Kingston, Cobourg and Prince Edward County
You swam off the pier at Breakwater Park and came back without your wedding band
The pier at Breakwater Park in Kingston is an entry point for swimmers, and the part of it you went in from is our opening question.
Most people who lose a band in the lake assume it has gone for good. Beside the pier at Breakwater Park that is not a given. The answer turns on whether it came away during the swim or afterwards, on the pebbles or the sand while you dried off, and on how narrowly you can point to one stretch of the pier.
Ring Seekers is a lost ring and jewellery recovery service that connects people who lost a ring, wedding band, watch, keys or phone in Kingston, Cobourg or Prince Edward County with a metal detectorist who can search there.
Tell us what happened and where. We find a detectorist who can reach the pier, the beach or the playing field, brief them with your map and photos, and tell you honestly if the odds are poor.
The one case for doing it yourself is a garden. If a bracelet dropped onto your own lawn in Picton or Bloomfield and you can point to the flower bed or the corner where it happened, metal detector hire is a reasonable weekend project. The lake beside the pier and the sand on Victoria Beach are work for a detectorist.
One picture from where you climbed in
Go back to where you lowered yourself off the pier into the lake and take a single picture that holds both the pier and the park behind it. The pedestrian bridge and the Time sculpture are landmarks a detectorist can match. From the same spot, save your position as a pin in your map app, and note whether you swam along the pier or straight out.
Away from Kingston the question is the same and only the landmark changes: a lifeguard tower on Victoria Beach in Cobourg, a goalmouth on the Johnson Street Soccer Fields in Picton, the beach access you took at Sandbanks. The pin and the picture can go in your first message.
Towns, parks and beaches on this page
- Kingston
- Breakwater Park, Kingston
- The pier at Breakwater Park
- Grass Creek Park, Kingston East
- Cobourg
- Victoria Beach and Victoria Park, Cobourg
- Cobourg's West Beach and boardwalk
- Presqu'ile beach, Brighton
- Prince Edward County
- Picton
- Johnson Street Soccer Fields, Picton
- Delhi Park and the County dog park, Picton
- Bloomfield and Mill Pond Park
- Sandbanks: Outlet Beach, Sandbanks Beach and Dunes Beach
- Wellington and Wellington Rotary Beach
- Ameliasburgh and Roblin Lake Park
- Your own backyard, anywhere between Kingston and Cobourg
From the Kingston waterfront west to Cobourg, by way of the County
Two Kingston parks, the Cobourg waterfront and Presqu'ile, then Sandbanks and the villages of Prince Edward County.
The pier at Breakwater Park, Kingston
Breakwater Park is on King Street just west of downtown Kingston. The pier, with its pedestrian bridge, is where swimmers get into the lake. On shore the park has headlands, pebble beaches, an upland sand beach and picnic tables.
Grass Creek Park, Kingston East
Grass Creek is a rural City park in Kingston East on the St. Lawrence River shore. Its large sandy beach has a designated swimming area. Away from the water there are a picnic shelter, play equipment, an off-leash dog area, a small boat launch and, in season, a disc golf course.
Victoria Beach and Victoria Park, Cobourg
Victoria Park is Cobourg's event park, with a band shell, a splash pad, playgrounds and picnic areas. Victoria Beach itself is white sand. Its lifeguard towers are each registered to their own location, which makes the nearest tower a handy way to say where you were.
Cobourg's West Beach
Just west of Victoria Park, West Beach is a mix of pebbles and sand, with a naturalized grass area. Its boardwalk runs from Hibernia Street to Ontario Street, so knowing which end you came from already narrows things down.
Presqu'ile, near Brighton
East of Cobourg, Presqu'ile juts into Lake Ontario at Brighton, with a long sandy beach for swimming and trails along the shoreline. Tell us which beach parking lot you used and how far you walked from it.
Sandbanks and Wellington Rotary Beach
West of Picton, Sandbanks has three long sandy beaches. Outlet Beach, the busiest, has shallow water and a gentle drop-off, Sandbanks Beach runs along the Lake Ontario side of the dunes, and Dunes Beach faces the warm, clear water of West Lake. In Wellington, Wellington Rotary Beach is a stony shore with a pavilion, picnic tables and a boat launch.
Johnson Street and Delhi Park, Picton
On Johnson Street in Picton there are three soccer fields with picnic tables and outdoor exercise equipment. Delhi Park, off York Street, has a ball diamond, a playground and the fenced County dog park, with parking lots on Lalor Street and Mary Street.
