Sardinia
Snorkelling at Cala d'Ambra, you surfaced to find your ring missing
At Cala d'Ambra, close to the centre of San Teodoro, the sea floor in front of the beach is low and sandy.
A ring lost on a snorkel at Cala d'Ambra, or over any sandy bottom in Sardinia, is lying on sand that a detectorist can go over. The search takes its shape from your route through the water: where you went in, and how far you had swum before you noticed.
Ring Seekers is a lost ring and jewellery recovery service that connects people who lost a ring, wedding band, watch, keys or phone in Porto Cervo, San Teodoro, Alghero or Cagliari with a metal detectorist who can search there.
Tell us what happened and where. We find a detectorist who can reach the beach, brief them with your map and photos, and tell you honestly if the odds are poor.
The snorkel, retraced from the beach
Stand at the water's edge where you entered and save that spot on your phone, then save a second one roughly level with the place you think the ring went. Photograph the beach from the water if you go back in, or the sea from the sand if you do not. Write down whether your feet touched the bottom and whether a fin or mask strap came loose around that moment.
Say too whether you stayed over sand the whole time or swam along granite at the edge of a cove, since several Costa Smeralda beaches have both. If the loss was on dry sand instead, the pin from where your towels lay is what we need first.
Places we cover in Sardinia
- Porto Cervo
- The old port and the marina, Porto Cervo
- The Piazzetta delle Chiacchiere and the Sottopiazza, Porto Cervo
- Grande Pevero
- Piccolo Pevero
- Spiaggia del Principe
- The bay of Cala di Volpe
- Liscia Ruja
- Capriccioli
- San Teodoro
- Cala d'Ambra, San Teodoro
- S'Isuledda, San Teodoro
- La Cinta, San Teodoro
- Lu Impostu and Cala Brandinchi, San Teodoro
- Alghero
- Lido di San Giovanni, Alghero
- The Passeggiata Busquet, Alghero
- The old town and the tourist port, Alghero
- Maria Pia and Le Bombarde, Alghero
- Cagliari
- The Poetto, Cagliari
- Marina Piccola, Cagliari
- Calamosca, Cagliari
- The Poetto di Quartu Sant'Elena
From the Costa Smeralda coves to the Poetto
Porto Cervo and San Teodoro belong to Gallura. Alghero and Cagliari each have a town beach.
Porto Cervo, the port and the Piazzetta
Porto Cervo grew up around a natural cove, and the village sits on level ground above the port, with the Stella Maris church looking over the marina. Alleys with shops run from the Piazzetta delle Chiacchiere to the Sottopiazza. A loss on the docks turns on one detail: water or solid ground beneath you when it fell.
Grande Pevero and Piccolo Pevero
A few kilometres from Porto Cervo, Grande Pevero curves round a half-moon bay: soft white sand, and shallow water that deepens gently. Beyond a promontory in the same gulf lies Piccolo Pevero, with fine, light sand among rocks and sloping shallows.
Cala di Volpe, Liscia Ruja and the Principe
On the far side of the promontory, the bay of Cala di Volpe holds four small beaches, Liscia Ruja among them. The water is shallow over a gently sloping bottom, with granite rocks breaking the surface. A small dirt road leads down to Liscia Ruja, which is big enough to have large free stretches. The Spiaggia del Principe lies south of the Pevero gulf.
Capriccioli
South of Porto Cervo, a strip of granite runs out to sea at Capriccioli, with small beaches of fine, light sand among yellow, pink and reddish rocks. The eastern shore has shallow water over a sandy bottom and is sheltered from the mistral. Past pink granite blocks on the western side, the first beach has a small wooden pier where boats can dock.
Cala d'Ambra and s'Isuledda, San Teodoro
Cala d'Ambra is close to the centre of San Teodoro, at the end of a tree-lined walk along Via Cala d'Ambra. Its sand is light and fine, the bottom is low and sandy, and snorkellers, windsurfers and kitesurfers all use it. Follow the road to Cala d'Ambra to its end and turn right for s'Isuledda, a few kilometres south of the town, with fine, light sand and shallow water.
La Cinta, Lu Impostu and Cala Brandinchi, San Teodoro
La Cinta, San Teodoro's best-known beach, is reached on foot from the north edge of the town: a five-kilometre arc of white dunes between a lagoon and a shallow sea, with no rocks. Past Puntaldìa, Lu Impostu is a wide kilometre of soft white sand and low water, and beyond Capo Capicciolu lies Cala Brandinchi.
The Lido di San Giovanni, Alghero
Alghero's town beach is a walk from the centre along the Passeggiata Busquet. Its soft sand runs from the tourist port to the marine hospital, with a row of palms where it meets the town, and it slopes gently into shallow, clear water that suits snorkelling. Part of the Lido is free beach.
