Malta
Lost a ring or watch in Malta?
From the pocket beach on the Marfa ridge to the reddish-orange sand of San Blas below Nadur.
There is often still a chance with a watch or ring lost on Malta or Gozo. Each detail that shrinks the ground helps, and when a holiday crossed between islands, the first detail is which island.
Ring Seekers is a lost ring and jewellery recovery service that works with experienced local metal detectorists to search for a ring, wedding band, watch, keys or phone lost in Malta. Tell us what happened and where. We choose an experienced detectorist who knows the bay, brief them with your map and photos, and tell you honestly if the odds are poor.
Malta's larger sandy beaches are in the north
The larger sandy beaches and the main coastal resorts are in the northern part of Malta. The south coast is a different shore: below Qrendi, cliffs rise straight out of the sea.
Gozo has plenty of out-of-the-way rocky inlets with clear water, and the sand, where there is any, is not always golden: the islands have red sand as well. The colour of the sand, or its absence, tells us a lot.
How the work is split
One chat for both islands
Malta, Gozo or the crossing between them: nothing is handed across to another desk. The WhatsApp chat you open is the one the detectorist's findings come back through.
Your words go into the brief
Whoever takes the search on is handed what you sent us, the dropped pin, the pictures and your own telling of the day, and reads it before setting out.
Thin odds said plainly
When your account points to open water rather than ground someone can stand on, you hear that from us early, without dressing it up.
Island, bay, pin, picture
Those four, in that order, answer most of our questions. If the item has no photo of its own, a picture of one like it does the job.
Costs talked through first
We explain the costs before any search is booked, and saying no at that point is fine.
Our Ring Finder Service Locations in Malta
Malta and Gozo, place by place
Each area page listed above gets one card here, with a detail that page leaves out. After them come San Blas on Gozo, then Kalkara and the Three Cities, across the Grand Harbour from Valletta.
From the Marfa ridge to the Grand Harbour and over to Gozo
Malta north
The Malta north page covers the Mellieħa bays, Golden Bay and Għajn Tuffieħa, and St Paul's Bay with Buġibba and Qawra. Slugs Bay is not on it: a secluded pocket beach on the Marfa ridge overlooking Mellieħa, with a few square metres of sand, reached over difficult ground down a cliff slope. If something went on that climb down, say so.
Gozo and Comino
Xlendi, Marsalforn, Ramla, Mġarr harbour, Dwejra with its Inland Sea, Mġarr ix-Xini and the Blue Lagoon on Comino each have a card on the Gozo and Comino page. If your Gozo day ended somewhere else, the village you set out from is the best clue to give us.
Sliema, St Julian's and Valletta
The lidos, bays and harbour sides from Sliema round to Valletta are on the Sliema, St Julian's and Valletta page. One thing to add from the Sliema promontory: one side looks across the water to Valletta, the other out to open sea, and which of the two you faced tells us which shore you were on.
Malta south
Marsaxlokk and its harbour, Delimara, St Thomas Bay, Marsascala and Pretty Bay at Birżebbuġa are on the Malta south page. Birżebbuġa's shoreline follows a bay called St George's, so if that name came up, read the St George's question further down.
San Blas Bay, below Nadur
San Blas is a small, secluded bay in the coastal area of Nadur, often called the little sister of Ramla, and it shares Ramla's reddish-orange sand. Green vegetation surrounds it, and the clear water is good for swimming and snorkelling. The road down from Nadur is steep and narrow, and the last part is closed to traffic, so visitors walk the final stretch.
Kalkara, beside Birgu
Kalkara sits in the bay east of Birgu and has kept the feel of a sleepy fishing harbour. A small boatyard stands at the heart of the bay, and from behind it a footpath winds through an olive grove up to Vittoriosa. Kalkara Creek is also known as English Creek, so either name will do.
Vittoriosa, Senglea and Cospicua
These are the Three Cities, and each has a second name: Vittoriosa is Il-Birgu, Senglea is L-Isla and Cospicua is Bormla. An afternoon there may come back to you under either set of names, so send whichever you remember and we will match them up.
