Wedding ring in the sea

[qcyk]

I have a question to all experienced underwater treasure hunters.

Last week I was sailing in Formentera near Ibiza. Unfortunately during one of my jumps from the boat to the water my wedding ring has slipped off my finger and sunk in the sea. I have marked the location on my iPhone navigation app just in case. The sea was 3m deep with hard rocks at the bottom.

My question is: Are there any chances of finding it? Is it worth trying to find it using underwater metal detector? Is it realistic? Has anyone found something of a similar size in the sea?

Just in case someone finds it - it has my wife's name on it "MARLENA" and two dates "22.08.15" and "22.08.17". It is made of palladium (looks like white gold)

 

[noj3333]

3 meters? If I had easy access, and it was close to home, I'd spend several hours looking for it... on vacation, or in a hard place to access, I'd write it off as a loss...

 

[kelemvor]

What he said. Is it someplace you can go to locally and dive cheap or free while searching? At what point would searching cost you more than replacement? How does sentimental value factor in for you?

 

[Rred]

If the bottom was made of small hard rocks, as opposed to sand, yes. The ring might stay on top of them but wave action would scoot it away unless it got stuck or wedged into something. If the bottom was rocky meaning there were large rocks--you couldn't get a metal detector close enough, you'd have to look around under each rock.

Slim chances, but in 3m of water you can spend a considerable amount of time. I'd suggest a grid search and the assumption that current or wave action will have moved it. Huck Finn said that the best way to find a lost marble, was to drop another one and see where it rolled. So, dropping a thin washer or a circle of heavy wire and watching to see which way the waters take it, might help.

In 3m of water, if the visibility is good, you can go in simply with a snorkel and face mask. Travel light and fast to cover as much ground as you can. If you can do a dolphin kick, I've found that is the fastest way to cover ground and especially good at covering lots of shallow bottom quickly.

If you can engage any others to come out and help you, all the better.

 

[Schwob]

Well, if it is buried, you'll need a metal detector... (or a lot of sifting)
If it is not buried and shiny, might looking at night with a strong light help? Just to catch a reflection....

 

[Diver0001]

I have a question to all experienced underwater treasure hunters.

Last week I was sailing in Formentera near Ibiza. Unfortunately during one of my jumps from the boat to the water my wedding ring has slipped off my finger and sunk in the sea. I have marked the location on my iPhone navigation app just in case. The sea was 3m deep with hard rocks at the bottom.

My question is: Are there any chances of finding it? Is it worth trying to find it using underwater metal detector? Is it realistic? Has anyone found something of a similar size in the sea?

Just in case someone finds it - it has my wife's name on it "MARLENA" and two dates "22.08.15" and "22.08.17". It is made of palladium (looks like white gold)

You can find it if you want. There are metal detectors that work in a few meters of water. If you were to use one and you have a good sense of where to search then you should be able to find it fairly easily.

I haven't used metal detectors under water but I have used them on land. Good quality ones will discriminate between different metals. Since your ring is made from palladium and that's not a "standard" setting on most metal detectors, you may need to consult an expert to find a setting at which that particular metal resonates (creates a magnetic field) that can be detected. There will be a frequency setting that will work although I'm not experienced enough off hand to know what it is. The easiest way to do that is to use another object made from the same material to see where it triggers.

Finding your ring, especially since you know where to start searching, should be a simple matter of being patient and methodical once you have found a metal detector suitable to the job.

Good luck.

 

[lionfish-eater]

I found this one on a reef used by snorklers.
It had no inscription.
I informed the main operator in the area of the find and gave them my contact info.
It now sits on a shelf on a piece of bleached coral that I found at a garage sale and was probably once purchased as a souviner by a tourist.
It's a metaphor for something, just not sure what.

 

[WeRtheOcean]

Let me put it this way: sunglasses are a lot bigger than a wedding ring; but when I dropped sunglasses in a river, no more than six feet deep, with mixture of sand and gravel bottom, I never found them again. There's no telling how far the current carried them.

 

[flyboy08]

You’ll never know unless you try!

 

[American Digger In Europe]

If your ring was lost in 3 meters of water, it should be resting within a 12 meter radius. A rocky bottom increases the chances that it can be found by eyesight because it won't sink deeper than a couple of inches into the silt.

If you can find a diver with a quality metal detector, like my Minelab Excalibur II, finding your ring is a slam-dunk! It would probably take me less than 10 minutes to find it!

BTW: I've found 46 gold and platinum rings in lakes and in the sea since May 2015.....