Eilat and the Dead Sea
You took your wedding band off for the Dead Sea mud, and now you cannot find it
Retrace the afternoon at Ein Bokek in order, from the towel to the shower to the water.
Whether a wedding band taken off for the mud at Ein Bokek can be found comes down to one question, which is where it was put. A towel, a sunbed or the pocket of a bag narrows it to a few steps of ground, and what decides the rest is how clearly you can retrace the order of the afternoon.
Ring Seekers is a lost ring and jewellery recovery service that connects people who lost a ring, wedding band, watch, keys or phone in Eilat or at the Dead Sea with a metal detectorist who can search there.
Tell us what happened and where. We find a detectorist who can reach the beach or the promenade, brief them with your map and photos, and tell you honestly if the odds are poor.
Eilat is on this page too, from the declared beaches on the north shore to the Coral Beach, and so is its promenade, busy until late.
Tip the beach bag out onto a pale towel
Empty the bag, the shoes and every pocket over a light towel first, because a ring tucked away for safekeeping is easy to overlook in a hurry. Then, before the day blurs, write the afternoon down as a list in the order it happened: mud, shower, float, lunch, or whatever yours was. Beside each step, note the thing you were closest to, such as a shade shelter, the lifeguard hut or the deck path.
At the Dead Sea, the regional council runs the central public beaches at Ein Bokek and Hamei Zohar. In Eilat, the declared beaches carry numbers, which makes a spot on the north shore easy to describe.
Places we cover in Eilat and the Dead Sea
- Eilat
- The north shore of Eilat Bay
- North-West beach, Eilat (declared beaches 1 and 2)
- North-East beach, Eilat (declared beach 3)
- The Eilat promenade and its market stands
- The promenade around the marina
- Ophira Park
- The Coral Beach and its reef, Eilat
- Ein Gedi
- The Nahal David and Nahal Arugot trails, Ein Gedi
- Ein Bokek
- Ein Bokek South, the central public beach
- The Ein Bokek promenade
- Hamei Zohar beach
- Neve Zohar
Eilat's shore, then Ein Gedi, Ein Bokek and Hamei Zohar
In Eilat the cards run from the north shore to the Coral Beach. At the Dead Sea they go from the waterfalls at Ein Gedi to Ein Bokek and Hamei Zohar.
North-West beach, Eilat
The North-West beach takes in declared bathing beaches 1 and 2, and each of the two has a lifeguard station. Shade shelters, sunbeds and beach showers line the sand, alongside courts for beach volleyball and football. Name the lifeguard station nearest your things, and the shelter or court beside them.
North-East beach, Eilat
Declared beach 3 lies on the North-East beach, with a lifeguard station, shade shelters and sunbeds, a sports park and a pitch for ball games. If keys or a watch went while someone was playing, mark the pitch as well as your towel.
Eilat's promenade, round the marina
Eilat's promenade has shops and market stands that stay open until late, with restaurants and seaside bars among them. Part of it runs around the municipal marina, on the north shore of the bay. For a phone or a bracelet missed on an evening walk, the shops and stalls you stopped at are the first places to mark.
The Coral Beach, Eilat
South of the city centre, opposite the Eilat Field School, the Coral Beach gives easy access to the reef. Small children paddle in shallow pools by the shore, and bridges cross the reef so snorkellers and divers can reach its seaward side. Masks and snorkels are for hire on the beach, alongside showers, sunshades and loungers.
Nahal David and Nahal Arugot, Ein Gedi
About a kilometre north of Kibbutz Ein Gedi, on the road along the Dead Sea, the Ein Gedi reserve has two stream trails. The path up Nahal David, laid out for wheelchairs, runs through acacia shade to the first waterfall, with ibexes and hyraxes often close by. Nahal Arugot is the harder hike. If a ring came off while you paddled under a waterfall, name the trail and the pool.
Ein Bokek South, the central public beach
Right in the Ein Bokek resort area, the regional council runs the central public beach, listed among the national bathing beaches as Ein Bokek South. Around the sand are wide lawns, designed shade, and fitness and play equipment, with showers and changing rooms. There is a lifeguard hut, and a deck path leads from the sand into the sea.
The Ein Bokek promenade
A well-kept promenade runs beside the central beach and carries on along the shore for kilometres. Lighting lets people walk it after dark, so tell us whether it was light or dark when you went along it, and which end you started from.