Bloomfield and Ameliasburgh
Mill Pond Park in Bloomfield has tennis courts, a gazebo with picnic tables, a playground and green space near the Mill Pond. Roblin Lake Park in Ameliasburgh pairs a small swimming beach with a ball diamond, a basketball court and a playground.
What happens after you write
Messages in any order
Send things as you remember them. One person on our side keeps hold of it throughout.
Your pictures, unedited
The photo from the pier or the beach, your pin and the picture of the band or bracelet go to the detectorist as you sent them.
A day that ran together
When the day took in the pier, Grass Creek and a Picton soccer field and you cannot tie the loss to any of them, it is a long shot, and you would hear that from us first.
Costs, then your decision
We explain the costs before any search is booked, so the choice stays with you.
Stones, sand or grass: what to tell us
The lake and the river first, then fields and gardens.
Pebbles and sand in Kingston
Breakwater Park has pebble beaches and an upland sand beach, and Grass Creek Park has a large sandy one. Say if the band went down among the stones, into sand or into the water; if the water, whether you were standing or out of your depth.
Cobourg, Presqu'ile and Sandbanks
Victoria Beach is white sand, and West Beach mixes pebbles with sand. Give the nearest lifeguard tower on Victoria Beach, or which end of the West Beach boardwalk you started from, and whether you swam. At Presqu'ile and Sandbanks, the parking lot and beach access you used do the same job.
On grass in the County
At Johnson Street, the Delhi Park diamond, the Mill Pond tennis courts or your own garden, say which goal end or which side of the court you spent most of the time near, and whether you took off gloves or a jacket.
Questions about Kingston, Cobourg and Prince Edward County
My wedding band came away while I was swimming from the pier at Breakwater Park. Where would a search start?
With the pier. It gives the search a straight edge to work from, so we need where along it you got in and whether you swam beside it or out into the lake. Say whether the band has been loose lately, and whether you noticed straight away or only after towelling off. A photo of the band, or of its partner, completes the picture.
Our daughter came off the field at Johnson Street in Picton without her bracelet.
Johnson Street has three fields, so the first question is which one she played on and whether she was in defence or up front. If she took a fall, say roughly where. Then add the bag area, the picnic tables, and whether you parked on site or across the road at the high school. Is it a chain, a bangle or beads?
I was pushing the swings at Delhi Park in Picton, and later the car keys were not in my jacket.
Delhi Park has parking lots on Lalor Street and on Mary Street, so begin with the one you used. Then trace the visit in order: car, swings, anywhere else in the park, and back. Name the fenced dog park separately if the dog went in there with you. Give the make of the car and anything else on the ring.
Somewhere between a swim and a ball game at Roblin Lake Park, my Oura ring came off.
Roblin Lake Park in Ameliasburgh has a small beach for swimming and a ball diamond, which makes for two very different searches. Tell us which came first and the last point at which you are sure the ring was on. For the game, give your position and whether you wore a glove; for the swim, how deep you went.
My watch strap broke during a round of disc golf at Grass Creek Park.
Begin with the last time you looked at it, then name each hole played after that, marking the tees and any spot where you crouched to pick up a disc. Add the beach or the picnic shelter if you went there. Describe the watch and tell us which half of the strap is still on it.
One of my earrings fell out while the children dug on the sand beach at Breakwater Park.
The park has pebble beaches as well as the upland sand beach, so say whether you moved between them, and whether anyone headed to the water or onto the pier. Mark where the bags and towels were and where the digging happened.
We sat by one of the lifeguard towers on Victoria Beach in Cobourg. Is that useful?
Very. The towers stay put, and each one is registered to its own location. Say which tower it was, whether your spot was nearer the water or nearer Victoria Park, then tell us what went missing and when you last remember having it.
I lost my ring on the sand at Outlet Beach at Sandbanks. Where do we start?
Start with the parking lot you used and the path down to the sand, then how far along the beach you walked before you set up. Outlet Beach has shallow water and a gentle drop-off, so say whether you waded or swam, and whether the ring came off in the water or while you packed up.
A chain snapped on my walk along the West Beach boardwalk in Cobourg, and I never heard it fall.
The boardwalk runs from Hibernia Street to Ontario Street, so say which end you set off from and how far along you got before turning back. Add anywhere you stopped: the grass, the pebbles or the edge of the water. Tell us whether the clasp or a link gave way and roughly how long the chain is.
Kingston, Cobourg and Prince Edward County
Message us from the pier, the beach or home
Pictures and a pin can come afterwards.
On WhatsApp, tell us what came off and roughly where. Our first reply is a short list of questions about that pier, beach or field.