Places we cover in Malta
- Mellieħa
- St Paul's Bay
- Buġibba
- Qawra
- Slugs Bay, Mellieħa
- Golden Bay and Għajn Tuffieħa
- Sliema
- St Julian's
- Valletta
- Kalkara
- Vittoriosa
- Senglea
- Cospicua
- Marsaxlokk
- Marsascala
- Birżebbuġa
- Victoria, Gozo
- Mġarr, Gozo
- Xlendi, Gozo
- Marsalforn, Gozo
- Nadur, Gozo
- San Blas Bay, Gozo
- Ramla, Gozo
- Dwejra and the Inland Sea, Gozo
- Mġarr ix-Xini, Gozo
- Comino and the Blue Lagoon
Lost on Malta and Gozo
Worn as jewellery
- A wedding or engagement ring
- An eternity ring
- A chain, with or without its pendant
- One earring from a pair
- A charm bracelet
Carried or clipped on
- A diving or sports watch
- A smartwatch or an Oura ring
- A phone
- A car key fob
- Glasses or sunglasses in metal frames
From a towel to a promenade seat
- Walking the last stretch of road down to San Blas Bay
- The climb down the cliff slope to Slugs Bay
- A summer evening on a Sliema promenade seat
- The olive grove path from Kalkara up to Vittoriosa
- A swim off Pretty Bay at Birżebbuġa
Arranging a search on the islands
None of it needs you to still be on the islands.
Tell us what came off, and on which island
A WhatsApp message is enough to begin: the item, the island, the bay or street, and whether you were on sand, rock or pavement at the time.
Pin and pictures
Drop a pin where it happened, even weeks later. From the photos on your phone we want the item itself and anything taken within sight of where it went.
Finding someone who can reach it
We look for a metal detectorist who can get down to that cove, creek or stretch of promenade, and the brief they work from is the one you built in the first two steps.
A date you agree to, then the result
Once you agree a day, the search goes ahead. Afterwards you hear whether the item turned up and which parts of the ground were checked.
Questions about Malta
Does it help that San Blas Bay is only a small beach, if a wedding band went there?
It does, as long as you can say roughly where your towel was. On a small, secluded beach like San Blas, towards one end or in the middle is already a useful answer. The last part of the road down from Nadur is walked, so if the band could have come off on the way, mention that too, and send a photo of it.
My chain went at St George's Bay. Why do you ask which one?
Because Malta has two. One is in St Julian's, on the Sliema, St Julian's and Valletta page. The other is at Birżebbuġa, whose shoreline follows St George's Bay even though its sandy beach goes by Pretty Bay; that one is on the Malta south page. The town you stayed in usually settles it.
We stayed in Nadur and a watch went missing on a day at the beach. Where would you look first?
Nadur takes in the coastal area of San Blas, so that is the first beach we would ask you about. If your day was at Ramla instead, the Gozo and Comino page covers it. Tell us which way you went down, on foot or by car, and send a photo of the watch.
A phone was in my bag at Slugs Bay and was gone by the time we got back to the car. Where does a search at Slugs Bay begin?
On the sand, because there is so little of it. Slugs Bay is a tiny pocket beach with a few square metres of sand, so that part is soon covered. After that comes the way down, over difficult ground along a cliff slope. Tell us where you last used the phone, and drop a pin where you parked.
An earring went missing on the walk from Kalkara up to Vittoriosa. What should we send you?
The route. The path begins behind the small boatyard in the middle of Kalkara's bay and winds through an olive grove before it reaches Vittoriosa, also called Birgu. A pin at the boatyard end, another where you noticed the earring had gone, and a photo of the one that is left give a detectorist the whole route.
A bracelet went somewhere between Birgu and L-Isla. Are those two places?
They are, but you may have seen both under other names too. Birgu is Vittoriosa and L-Isla is Senglea, two of the Three Cities, and the third, Cospicua, is also called Bormla. Send the names as you remember them and a photo of the bracelet, then mark on the map where you ate, sat or shopped.
Metal-framed sunglasses were left on a seat on the Sliema promenade one evening. Can a search still help?
It can. The promenade has plenty of seats, so a pin on the one you used matters more than the name of the street behind it. Add roughly what time you got up, and a photo of the frames. If they went over the edge into the sea, that is a long shot, and you would hear that from us first.
Malta
Send the bay, the island and a pin
A few lines are enough to start: what the item is, which island you were on, and a map pin on the spot. Send them to us on WhatsApp.