Brazil
Lost a wedding ring on vacation in Brazil?
Six stretches of coast have their own pages. This one sends you to yours and covers Ilhéus, Manaus, Belém and Porto Alegre.
A band lost on a Brazilian beach can be searched for once the trip comes down to one beach and one part of it. The size of the country matters far less than two things you can work out today: the last hour you are sure it was on your hand, and where you were standing or swimming then.
Ring Seekers is a lost ring and jewellery recovery service that works with experienced local metal detectorists to search for a ring, wedding band, watch, keys or phone lost in Brazil. Tell us what happened and where. We choose an experienced detectorist who knows the place, brief them with your map and photos, and tell you honestly if the odds are poor.
If you already know the coast, its page goes beach by beach. Stay here if the trip crossed several states or ended in a city those pages leave out.
The Cocoa Coast, two Amazon cities and the far south
Most of the coast visitors know, from Ceará to Santa Catarina, is split across the six area pages. Ilhéus, on the Cocoa Coast of southern Bahia, is not.
Two cities lie on river water. Manaus is a metropolis in the middle of the Amazon, and Belém stands on Guajará Bay, with its historic market on the banks of the Guamá River. In southern Brazil, Porto Alegre has the Guaíba waterfront, where locals and visitors gather each evening to watch the sun go down.
What you can expect from us
A single thread on WhatsApp
Questions, pins, photos, the brief and the result all sit in one WhatsApp conversation with one person at Ring Seekers, so nothing has to be explained twice.
Your pins go out unchanged
The detectorist sees your map pins and photos exactly as you sent them, with your notes on the day.
Odds you can weigh
Before you decide anything, we say what makes your case easier or harder: how sure the pin is, whether it went on sand or in water, and how much ground is left to cover.
Costs in the chat first
We explain the costs before any search is booked. Nothing is arranged until you have read them and replied.
Our Ring Finder Service Locations in Brazil
Pick your coast, or read on for the cities
Most beach holidays in Brazil fall on one of six stretches, each with a page that works through it town by town. Ilhéus, Manaus, Belém and Porto Alegre sit outside them, so their cards carry the detail here.
Six coast pages, four cities and a river village
Fortaleza, Jericoacoara, Natal and Pipa
Ceará and Rio Grande do Norte: the Fortaleza seafront, Cumbuco, Jericoacoara with its beaches, sunset dune and Lagoa do Paraíso, the city beaches of Natal and the beaches at Pipa. Ponta Negra in Natal is on that page.
Porto de Galinhas, Maragogi and Maceió
Pernambuco and Alagoas, from Boa Viagem in Recife through Porto de Galinhas and Praia dos Carneiros to the Maragogi reef pools, Maceió and Praia do Francês, with the bays of Fernando de Noronha.
Bahia
Salvador, Praia do Forte, Morro de São Paulo, Itacaré, Taipu de Fora, Arraial d'Ajuda and Trancoso. Ilhéus is in Bahia too, but it has a card of its own below.
Rio de Janeiro, Búzios, Cabo Frio and Ilha Grande
Copacabana and the rest of the city beaches from Leme to Barra da Tijuca, then Niterói, Búzios, Cabo Frio, the Arraial do Cabo beaches, Paraty and Ilha Grande out to Lopes Mendes.
São Paulo coast
The São Paulo coast: Ubatuba, São Sebastião, Guarujá and the Santos seafront on the mainland, Ilha Anchieta, and Ilhabela out to Castelhanos and Bonete.
Santa Catarina
Florianópolis and its beaches, Joaquina and its dunes among them, Bombinhas, Balneário Camboriú, Garopaba, Guarda do Embaú, Siriú and Praia do Rosa.
Ilhéus
With over 70 kilometres of beaches, Ilhéus needs the stretch settled before anything else. The south is where the resorts and restaurants are. Guided stand-up paddle, kitesurfing and Hawaiian canoe trips go out through Pontal Bay, so a loss on the water there starts with where the group set off.
Manaus
Ponta Negra, the best-known of the Manaus river beaches, is where visitors and locals meet. In the centre of Manaus, much of what visitors come to see is around Praça Largo de São Sebastião, and the Adolpho Lisboa Municipal Market sells regional food. River cruises set out from the city along the Amazon rivers. On land, name the square, the market or the street, and the hour.
Alter do Chão
Alter do Chão, a village near Santarém in Pará, has river beaches that appear between August and December. From its pier you can watch the Amazon meet the blue water of the Tapajós at sunset. Tell us which beach it was and the day.
Belém
Mercado Ver-o-Peso stands on the banks of the Guamá River, and the Estação das Docas complex serves regional dishes and drinks. For a loss at a stall or a table, name it and the time you were there.
Porto Alegre
A walk along Rua da Praia in the city centre can end on the Guaíba waterfront, where people gather every evening for the sunset over the water. After dark, Cidade Baixa is the part of town for bars, restaurants and live music.
