Eleuthera and Harbour Island
Married on the island, and now the band is missing
For a loss on Harbour Island or anywhere along the thin mainland of Eleuthera, whichever shore it happened on.
Whether a band lost on Eleuthera or Harbour Island can be found starts with which shore you were on. Eleuthera is a pencil-thin island with the open Atlantic along one side and the shallow Banks along the other, so the beach name tells us what kind of water a detectorist would face, and your map pin then narrows it to the sand you sat on.
Ring Seekers is a lost ring and jewelry recovery service that connects people who lost a ring, wedding band, watch, keys or phone on Eleuthera or Harbour Island with a metal detectorist who can search there.
Tell us what happened and where. We find a detectorist who can reach the beach, brief them with your map and photos, and tell you honestly if the odds are poor.
Both islands draw couples for destination weddings and honeymoons. If the band is new, the photographer's pictures probably show it clearly on your hand, and one of those is worth sending.
Harbour Island or the mainland, the Atlantic or the Banks
Many Eleuthera beaches lie at the end of a bumpy dirt road off the main highway, so note the turning you took before you forget it. On the sand, save the place your towel was in your phone's map, and photograph whatever marks it, such as the path through the sea grapes or a stand of casuarina trees. With a picture of the ring or watch, that is enough for us to begin.
Harbour Island sits just off the northern tip of Eleuthera, across a narrow channel, and people cross by ferry or boat from North Eleuthera. On the mainland, the beaches on the Atlantic side can get bigger waves, while the side called the Banks is shallow. Your first message should name the island, the side and the nearest settlement, such as Gregory Town, Governor's Harbour or Rock Sound.
Places we cover in Eleuthera and Harbour Island
- Harbour Island
- Dunmore Town and Bay Street
- Pink Sands Beach
- North Eleuthera
- Spanish Wells on St. George's Cay
- Preacher's Beach by Preacher's Cave
- Gaulding's Cay Beach
- The Glass Window Bridge
- Queen's Bath
- Gregory Town
- Surfer's Beach
- James Cistern Beach
- Governor's Harbour
- French Leave Beach (Club Med Beach)
- Twin Coves
- The beach at Pineapple Fields
- Ten Bay Beach at Savannah Sound
- North and South Palmetto Point
- Winding Bay Beach
- Rock Sound
- Cape Eleuthera
- Lighthouse Beach
Beaches and towns on both islands
Ordered from the northern tip down to Eleuthera Point.
Pink Sands Beach
Pink Sands Beach runs the whole length of Harbour Island on its eastern, Atlantic side. The sand is pale pink, and the color shows most in the wet sand at the edge of the water. An outlying coral reef protects the water in front of it, where people swim and snorkel, and horseback rides along the shore are popular with honeymooners.
Dunmore Town and Bay Street
Dunmore Town is the town on Harbour Island, with brightly painted homes and narrow streets that visitors drive in golf carts. Bay Street has views over the harbor. Regular ferries bring hotel guests and day visitors across from North Eleuthera, so a loss here can be on a street, where the ferry comes in or on the way to the beach.
Spanish Wells and Preacher's Beach
Spanish Wells is a quiet town on St. George's Cay, a short ferry ride from mainland Eleuthera, with a busy fishing dock. Its beach has white, soft powdery sand, and the water is mostly shallow for a good distance out. Back on the mainland, Preacher's Beach is reached down a sandy, grassy path through sea grapes, and people picnic there after visiting Preacher's Cave.
Gaulding's Cay Beach
Gaulding's Cay Beach is where people come to snorkel, with sea anemones just off the sand and soft corals and bonefish in the same water. If a mask strap or a fin was the last thing you pulled on or off, tell us where you were standing at the time.
Queen's Bath
Just south of the Glass Window Bridge, on the rugged Atlantic side, Queen's Bath is a set of rock hollows carved by the waves. Seawater washes in with shells and small sea life, settles and warms in the sun, and people soak in it at low or medium tide. Say which hollow you sat in and which way you climbed down.
Surfer's Beach and James Cistern
Surfer's Beach lies south of Gregory Town, with soft white sand and powerful Atlantic waves, sometimes shoulder high. It is off the beaten path. Brisk southerly winds make James Cistern Beach a surfing spot too, and a shipwreck just offshore is snorkeled when the water is calm.
French Leave Beach and Governor's Harbour
French Leave Beach, also known as Club Med Beach, is on Bank's Road in Governor's Harbour, a pink sand beach used for beachcombing, snorkeling and swimming. A beach road runs on from French Leave to Twin Coves past several hidden beaches, all washed by the Atlantic.
