Gotland, Öland, Stockholm and the north
The clasp gave way, and the necklace is somewhere on Tofta strand
Smågårde is the northern part of Tofta strand, so the first thing to settle is whether your towel lay there or farther along the sand.
Tofta's sand and its fairly shallow water are ground a detectorist can cover properly, so a broken necklace there is not a lost cause. Two things shape the search, where your towel lay and where you went into the sea, and the earlier both are pinned, the better.
Ring Seekers is a lost ring and jewellery recovery service that connects people who lost a ring, wedding band, watch, keys or phone on Gotland or Öland, in Stockholm or in Piteå 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.
Sudersand on Fårö, Kallisbadet and Norderstrand in Visby, Böda Sand on Öland, the city bathing places of Stockholm with Grinda out in the archipelago, and Pite Havsbad near Piteå are on this page too.
Two pins, then the bags
Drop the first pin on the patch where your towel and bags lay, and the second where you walked into the water. Take one photo from the towel towards the nearest jetty, kiosk or building, so the pins can be checked against it. Empty the bags and pockets after that.
While you are still there, try to recall one more thing: was the necklace, ring or watch on you when you went into the sea or the lake, or had it gone already?
Places we cover on Gotland and Öland, in Stockholm and the north
- Fårö
- Sudersand, Fårö
- Kallisbadet (Visby havsbad), Visby
- Norderstrand, Visby
- Tofta strand (Tofta beach)
- Tofta Smågårde
- Böda Sand, Öland
- Lyckesand and the rest of Bödabukten
- Böda hamn
- Stockholm
- Smedsuddsbadet
- Långholmens strandbad
- Norr Mälarstrand bathing jetty
- Söder Mälarstrand dip pier
- Flatenbadet
- Grinda in the Stockholm archipelago
- Piteå
- Pite Havsbad beach
- Norrstrandsbadet, Piteå
- Gläntan, Sandängesstranden
Two islands, the capital and a beach in the far north
Gotland comes first, then Öland, then Stockholm and Piteå.
Sudersand on Fårö
Fårö is reached on the road ferry from Fårösund, and its sand is finer still than on the rest of Gotland. Sudersand, on Fårö, is a long beach of soft sand where the water stays shallow a long way out. Tell us which end of the beach you headed for, and roughly how long you walked before the towels went down.
Tofta strand, south of Visby
Tofta strand is on the west side of Gotland, south of Visby, and a bus runs there from town. Its northern part is the bathing place called Smågårde, where the water is fairly shallow. Restaurants, a campsite, cottages and kiosks stand close to the sand, so add any trip you made up to them during the day.
Kallisbadet and Norderstrand in Visby
Visby havsbad, better known as Kallisbadet, is in the middle of town by the harbour, close to the Almedalen park. People swim from the ladders on its wooden jetty or from a ramp that winds down into the sea, and there is a patch of sand for towels beside the jetty. Norderstrand, in northern Visby, is very shallow, with coarse sand and a stony bottom, and most people swim from its jetty.
Böda Sand and Bödabukten on Öland
On northern Öland, several bathing places, Lyckesand and Böda Sand among them, together make up Bödabukten, one long bay of white sand, with pine woods on the land above it. There is plenty of room along it, which is why it matters which of the bathing places you went to. Böda hamn is a small guest harbour with a jetty you can walk out on.
Smedsudden, Långholmen and the Mälarstrand jetties
Smedsuddsbadet lies in a bay of Riddarfjärden next to Rålambshovsparken, with a beach, a big lawn and a jetty with a ladder. Långholmens strandbad, on the west side of Långholmen, has both sand and grass, so say which of the two you were sitting on. Along Norr Mälarstrand there is a small jetty with a bathing ladder beside the promenade, and at Söder Mälarstrand the dip pier is a wooden frame with an opening in the middle.
Flaten, and Grinda out in the archipelago
Flatenbadet, in the Skarpnäck district, is on the lake Flaten. There are jetties in several places, so name the one you used, and paths through untouched nature lead round the lake. For the archipelago, Grinda is an island reached by boat by way of Vaxholm, with good swimming in summer. Tell us where on the island you swam, and whether the loss could have happened on the boat trip instead.
