy to put that ring on his finger.

So, on labor day, we spent a beautiful Monday at my favorite place, St. Pete Beach. We were in the water and all of a sudden I heard Bill say words that put my heart in my throat. “My ring just fell off in the water”. I knew too many people who have lost their rings in the water forever. We looked for hours and could not find it. Leaving the beach that night was heartbreaking. It felt like that was it, we will never see it again. We went home and got on the computer and after only one search I found the SRARC group. Stan contacted me really quickly and we made arrangements to meet in the eve. So I could show him where we were. After they asked me a whole bunch of questions which would help them ascertain where we were, they started looking even before I got there. Chris was already looking when he ran into Stan. I got a phone call later that day from Chris – he found the ring. If I could have kissed Chris on the spot I would have! I was elated!

When I went to pick the ring up, I met Chris and his wife. Two very lovely, sweet people. I did actually hug Chris. I was so happy, I was actually shaking. My husband had just started a new job and couldn’t be there to pick it up, but believe me he was more than ecstatic.

Who would have thought a ring in an ocean would ever be found and found the very next day. I am forever indebted. Not only did they find my ring, but the club does it for free. I did donate to the club itself, but nobody would take money individually. What angels you guys are!

I said a Novena to St. Anthony that day that it was lost – and he sent me you guys! Thank you

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Ft Desoto, Florida Double the Fun Recovery

Marcus was enjoying Labor Day weekend with friends and family at Ft Desoto Park and he and a friend decided to toss the football around in the water. After a couple of throws Marcus noticed that his wedding ring was missing. He had stayed pretty much in the same place so he had one of his friends bring him some swim goggles and he started to look on the bottom for his ring. Keeping his wits about him, he had his friend stand in place so they would keep a good reference point. After a few minutes Marcus had a brilliant idea. He borrowed his friend’s wedding ring and proceeded to dive under water and set the ring on the bottom so he could see what it would look like when he searched for his own ring. You guessed it!!!!!!!  The second ring instantly disappeared and he could not find it either. So now we have two wedding rings, one gold, the other platinum lost in very close proximity. After a short while they decided that they had better establish some good landmarks and then find someone with a metal detector. Marcus contacted Ringfinders and we met him at the location the next morning. Four ringfinders, Tom Jones, Paul Hill, Mark Prue, and Mike Miller started the hunt at 9:00 am and by 9:15 am the rings had been recovered. Great work Team!!!!!!!!!. The smile on Marcus’s face says it all.

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