Corsica
A wedding band gone over the side of a boat in the bay of Calvi
Before the boat moves, save its position and note the depth on the boat's screen.
Whether a wedding band that went over the side in the bay of Calvi can be found depends on the depth under the boat and on how exactly its position was saved. Calvi's beach shelves very gently into shallow water, so a boat lying close in may have been over water you could stand in. Over deep water the band is a long shot, and you would hear that from us first.
Ring Seekers is a lost ring and jewellery recovery service that connects people who lost a ring, wedding band, watch, keys or phone in Corsica with a metal detectorist who can search there.
Tell us what happened and where. We find a detectorist who can reach the spot, brief them with your map and photos, and tell you honestly if the odds are poor.
Before the anchor comes up
If you are still on board, save where the boat is lying before anyone moves it: a pin on your phone, or the position on the boat's own screen. Note the depth that screen shows, which side the band went from, and whether the anchor was down or the boat was drifting. Then take one photo towards the citadel and one towards the pine wood.
Send those facts as they are, even the ones you are unsure of. A photo of the band, however old, can follow later.
Places we cover in Corsica
- Calvi
- Plage de Calvi and the pine wood
- The bay of Calvi
- Calvi marina, below the citadel
- Boat trips from Calvi to Scandola
- Ajaccio
- Plage Saint-François
- Plage du Trottel
- Plage du Lazaret (Corse Azur), Aspretto
- Plage du Ricanto, also called Tahiti
- Marinella and the coves of the Route des Sanguinaires
- Porto-Vecchio
- The haute ville of Porto-Vecchio
- The marina, Porto-Vecchio
- Palombaggia and Santa Giulia
- Bonifacio
- The Marina, the quai Comparetti and the quai d'honneur
- The Rastello
- The haute ville of Bonifacio and the Place Manichella
- Rondinara
- The Lavezzi islands, by shuttle from the port
Beaches, quays and old streets
Beaches in all four towns, and the quays and old streets of Porto-Vecchio and Bonifacio.
Plage de Calvi and the pine wood
Calvi's long beach starts a few steps from the marina, still in the town centre, and curves round the bay with the Genoese citadel in view. A pine wood borders the sand, a wooden walkway runs beside it from town, and the beach tram stops all the way along. Pedalos, catamarans and jet-skis go out from the beach. Tell us the stop, the walkway or the car park you used.
The bay and the marina, Calvi
Fishing boats and pleasure boats tie up in the marina at the foot of the citadel. For a loss on the quay, the spot where you stood is what counts. For one from a boat out in the bay, it is where the boat lay and how deep the water was. Boat trips also leave the port for the red cliffs of Scandola.
Saint-François and the Trottel, Ajaccio
These are the two beaches you can walk to from the centre of Ajaccio, and the town keeps lifeguards on both. Saint-François lies at the foot of the citadel, close to the shops and the historic centre. The Trottel, on the seafront in the quarter of the same name, is the larger of the two and has a volleyball court.
The Lazaret and the Ricanto, Ajaccio
At the entrance to Ajaccio, in the Aspretto quarter, the Lazaret is a beach local people like for its view of the town and its seafront. Sculptures have been set in the water here, which gives a swimmer a fixed point to describe. Beyond it, the Ricanto, also called Tahiti, is three kilometres of fairly fine sand running to the Capitello tower.
Marinella and the Route des Sanguinaires, Ajaccio
Marinella is one of the beaches on the Route des Sanguinaires, the road that follows the western shore of the gulf, and the town keeps lifeguards there too. Farther out, one beach or small cove follows another as far as the Pointe de la Parata, facing the Sanguinaires islands. Say which one, and where you left the car.
The old town, the marina, Palombaggia and Santa Giulia
The haute ville of Porto-Vecchio sits inside its ramparts, looking out over the gulf and the salt marshes. Below the ramparts, the marina has bars, ice cream shops and restaurants where people stroll. South of the town, Palombaggia has fine sand, pink porphyry rocks and umbrella pines facing the Cerbicale islands, and Santa Giulia is a shallow, calm lagoon edged with white sand.
The Marina and the Rastello, Bonifacio
Bonifacio's Marina is both a small fishing port and a harbour for yachts. Shops fill the quai Comparetti and the bottom of the Rastello, the cobbled way that climbs to the old town, and from the cafés along the quay you watch the boats come and go. At sunset people gather on the quai d'honneur to watch the light fall on the boats.