Pite Havsbad, Norrstrand and Gläntan in Piteå
The beach at Pite Havsbad is a long stretch of fine-grained sand with shallow water, and it is often busy. Norrstrandsbadet is Piteå's most central sandy beach, with a bathing jetty and beach volleyball courts beside it. Gläntan, part of Sandängesstranden between Pite Havsbad and Haraholmen, is another long beach of fine sand with shallow water.
What we do with your message
Nobody to brief twice
Your WhatsApp message reaches the person who stays with your case until it is closed, so nobody new asks you to start again.
The ramp or the ladder, in writing
The detectorist reads your account of the day exactly as you sent it, whether it names the ramp at Kallisbadet, the ladder at Smedsudden or a stretch of Tofta, along with the map and pictures.
All of Bödabukten
If the only answer to where is somewhere on the white sand of Bödabukten, that is a long shot, and you would hear that from us first.
The cost, before any date
We explain the costs before any search is booked. There is no need to reply while the family is still shaking out towels on the beach.
Sand, cobbles and lake water
Not every bathing place on this page is soft sand.
A long wade before you swim
At Sudersand you can wade a long way before the water is deep enough to swim, and the same goes for Pite Havsbad and Gläntan in the north. Tofta is fairly shallow as well. Say whether you noticed the loss on the way out, during the swim or on the walk back to your towel.
Visby's cobbled shore
The two Visby bathing places on this page are not soft sand. At Kallisbadet the water's edge is rounded cobbles, and Norderstrand has a stony bottom under coarse sand. Name the ladder or the part of the ramp you used.
Questions about Gotland, Öland, Stockholm and the north
The clasp on my necklace broke at Tofta, and I only noticed on the bus back to Visby.
That puts both the beach and the bus stop in play. Tell us whether you spent the day at Smågårde, the northern part of Tofta strand, or farther along, and pin the stop too. Say whether you went into the sea with the necklace on.
Keys and sunglasses went off the jetty at Smedsuddsbadet as I climbed out of the water.
The jetty at Smedsuddsbadet has a ladder, and whether they dropped beside it or farther along the boards changes where a detectorist starts. Describe the key ring and fob, and say whether the sunglasses have metal frames. One photo taken from the ladder towards the lawn helps.
My watch went missing during an afternoon on the beach at Pite Havsbad.
The beach is long and often busy, so a pin tells the detectorist what a description cannot. Drop one where your things lay, and a second if you moved during the day. Say too whether you waded into the shallows with the watch on.
My wedding band came off while we were wading at Sudersand on Fårö.
Sudersand has soft sand and water that stays shallow a long way out, so the detail that helps most is your route in the water. Pin where you went in, say roughly how far out you got, and whether you came back the same way or along the shore.
My Oura ring slipped off on the ramp at Kallisbadet in Visby.
At Visby havsbad, which most people call Kallisbadet, you can get in from the ladders on the jetty or from the ramp that winds down into the water, and the shore by the jetty is natural cobble rather than sand. Say how far down the ramp you were, or pin the sand beside the jetty if it went there.
Our phone went missing at Lyckesand, somewhere between the path and the water.
Lyckesand is one of several bathing places along Bödabukten, with Böda Sand another, so check that the name is right first. Then pin the way you came down to the sand, the patch where you sat and any walk along the water, and ring the phone from another one in case someone has picked it up.
An earring slipped out as I climbed into the dip pier at Söder Mälarstrand.
A sunken basket with a net at the bottom hangs in the opening in the middle of that pier, so the question is whether it fell into the opening or over the outer edge of the boards. Mention that it was the dip pier at quay berth 14 and not one of the other jetties there.
My son's watch came off between the volleyball courts and the jetty at Norrstrand in Piteå.
Norrstrandsbadet is a sandy beach with a bathing jetty, and the beach volleyball courts are right beside it, so the court and the jetty mark out the ground well. Pin where he played, where he went into the water and the way he walked between them.
Gotland, Öland, Stockholm and the north
Start with the bathing place
Then the item, and the rest can wait for our questions.
On WhatsApp, tell us what you lost and at which bathing place, for example a gold chain at Tofta or keys at Smedsuddsbadet. We will then ask for the map pins and photos.