This ring was found all thanks to GPS and some photos on the beach.
I was contacted after a man lost his wedding ring on the beach. Usually when this happens, the search area is very large (it’s not always easy to know exactly where you were and memories can be deceptive). As a metal detectorist, I do my best to find lost items before they are swallowed by high tides, so I have to narrow down the search as much as possible.
I always ask my search clients if they took photos on their beach day, and fortunately they did! Not only would I be able to use the photo to match up the background and determine where they were sitting, their phone also recorded their GPS coordinates.
After a quick 30-minute search and lining up my vision with the background of their beach photos, I had his 14K gold wedding band back above the sand. It’s just a matter of digging – not only into the sand, but into the details! I use every bit of data to narrow down the search and strike gold.
Photo of the ring after I recovered it from on Stinson Beach.
Story from the Ring’s Owner:
“Me and my wife were visiting Stinson Beach on a sunny afternoon. After enjoying a great snack we walked around then the sun started setting. As we got back to our blanket, it was time to start packing up so I started rubbing the sand off my feet. And just like that I rubbed my wedding ring off my finger. It’s bizarre to experience but I could tell that the ring was off but I had no sense whatsoever about which direction or how far it had flown from where I was sitting. My wife, my friend and I started to comb the sand around us for about an hour. The darkness kicked in, we had to head back despite knowing that the ring was somewhere right there we had to abandon it and head home.
In my devastation and desperation I googled around for professionals who could help and found Laura! I emailed her and we got into a conversation. After a few rounds of emails she had enough information about the location (based on geolocated images) and agreed to do a search…she sent me an email with a picture stating that she found my ring 🙂 What a truly unbelievable but relieving moment that was for me and my wife! We are forever thankful for Laura as my ring and I are now reunited thanks to her mailing to me 🙂
Thank you Laura, you are awesome!”
The owner’s ring back on his hand after recovering it from Stinson Beach.