Vancouver Island, Victoria to Qualicum Beach
The car keys went missing inside the dog park fence at Springwood Park
Springwood Park in Parksville has two fenced off-leash areas side by side, so a lost set of keys there is somewhere inside a fence line.
Keys dropped inside a fence are a better prospect than keys dropped somewhere along a coast, provided nobody has picked them up. Elsewhere on the island it is still the size of the patch you can point to that matters most, whether that is one pitch at Carnarvon Park in Oak Bay, one beach at Westwood Lake in Nanaimo or one stretch of the Qualicum Beach promenade.
Ring Seekers is a lost ring and jewellery recovery service that connects people who lost a ring, wedding band, watch, keys or phone on Vancouver Island with a metal detectorist who can search there.
Tell us what happened and where. We find a detectorist who can reach the park, field or lakeshore, brief them with your map and photos, and tell you honestly if the odds are poor.
Go back through the gate once more
Turn out your coat pockets, the treat bag and the footwell of the car. Then go back in and cover the ground the dog covered, slowly, eyes a pace ahead of your feet. Ask the other owners in there whether anyone has seen a set of keys, and before you leave, save your location on the phone map from the spot where you stood to throw.
Away from Parksville the first question changes. On Dallas Road Beach in Victoria it is whether you were on the beach or up on the path. At Westwood Lake it is which of the two beaches you swam from. On the Qualicum Beach promenade it is what you were level with: a picnic table, the concession or the viewing platform at the Memorial Roundabout.
Vancouver Island places we cover
- Victoria: Dallas Road Beach, James Bay
- Holland Point, James Bay
- Esquimalt Lagoon, Colwood
- Oak Bay: Carnarvon Park and the Rotary Water Park
- Back gardens in Victoria, Oak Bay and Saanich
- Nanaimo: the Harbourfront Walkway
- Pipers Lagoon Park, Nanaimo
- Westwood Lake Park, Nanaimo
- Parksville Bay beach and Rathtrevor Beach
- Parksville: Springwood Park and its off-leash dog areas
- The Coombs to Parksville Rail Trail, from Springwood Park
- Qualicum Beach: the sand and the waterfront promenade
- Qualicum Beach Community Park
- Sports fields, driveways and home gardens across the island
Dog parks, playing fields, a lake and the tidal flats
Named places from Victoria to Qualicum Beach, with the landmark worth mentioning at each.
Rathtrevor Beach and Parksville Bay
South of Parksville on Highway 19A, Rathtrevor Beach has a wide sandy beach backed by tall Douglas firs, with a large day-use and picnic area along its east shore. In Parksville Bay, the town beach has warm, shallow water at high tide, and at low tide the sea pulls back about a kilometre to leave broad sand flats. On the flats, the direction you walked out and the time matter more than anything else.
Springwood Park, Parksville
Springwood Park is the main sports field complex in Parksville. It has a sports field for soccer and field hockey, and baseball and softball diamonds either side of the tennis courts. The two fenced off-leash dog areas have a covered shelter with a picnic table, and the Coombs to Parksville Rail Trail starts here.
The Qualicum Beach waterfront and Community Park
At high tide, walkers, cyclists and dog owners on the Qualicum Beach waterfront use the paved promenade to stay dry, and at low tide wide stretches of white sand open up below it. The promenade has picnic tables and shade trees, with a concession in the middle of the waterfront and the Waterfront Viewing Platform at the Memorial Roundabout. Qualicum Beach Community Park has playgrounds, a skatepark, a BMX track, off-leash dog parks, playing fields and walking trails.
Westwood Lake, Nanaimo
Westwood Lake sits in the foothills of Mount Benson, with a trail right round it. The main beach is by the paved parking lot. The second beach, with a small playground, is by the gravel lot, and past it, towards the south side of the park, is a fishing float. Boats without engines, and boats with electric motors, go out on the lake.
Pipers Lagoon and the Harbourfront Walkway
Pipers Lagoon Park is built on an isthmus that runs out to a rocky headland, with twisting trails to a number of seaside lookouts. People beachcomb there all year, fly kites on windy days, and a few swim in summer. In the city centre, the Harbourfront Walkway is a multi-use trail along the Newcastle Channel and the downtown waterfront.
Dallas Road Beach and Holland Point, Victoria
Both are in James Bay, and both have beach access, a water view and paths. If you walked down onto the beach, the place you came down is your first landmark. If you stayed up top, the path you took and where you stopped along it will do.