Ten Bay Beach and Lighthouse Beach
Ten Bay Beach is in Savannah Sound, south of Governor's Harbour, shaded in the morning by large casuarina trees and in full sun by afternoon. Lighthouse Beach sits at the southernmost point of Eleuthera, behind some sand dunes, with an old lighthouse on a limestone promontory above the ocean and soft blush-rose sand.
How it works once you message us
One contact on WhatsApp
From the first photo you send to the last update, you talk to one person on WhatsApp and nobody else.
A briefed detectorist
The detectorist reads your map pin and studies your photos of the spot and of the band before setting out, rather than arriving cold.
Unlikely cases get an honest answer
Some losses, such as a ring dropped over the side of a boat, leave little to work with. When yours looks like one of them, we tell you before you spend anything.
Costs before commitments
We explain the costs before any search is booked, and you decide from there.
The open Atlantic on one side, the Banks on the other
The water on Eleuthera changes with the side of the island you were on.
Bigger waves or shallow water
Beaches on the Atlantic side, such as French Leave and the coves past it, can have bigger waves than beaches on the shallow side known as the Banks. At the Glass Window Bridge the deep blue Atlantic lies on one side of the road and the calm Bight of Eleuthera on the other.
The Devil's Backbone
The Devil's Backbone, a line of barely submerged coral reef, stretches across the northern edge of Harbour Island and Eleuthera, and snorkelers explore it. Pink Sands Beach has an outlying reef too. If something went on a snorkel trip out to a reef, tell us the name of the stop and roughly when.
Where the waves get up
Surfer's Beach takes powerful Atlantic waves, and James Cistern gets surf with southerly winds. On days like that, tell us whether the loss came in the break, in the wash at the shoreline or on the sand above it.
Questions about Eleuthera and Harbour Island
My wedding band came off on Pink Sands Beach during our honeymoon. Where do we begin?
Pink Sands Beach runs along the Atlantic side of Harbour Island, with a coral reef lying offshore in front of it. The first question is whether the band went on the dry sand, at the water's edge where the wet sand shows the pink most, or while you were swimming. Then tell us where you came onto the beach and roughly how far along it you walked before settling.
Can an Oura ring that slipped off snorkeling at Gaulding's Cay Beach be found?
The snorkeling at Gaulding's Cay starts just off the beach, over soft corals and sea anemones, with bonefish around. Mark where you went in and where you climbed out, and say whether you stayed near the shore or followed the fish out along the corals.
We lost the golf cart key somewhere in Dunmore Town. Is it worth writing?
Yes, if you can retrace the day. On Harbour Island people hop in a golf cart to get around the narrow streets of Dunmore Town, so the key could be at any stop you made: where the ferry came in, somewhere along Bay Street, the way down to Pink Sands. List the stops in order and say whether the key was on a metal ring or a plastic fob.
A watch went at French Leave Beach in Governor's Harbour on a windy day.
French Leave, also called Club Med Beach, is on the Atlantic side, and on windy days the waves there can make swimming awkward. Think back to the last time you checked the time on it, and tell us what you did between then and noticing it was gone. If you followed the beach road on toward Twin Coves, mark each cove where you stopped.
I lost a necklace at Ten Bay Beach, near the casuarina trees.
Ten Bay Beach is in Savannah Sound, south of Governor's Harbour, and its large casuarina trees shade the sand in the morning before the afternoon sun takes over. If you moved from the shade into the sun, or back, drop a pin for both places.
What about a phone dropped at the Glass Window Bridge?
Start with where you were standing. At the bridge a narrow strip of rock separates the deep blue Atlantic from the calm Bight of Eleuthera, and people walk up and down the bridge or climb the rocky bluff just north of it for the view. Tell us which of those you did and pin the place you noticed. If the phone went over the edge into the sea, that is a long shot, and you would hear that from us first.
An earring fell out at Surfer's Beach, south of Gregory Town.
Surfer's Beach has soft white sand and powerful waves off the Atlantic, sometimes shoulder high. Say whether you were out on a board, playing at the edge of the water or watching from the sand, and describe the earring itself, its metal, its size and whether it had a stone.
Which side of Lighthouse Beach matters for a lost bracelet?
Both do, because Lighthouse Beach, at the southernmost point of Eleuthera, has two bodies of water. The Exuma Sound side has hidden caves and snorkeling just a walk off the beach, while the Atlantic side looks out toward Half Moon Cay. The path in is somewhat difficult, so tell us the way you walked down as well as the side you swam on.
Eleuthera and Harbour Island
Name the beach, and the side of the island
Wherever you are reading this from.
Write to us on WhatsApp with the beach, the island it is on and the pin you saved. A picture of the band or whatever else went missing can follow when you find one.