Mayo, Sligo and Donegal
Your wedding band came off while you were surfing at Bundoran
Bundoran Beach is just off Main Street, so the buildings above the sand help you say where you were.
Whether a band lost in the surf at Bundoran can be looked for comes down mostly to one question: did it go over sand the tide leaves bare, or farther out, where the water stays? Where you sat on the board and the time you came in usually answer that between them.
Ring Seekers is a lost ring and jewellery recovery service that connects people who lost a ring, wedding band, watch, keys or phone in Mayo, Sligo or Donegal with a metal detectorist who can search there.
Tell us what happened and where. We find a detectorist who can reach the beach, the quay or the park, brief them with your map and photos, and tell you honestly if the odds are poor.
Along with Bundoran in County Donegal, this page takes in Sligo town, Rosses Point, Strandhill and Enniscrone in County Sligo, and Westport and Achill Island in County Mayo.
Before you leave the car park
If it went in the sea, go up the beach to the dry sand, level with where you were in the water, and drop a marker on your phone's map at that point. Write down when you came out and roughly where the water's edge was. On a pier, a street or a pitch, pin the last place you know you had it and the place you first missed it.
Some spots here lie a walk from the town centre: Westport Quay is out along the Quay Road, and the Cliff Road takes you from the middle of Enniscrone to its pier.
Places we cover in Mayo, Sligo and Donegal
- Bundoran
- Bundoran Beach
- Tullan Strand, Bundoran
- The promenade and the Rougey Walk, Bundoran
- Main Street, Bundoran
- Sligo town
- Doorly Park, Sligo
- Rockwood Parade, Stephen Street and O'Connell Street, Sligo
- Strandhill
- Strandhill Beach
- The seafront promenade, Strandhill
- Rosses Point
- The beaches, promenade and pier, Rosses Point
- Enniscrone
- Enniscrone Beach and the promenade
- Enniscrone Pier and the Cliff Road
- Main Street and the Square, Enniscrone
- Westport
- The Octagon and Bridge Street, Westport
- Westport Quay and the harbour
- Bertra Beach, Murrisk
- The Great Western Greenway
- Achill Island
- Achill Sound and the Michael Davitt Bridge
- Dooega Beach (Camport Bay), Achill
- Keel Beach (Trawmore), Achill
- Keem Bay, Achill
- Silver Strand and Golden Strand, Dugort
- Wild Nephin National Park, Ballycroy
- Club grounds and back gardens in all of these towns
Donegal Bay down to Clew Bay and Achill
Read south, from the surf town on Donegal Bay past the Sligo villages to Westport and the island.
Bundoran Beach and the promenade
Bundoran Beach is a sandy beach just off Main Street, facing Donegal Bay and the Atlantic. Surfers use it a great deal, and there are rocks and reefs in the water. The Rougey Walk leaves from the tourist office, follows the promenade past the beach and carries on round the headland. North of the town, Tullan Strand runs to the Erne Estuary, a beach popular with serious surfers and not safe for swimming. For keys or a phone lost on the Rougey Walk, say whether you had reached the headland yet.
Strandhill Beach
Strandhill is a seaside village west of Sligo town, with a popular surf beach. Its waves and riptides make it a beach for surfing rather than swimming. Walking routes lead from the village along the beach and through marram-covered dunes to the south, and the cannon on the seafront is the easiest marker to give.
Rosses Point, the beaches and the pier
At Rosses Point, a seaside village north of Sligo town, the promenade leads out to the pier and the statue of the Lady Waiting on the Shore, and farther on the Metal Man stands in the water. Beyond the village, a long stretch of fine sand is backed by high dunes and a ring of boulders, and is best explored at low tide.
Sligo town and Doorly Park
In Sligo town, Rockwood Parade runs along the banks of the Garavogue River. Doorly Park, beside the river, has a playing pitch, a multi-use games area and a playground, and beyond them lakes, woodland and a nature trail.
Enniscrone, the beach, promenade and pier
Enniscrone is a seaside town on Killala Bay, with a long sandy beach backed by dunes. The promenade runs from the Cliff Baths by the pier to the Hollows, where people park and cross the dunes to the sand. Main Street meets the Cliff Road at the Square, and the Cliff Road leads on to the pier, a sheltered spot where swimmers gather.
Westport, the Quay and Bertra
A tree-lined river runs through the middle of Westport, and the Octagon and the Clock Tower are landmarks anyone in town can find again. The Quay lies out along the Quay Road, and something dropped off it into the harbour can be looked for too. At Murrisk, Bertra is a wide sandy strand on the edge of Clew Bay, popular with walkers and kite surfers. The Great Western Greenway starts in Westport and runs to Achill.
