Michael Chacon planned on proposing to his girlfriend Christine on the beach. He was surfing with the $13k diamond engagement ring in his swimsuit pocket waiting for her to arrive. He saw her and in calf high water brought the ring out. Immediately, a wave knocked it out of his grasp. It was 4pm with a 5' high tide.
Monday, Michael had a detectorist look for it but no luck.
Tuesday, Don Barthel saw the ring loss reported on KUSI TV. Thinking he could help he called the station and got Michael's email.
Wednesday, Don got in touch with Michael and arranged to meet him at the beach location at 2am on July 4th on Thursday. That was the lowest tide, a 0.13'. Don had his brand new CTX 3030 gotten, only about 6 weeks earlier from Bob at Ground Balanced Extreme. He met Michael and searched for 2 hours at the site using his CTX 3030 with the 10" coil and waterproof headphones. No luck.
Saturday, Michael had offers from a local club and another individual to help, so Don bowed out. About 9 seasoned detectorists searched most of the Saturday. They had no luck.
Tuesday, July 9th Don found out that the ring had still not been recovered.
Wednesday, Don decided to give it one last try. It was the end of the low/minus tide period and big waves had been forecasted. If it weren’t recovered now it might be gone forever.
Thursday, using the Minelab supplied Koss headphones, which are really good, and a newly acquired Minelab 17" CTX coil, Don gave it another try. After searching two hours on the down current side of the site he started on the other side and immediately got a sharp signal at 9". It was the ring! And it was right where he lost it. The time was 9am. Don then called Michael's phone but of course he was at work and Don didn't have his cell number. But he did have Christine's. After informing her that he found the ring she started crying on the phone. She called Michael and they both met him on the beach at about 9:30am. After an enthusiastic and embarrassing hug next to the freeway Michael immediately turned to Christine, went down on one knee and re-proposed to Christine, this time with the ring!
Don Barthal, is an author of several books on beach hunting and has field tested numerous detectors for treasure hunting magazines, since the 1990’s. Don recently switched from a Minelab Sovereign GT to the CTX 3030 which he purchased from me earlier this year, and is amazed at the performance of the new unit. He keeps his GT as a backup, but won’t put the CTX 3030 down for anything. Don has been a friend as well as a customer of mine at Ground Balanced Extreme, in Jamul CA.
Ground Balanced Extreme Bob - CA, USA