Esquimalt Lagoon, Colwood
West of Victoria, Ocean Boulevard runs the length of the sand spit that closes off Esquimalt Lagoon, with parking all along it. The ocean side is a long sandy beach with plenty of driftwood, and on the lagoon side people kayak. Say which side you were on and where you parked.
Carnarvon Park, Oak Bay
Carnarvon Park is a sports park with houses on every side. It has playing fields for rugby and soccer, ball diamonds with a score-keeping concession building, tennis courts and a lacrosse box, and the Rotary Water Park and its playground are right next door.
Between your message and a search
Keys count as much as rings
A car fob or a house key is worth a message just as much as a wedding band. We take the same care over both.
Your photos, read closely
Before anyone goes out, we go through your photos with you for the detail that places the spot: a fence post, a goalpost, the edge of a path.
Poor odds, said early
Keys that fell somewhere along the Coombs to Parksville Rail Trail, with no idea where, are a long shot, and you would hear that from us first.
Costs in writing
The cost of a search reaches you as a written message you can reread or show someone at home, and nothing is booked until you reply.
Fences, fields, fresh water and the sea
Grass, lake water or salt water: each one needs different details from you.
Fields and dog parks
Springwood Park, Carnarvon Park and Qualicum Beach Community Park all have playing fields. Tell us if anyone has played on that field since you were there, and send the fixture or the practice time if yours was a game.
Westwood Lake
Nothing here rises or falls with the sea. Say which beach, and roughly how deep the water was where you were: knee, waist or chest.
Salt water in Victoria and Nanaimo
Dallas Road Beach, Esquimalt Lagoon, Pipers Lagoon, Rathtrevor, Parksville Bay and the Qualicum Beach sand are all on the sea. Write down when you last had the ring and when you missed it; those two times go against the tide table.
Questions about Vancouver Island
Car keys went missing in the off-leash dog area at Springwood Park in Parksville.
Springwood Park has two fenced off-leash areas side by side, so start with which one you were in and whether you went through to the other. Mark where you stood to throw, where the dog did most of its running, and whether you sat at the picnic table under the covered shelter. A photo of the spare key or fob shows exactly what the detectorist is looking for.
Is it worth renting a metal detector for a ring lost in our garden in Saanich?
Sometimes. When you know the bed or the corner of lawn and it happened in the last day or so, a hired detector and a patient afternoon may settle it. If you have tried already, or it could be anywhere between the back door and the gate, write to us with the jobs you were doing that day, which beds you worked in, and whether any soil or clippings have gone to the compost or the green bin since.
Westwood Lake, Nanaimo: I came out of the water without my Oura ring.
Westwood Lake has two beaches: the main one by the paved parking lot, and a second by the gravel lot, with a small playground. Which one did you use? Then describe the swim itself, straight out and back or along the shore, and how the fishing float past the second beach lined up with you. The time you noticed helps as well.
A bracelet went while we were beachcombing at Pipers Lagoon.
Pipers Lagoon Park runs out along an isthmus to a rocky headland, with trails to several seaside lookouts. Say how far towards the headland you got, which lookouts you stopped at, and whether you were down on the beach, on the rocks or on a trail. Give the time too, because this is salt water and the tide will have moved since.
I lost my ring out on the sand at Rathtrevor Beach while the tide was low.
Rathtrevor Beach is long and sandy, and at low tide the sea goes out almost a kilometre. Tell us which way you walked out from the day-use area, what you were doing on the flats and the time you noticed, because the tide comes back in across the sand you walked on.
My watch is gone after a walk along the Qualicum Beach promenade.
The promenade has picnic tables and shade trees along it, a concession in the middle of the waterfront and the Waterfront Viewing Platform at the Memorial Roundabout. Name whichever of those you were nearest when you last saw the watch, and whether you stopped at a table or on the platform. If the strap or clasp had been loose, mention it.
A ring came off on Dallas Road Beach in James Bay, Victoria.
Dallas Road Beach and Holland Point both have beach access and paths. Tell us where you came down, how long you walked along the beach before you stopped, and whether you were down on the beach or up on the path. Add the time you noticed, so it can be set against the tide.
I was coaching at Carnarvon Park in Oak Bay and finished the session without my wedding band.
Coaching means moving about, so list the drills and where you stood for each: behind the posts, on the touchline, by the cones. Carnarvon Park has fields for rugby and soccer as well as ball diamonds, so name the one you were on, and say whether you took the children to the Rotary Water Park next door afterwards.
Vancouver Island
From James Bay to the Qualicum promenade
A rough idea of where is enough to begin.
Start a WhatsApp chat with one line: what is missing, and the town. A pin and the photos from that day can follow, and our reply will say which of them matter for that spot.