My wife and I were working the beach in St. Augustine when I was approached by a gentleman who asked me if I could help his son find his wedding ring that he had lost in the shallow surf about 30 minutes earlier. His son was in shin deep water looking for the ring. The son told me he was rinsing his hands off when the ring slipped from his finger. He said it was a platinum ring. He was obviously distraught and disgusted for losing his ring as he had just been married a year ago. After a little while of futile searching they left, but I got his father's phone number in the event we would find the ring. Both the father and son thought it was a lost cause.
The tide was going out and I got my wife to search the dry sand near the tide line with the Equinox and I worked in the shallow water. We searched the general area for 2 hours and had about had enough. As I was walking to get my wife to leave I got a 12-21 hit on my CTX and it read that it was 3" deep. One scoop of sand and a nice 14K band appeared. It was found very near where the son had been looking.
Long story short, called the father who texted me a photo of the ring along with the wife's ring as I wanted to make sure it was his son's because the ring was marked 14K and not platinum. As soon as I received the photo I knew it was the one. We made arrangements to meet in St. Augustine the next day to get it back to him. He gave me a really nice thank you card from his wife with a $100 bill folded inside. I had told them earlier several times that no reward was needed, but they insisted.
It was my first time to recover something of value for someone. The family was extremely grateful saying that we saved their vacation. This is one of the percs of our hobby.
The tide was going out and I got my wife to search the dry sand near the tide line with the Equinox and I worked in the shallow water. We searched the general area for 2 hours and had about had enough. As I was walking to get my wife to leave I got a 12-21 hit on my CTX and it read that it was 3" deep. One scoop of sand and a nice 14K band appeared. It was found very near where the son had been looking.
Long story short, called the father who texted me a photo of the ring along with the wife's ring as I wanted to make sure it was his son's because the ring was marked 14K and not platinum. As soon as I received the photo I knew it was the one. We made arrangements to meet in St. Augustine the next day to get it back to him. He gave me a really nice thank you card from his wife with a $100 bill folded inside. I had told them earlier several times that no reward was needed, but they insisted.
It was my first time to recover something of value for someone. The family was extremely grateful saying that we saved their vacation. This is one of the percs of our hobby.