Hamei Zohar beach and Neve Zohar
Hamei Zohar beach sits at the southern entrance to the resort area and is run by the regional council. Chairs and parasols are set out, and a kiosk sells snacks and mud to smear on, so mention where you were standing when yours went on. Neve Zohar, next to the resort area, has places to stay within easy reach of this beach and Ein Bokek.
The person at the other end of the chat
Started from the sunbed
You can begin the chat from the beach with sandy hands and a phone low on battery. The person who replies stays with it through the brief to the detectorist and the result.
Mud, shower, float
The detectorist gets your afternoon as a list in order, not only a map, because the list says where to begin: the spot where the mud went on, the shower you rinsed at, the stretch you floated off.
No moment to point to
A band that went missing some time between breakfast and the drive home, with no moment to tie it to, is a long shot, and you would hear that from us first.
Money, before the diary
We explain the costs before any search is booked.
Floating at one end, sand and paving at the other
At Ein Bokek people float in the shallows. In Eilat they lie on the sand, stroll the paving or snorkel over the reef.
Held up by the salt
The Dead Sea holds so much salt and so many minerals that bathers float on the surface without effort, and its warm water is calm. Say whether you were floating, standing or sitting at the edge when you last felt the ring on your finger, and whether you walked in along the deck path.
Rocky sand
Dead Sea beaches are rocky sand in places. A close photo of the ground where you sat shows the detectorist what they will be working on.
Over the reef at the Coral Beach
The reef at the Coral Beach begins right by the shore. For a ring that slipped off while snorkelling, say which bridge you went in from, whether you stayed over the shallows or swam out along the reef face, and roughly how deep the water was.
Questions about Eilat and the Dead Sea
I slipped my wedding band off before the mud at Ein Bokek, and it is not in the bag.
Start with the spot where the mud went on and the shower where it came off, since those are the two moments your hands were busy. The central public beach has lawns, shade, chairs and sunbeds as well as sand, so say which of them you used and drop a pin for each. Send a picture of the band itself, or of the ring it sits beside on your finger, so the detectorist knows its shape and colour.
Is there any point writing about a ring that came off while I was floating?
It is, as long as you know where you entered the water. The central beaches at Ein Bokek and Hamei Zohar each have a deck path running from the sand into the water, which gives a fixed line to work from. Say roughly how far from that path you drifted, whether you could still stand, and whether you walked in there or somewhere farther along the shore.
My phone went missing on the Eilat promenade, somewhere between the market stalls and the marina.
The shops and market stands on the promenade stay open until late, with restaurants and seaside bars among them, so go back first to the places you stopped. Then trace the walk on a map, put a mark at each stop, and note roughly when the phone was last in your hand. That lets the search begin from the last place you know it was with you.
Sunglasses and car keys were on my sunbed at the North-West beach, and now only the case is there.
The North-West beach is made up of declared beaches 1 and 2, each with a lifeguard station. Tell us which station was nearest, whether you lay under a shade shelter or near the volleyball and football courts, and which way you walked off the sand. Photos of the key fob and the sunglasses help, and so does knowing whether the frames are metal.
We were sitting on the grass in Ophira Park when one earring went.
Ophira Park is in Eilat's northern hotel district, with wide lawns, ornamental trees, seating areas and sculptures by local artists along its winding paths. Name the sculpture or bench closest to where you sat. Photograph the remaining earring beside a coin so its size is clear.
A watch disappeared at Hamei Zohar on a crowded Saturday.
Being central and public, Hamei Zohar beach gets very busy on Saturdays and holidays. Besides the sand it has changing rooms, showers and a snack kiosk, and it links up with the promenade. Tell us where you changed and rinsed, where your towel was, and if the watch came off your wrist for the mud or for a swim.
Our daughter's bracelet went somewhere on the promenade at Ein Bokek.
The promenade beside the central beach has cold water fountains and table tennis tables, which are easy to mark on a map. Draw the route you walked, add every stop, and describe the clasp. Tell us too whether she noticed it was gone while still on the promenade or only back in your room.
Eilat and the Dead Sea
Tell us where it was put down
Eilat's shore and the Coral Beach, the Ein Gedi streams, Ein Bokek and Hamei Zohar.
Open a WhatsApp chat with us from the beach, the car or your room, and start with the beach or the stretch of promenade. The other questions follow one at a time.