Achill Sound and Dooega
The road onto Achill crosses a bridge from the Corraun Peninsula, the Michael Davitt Bridge, to Achill Sound. The Great Western Greenway arrives at Achill Sound too. On the island's south side, the village of Dooega has its own beach, also known as Camport Bay.
Keel, Keem and Dugort
Keel Beach, also called Trawmore, starts on the edge of Keel village and runs east towards the Minaun cliffs. Keem Bay is a sheltered beach at the head of a valley, with cliffs on either side. On the north side of the island, below Slievemore, Dugort has the Silver Strand and the Golden Strand facing Blacksod Bay, the Golden Strand with dunes behind it and pebbles along one edge.
Behind the WhatsApp number
From hello to the result
Whoever reads your first WhatsApp message stays with the case, and it is the same person who tells you how the search went.
Everything goes to the detectorist
Your pins and photos travel with the hour you noticed, and with whether you were on a board, on your feet in the shallows or sitting on a bench.
A long ride, no known stop
Keys dropped at an unknown point on the Greenway, or a band lost out among the reefs at Bundoran, is a long shot, and you would hear that from us first.
Money talked through first
We explain the costs before any search is booked, and only once you have agreed to them do we look for a date.
Surf, tide and solid ground
Atlantic beaches where the tide matters, and ground the sea never covers.
Reading the tide for your hour
The Marine Institute publishes tide predictions for places that include Sligo and Achill Island. The hour you give us can then be set against the state of the tide.
Reefs at Bundoran, riptides at Strandhill
Bundoran has rocks and reefs among its surf, and Strandhill has riptides. Say where you went out, where you came back in, and whether the water carried you sideways before you got out.
Piers, pitches and pavements
Much of this page is hard ground or grass: a pier, a quay, a pitch, a garden at home. Sketch it from memory, mark anything fixed you passed, and send the sketch with your pin.
Questions about Mayo, Sligo and Donegal
Surfing off Bundoran Beach, I lost my wedding band.
Where you paddled out and where you came back in, each placed against a building on Main Street or a point on the promenade. Whether you sat over sand or near the rocks and reefs. The hour you got out, so the tide that day can be read off. Any photo of the band, a wedding picture included.
My phone went missing somewhere on Westport Quay.
Tell us which part of the Quay you walked, whether you sat on a bench or stood by the car, and where you parked. If it could have gone over the edge into the water, say where and at what time. Say what the case looks like. If you went on into Westport afterwards, list those stops as well.
Can car keys dropped somewhere on the Great Western Greenway be searched for?
The places you stopped are what a search can work with. Mark each gate, bridge, bench or café where you got off the bike, and the point where you reached for the keys and found them gone. A ride recorded on a phone app shows the route and where you paused.
A smartwatch came off while I was surfing at Strandhill.
Tell us where you went in, using the seafront cannon as the reference, whether you came out farther along towards the dunes, and how long you were in. Add the make and model of the watch and a picture of the strap.
We walked the promenade at Rosses Point, and one earring is missing.
The promenade leads from the village out to the pier and the Lady Waiting on the Shore statue. Tell us where you joined it, any bench or wall you rested on, and how far towards the pier you got. Put the other earring beside a teaspoon and photograph the two, so its size is clear.
I took my ring off to swim at Enniscrone Pier, and it was not in my bag afterwards.
Swimmers gather at the pier, so say where your bag sat while you were in, whether anyone moved it, and where you changed. Add the walk back along the Cliff Road to Main Street and any stop for a coffee.
A bracelet came off at Doorly Park in Sligo.
Doorly Park has a playing pitch, a multi-use games area, a playground and paths through the woodland by the lakes. Say which of them you were on, which way you came in, and the last moment you are sure the bracelet was on your wrist.
My Oura ring came off on the beach at Dooega, on Achill.
Dooega Beach, also called Camport Bay, is used for surfing, walking, fishing and canoeing, so say which of those you were doing. Pin where you spent the day on the sand, and give the time you first noticed your finger was bare. The Marine Institute's tide predictions for Achill Island then show whether the tide was in or out at that hour.
Mayo, Sligo and Donegal
What went missing, and in which town
Whether you live on this coast or drove out to it for the day.
Tell us on WhatsApp what you lost and which town you were in. We ask for the pin and the photos from there, and for anything lost in the surf, the time you came out of the water.