The haute ville, Rondinara and the Lavezzi, Bonifacio
From the Marina, the haute ville is reached on foot up the Rastello or on the little train. Inside the walls, narrow lanes wind between closely packed houses and open onto small squares with views out to sea, such as the Place Manichella. Shuttle boats leave the port for the Lavezzi islands, about half an hour away, and on the road to Porto-Vecchio Rondinara is a shell-shaped bay of white sand and shallow water.
What we do with what you send
One reader for the whole chat
One person reads every WhatsApp message you send, asks about anything unclear and hands the lot to the detectorist with your pin.
The boat facts go first
For a loss from a boat, the brief opens with the position, the depth on the boat's screen and the side the band went from, then your photos and your account of the day.
Sand or cobbles in the south
Around Porto-Vecchio and Bonifacio a loss can be on a beach or on a cobbled lane or quay, so the brief names the beach, lane or square you gave us.
The money side
We explain the costs before any search is booked, and there is time to talk them over with whoever was on the boat with you.
Seagrass banks at Calvi, harbour quays in the south
A gently shelving beach at Calvi, and sand, streets and quays in the two southern towns.
A gentle slope at Calvi
Calvi's beach runs down very gently into shallow water, so the distance from the sand matters. Give your best guess of how far out the boat was lying.
Banks of posidonia
The banks piled on the sand at Calvi are dead leaves of posidonia, an underwater plant that sheds them in autumn and winter. They are left there because they hold the sand in place. Say if you were sitting near one.
Streets, cobbles and quays
In the old towns of Porto-Vecchio and Bonifacio you are on streets and quays, and the Rastello in Bonifacio is cobbled. On a quay, say how close to the edge you were.
Questions about Corsica
Does the depth under the boat decide whether a band lost in the bay of Calvi can be found?
Largely, yes, together with how exactly the spot was saved. Send the depth the boat's screen showed and the position, even if one of them is a guess. Close to Calvi's beach the water is shallow. If the boat was lying well out, say so plainly, because that changes what kind of search is possible, and you should know that before deciding anything.
Does it help to know which way I swam from Saint-François, where my watch came off?
Yes. Saint-François lies at the foot of the citadel, so a photo from where you went in, with the citadel in it, marks the start of the swim. Add which way you swam, roughly how long you were in, and whether the strap was the kind that can open by itself.
At a wedding party on the quay in Bonifacio, my chain snapped and nobody saw where it fell.
Name the quay first: the quai Comparetti with its shops, the quai d'honneur, or the bottom of the Rastello. Then say how close to the edge you were standing. A photo of the party with the boats behind shows the spot, and whether the chain could have gone into the water.
We only know the phone went somewhere near the volleyball court on the Trottel in Ajaccio.
That is a good start, because the court is a fixed point on the larger of the two town beaches. Send a pin and a photo taken from roughly where you lay, with the court in it, and say whether the phone was in a pocket, a bag or loose on a towel.
A pendant came loose while I was diving down to look at the sculptures off Corse Azur.
Corse Azur, also called the Lazaret, is the beach in the Aspretto quarter where sculptures have been set in the water. Tell us which sculpture you were diving at, then whether the clasp or the small ring holding the pendant gave way. A photo of the pendant from before the holiday helps too.
We only remember the train going past behind us when the bracelet went missing on Calvi beach.
The beach tram serves the whole beach, stopping at Calvi l'Alzeta Suprana, U Pinetu, E Padule and Talle, and the stop you got off at tells a detectorist which part to walk first. Add whether you came along the wooden walkway from town or crossed the railway from a car park in the pine wood.
We had ice cream on the marina and dinner in the old town of Porto-Vecchio. Where would the car keys be looked for?
Along the way you went, one stretch at a time. The marina lies below the ramparts of the old town, so mark where you sat down there, the way you walked up and the table where you ate, then the last moment you remember holding the keys.
I think my ring slipped off in the lanes of the haute ville in Bonifacio. Is that too vague?
Not if you can name a square or a view. The lanes keep opening onto small squares that look out to sea, so tell us the one you remember, the Place Manichella for instance, and whether you walked up the Rastello from the Marina or rode up on the little train.
Corsica
The pin from the boat is the best start
Calvi, Ajaccio, Porto-Vecchio or Bonifacio.
Paste it into a WhatsApp message with the depth reading, if you noted one, and what went missing. Without a pin, send a photo taken from where you were and the name of the place, and we start from those.