Maria Pia and Le Bombarde, Alghero
Just outside the town, Maria Pia has sand dunes covered in old junipers. Le Bombarde, ten kilometres north and three from Fertilia, is a crescent of fine pale sand nearly a kilometre long between reddish rocks, with pines behind it. Its sandy bottom drops quickly, so the water is deep a few metres out.
The Poetto, Cagliari and Quartu Sant'Elena
Cagliari's city beach is broad and sandy, running from Marina Piccola below the Sella del Diavolo to Margine Rosso on the Quartu Sant'Elena side. The seabed stays sandy and shallow for tens of metres out. Behind the seafront runs a path for walkers, runners and cyclists, with kiosks close to the sand. A few kilometres from the centre, Calamosca is a cove of sand and pebbles between Capo Sant'Elia and the Sella del Diavolo.
Your swim, written up for the detectorist
The person who answers first
Your first message, the arranging of a detectorist and the news afterwards all come from the same person in the same chat.
Your route in the water
The detectorist reads where you entered the sea, which way you swam, how long you stayed out and whether you wore fins, next to the spots you saved.
When the odds look thin
If what you tell us leaves too little to go on, that is the first thing we say, and nothing is arranged until you have heard it.
Knowing the costs first
We explain the costs before any search is booked, and whether to go ahead stays with you.
Where the sand stops and the rock starts
Most of these beaches are sand under shallow water. The Costa Smeralda coves add granite.
Sandy floors near the beach
Cala d'Ambra, both Pevero beaches, the eastern shore of Capriccioli, the Poetto and the Lido at Alghero all have sand under shallow water close to the beach.
Granite in the water
Granite rocks break the surface in the bay of Cala di Volpe, and yellow, pink and reddish granite encloses the coves at Capriccioli. The brief notes any rock you swam past. A ring that dropped into a gap between large boulders is a long shot, and you would hear that from us first.
Questions about Sardinia
I only noticed the ring was gone after snorkelling at Cala d'Ambra. Where would anyone begin?
At Cala d'Ambra the sea floor is low and sandy, so a detectorist has sand to work rather than rock. The beach lies near the centre of San Teodoro, at the end of the tree-lined walk along Via Cala d'Ambra, and that end of the walk gives you a fixed point. Estimate how far along the beach from it you went in, and whether you could stand where you were floating.
My watch came off somewhere on the Poetto, and I have no idea which part.
The Poetto is divided by the stops of the old tram, which buses have since replaced. The first stop has a very shallow seabed, and a Spanish tower stands at the fifth. Farther along, the Cagliari stretch gives way to the Quartu Sant'Elena one. Give us the nearest stop, and say whether you were on the path, the sand or in the sea.
My wedding band went on Liscia Ruja, and we moved around the beach all day.
Then the order you moved in is the first thing to send. Liscia Ruja is one of four beaches in the bay of Cala di Volpe and has large free stretches, so mark each place you settled on a map, and say whether the band could have gone on the sand or in the shallows.
A phone slipped into the sea from the little wooden pier at Capriccioli.
That pier belongs to the first beach on the western side of Capriccioli, past the pink granite blocks that separate it from the eastern shore, and boats dock at it. Tell us which side of the pier the phone dropped from and where along it you stood, plus the make.
My engagement ring was gone after we looked at the yachts on the docks at Porto Cervo.
The village stands on level ground above the port, so first think about whether the ring could have gone over the edge into the water or fell on the dock itself. If you went on up to the alleys between the Piazzetta delle Chiacchiere and the Sottopiazza, send those stops too, with a photo of the ring.
We moved from Grande Pevero to Piccolo Pevero that afternoon, and the chain is gone. Which beach comes first?
The last one where you remember wearing it. The two beaches share a gulf, with a promontory between them, and Piccolo Pevero is less than half the size of Grande Pevero. Take a photo from where you sat on each with the islets of Li Nibani in it, so the angle can be matched on the day.
An Oura ring slipped off on the Lido at Alghero. How do I narrow down a beach that long?
The Lido di San Giovanni is bounded by the tourist port at its southern end and the marine hospital at its northern end, with a row of palms along the town side. Say which end you were nearer and which street brought you down to the sand. The ring's size and finish go into the brief as well.
One of my earrings came out at s'Isuledda, south of San Teodoro.
S'Isuledda lies on the headland of the same name, a few kilometres south of the town. From the centre you follow the road to Cala d'Ambra to its end and turn right. The water there is shallow. Say where your towels were, and whether you swam with the earrings in.
Sardinia
Tell us about the swim
Sand, docks and coves around the island.
On WhatsApp, say what is missing and which beach or street you were on. If it went while you were in the sea, include the two spots you saved at the water's edge, and we take it from there.