Places we cover in Brazil
- Fortaleza, Ceará
- Jericoacoara, Ceará
- Natal, Rio Grande do Norte
- Pipa, Rio Grande do Norte
- Porto de Galinhas, Pernambuco
- Fernando de Noronha, Pernambuco
- Maragogi, Alagoas
- Maceió, Alagoas
- Salvador, Bahia
- Praia do Forte, Bahia
- Morro de São Paulo, Bahia
- Trancoso, Bahia
- Rio de Janeiro
- Búzios
- Cabo Frio
- Ilha Grande
- Ubatuba
- Ilhabela
- Florianópolis
- Balneário Camboriú
- Bombinhas
- Ilhéus, Bahia
- Pontal Bay, Ilhéus
- Manaus, Amazonas
- Ponta Negra beach, Manaus
- Alter do Chão, Pará
- Mercado Ver-o-Peso, Belém
- Guaíba waterfront, Porto Alegre
What goes missing, from beach towns to river cities
Worn to the beach and out to dinner
- Plain gold wedding bands
- Engagement rings with a raised stone
- Signet rings
- Bangles and chain bracelets
- Hoop earrings
- Religious medals on chains
Carried in a pocket or on a wrist
- An Oura ring worn in the sea
- Sports watches worn paddling
- Phones
- Rental car and apartment keys
- Sunglasses, when the frame is metal
Away from the six coasts
- A paddle trip out through Pontal Bay, Ilhéus
- A day on the southern beaches of Ilhéus
- Buying fruit at Mercado Ver-o-Peso, Belém
- Dinner at the Estação das Docas, Belém
- The Adolpho Lisboa Market, Manaus
- A river beach day at Alter do Chão
- Sunset on the Guaíba waterfront, Porto Alegre
- A night out in Cidade Baixa, Porto Alegre
How a search in Brazil is put together
Whichever state you were in, these are the steps.
The item, the city, the date
On WhatsApp, tell us what went missing, the city and the beach, street or market, and which day it was.
Where, as exactly as you can
Put a map pin on the spot, or two if you are torn between places. Send a photo looking along the beach or street from there, and one of the item or of a similar piece.
Finding someone who can go
We look for a metal detectorist who can reach that beach or waterfront, and they receive your pins, photos and notes in full.
Your yes, then the search
The search is arranged only once you agree. Afterwards you get an honest account of the ground that was covered and of anything that came up.
Questions about Brazil
I fell off a paddleboard on Pontal Bay in Ilhéus, and my Oura ring did not come up with me.
Start with where the trip set off and where you fell in, as closely as you can. Guided stand-up paddle, kitesurfing and Hawaiian canoe trips go out through Pontal Bay, so someone else in the group may have photos that show where you were on the water. Add the ring's size and finish.
My bracelet went on one of the southern beaches at Ilhéus. How do we mark the place on a coast that long?
Use what was behind you. The south of Ilhéus is where the resorts and restaurants are, so the building you were facing is a better marker than any stretch of sand. Pin it, and say whether the bracelet could have gone in the water or only on the beach.
My wedding ring is gone after a river cruise from Manaus, and I think it went on the boat.
If it went over the side into the river, that is a long shot, and you would hear that from us first. If it could have come off before you boarded or after you came ashore, tell us where you waited, where you got off and what you did next, and pin each place.
The apartment keys were gone after a morning at the Adolpho Lisboa Market and the square by the Teatro Amazonas.
Split the morning in two. Tell us which came first, the market or Praça Largo de São Sebastião, whether you sat down anywhere, and the route between them. Say what hangs from the key ring, too.
A bracelet went missing on a day that took in Mercado Ver-o-Peso and the Estação das Docas in Belém.
Go back to the stalls and restaurants you stopped at and ask, in case someone has put it aside. If it has not turned up, list the stalls in the order you visited them, say which part of Ver-o-Peso by the Guamá River you were in, and pin the route you walked from one to the other.
I noticed my watch was missing after the sunset on the Guaíba waterfront in Porto Alegre.
The first question is whether it landed on the waterfront or went into the water. People gather there every evening for the sunset, so the exact place you stood matters most: pin it, and take a photo looking out over the water from there. If you walked on to Rua da Praia or Cidade Baixa afterwards, say so.
We went from Rio to Salvador, and I cannot say in which city the ring went.
Pin down the city before the beach. Your flight or bus times, hotel bookings and ride app history give a date for every move, and next to them you can usually place the last time you remember the ring. Send us that timeline. The Rio de Janeiro and Bahia pages then go through their beaches one at a time.
Our hotel was in Porto Seguro and a chain went missing on the beach at Trancoso. Where do Trancoso and Arraial d'Ajuda fit?
The Bahia page, which covers Trancoso and Arraial d'Ajuda beach by beach. Read the card for the beach you used, then send us the pin and a photo of the chain.
Brazil
A city, a beach and one pin
Send us a WhatsApp message naming the city and what went missing, and pin the beach, market or waterfront where you last had it.