Alabama
Glasses or a wedding band gone in the waves on an Alabama beach holiday
Gulf Shores, Orange Beach, Dauphin Island, Mobile Bay and the inland lakes
Alabama's Gulf beaches are white quartz sand, with a trough and a sandbar close to the shore. A wave that catches you side-on can take the glasses off your face or a wedding band off a wet finger before anyone sees where it went. For us a lost ring and lost glasses start with the same three questions. Where were you standing, how deep was it, and what was behind you on the shore?
Ring Seekers is a lost ring and jewelry recovery service that connects people who lost a ring, wedding band, watch, keys or phone in Alabama with a metal detectorist who can search there. Tell us what happened and where. We find a detectorist who can reach the place, brief them with your map and photos, and tell you honestly if the odds are poor.
We have had an enquiry from Orange Beach, Alabama. Away from the coast this page also covers keys and phones lost at the lakes, along with engagement rings, Oura rings, earrings, necklaces, bracelets, chains, Apple Watches, key fobs and hearing aids.
Stand where you stood and photograph the shore behind you
The sand at Gulf Shores and Orange Beach looks the same in both directions, so the buildings have to do the marking for you. Go back to where you were, stand at the water's edge and photograph what is behind the beach: a condo tower, the pavilions at Gulf Place, the Gulf State Park pier, the Perdido Pass jetties or the pier on Dauphin Island. Drop a pin. Write down the time and how deep you were, ankle, knee or waist. At a lake the marks are a dock, a boat ramp or the rope around the swimming area.
Then send it all on WhatsApp with a picture of the ring, or a photo of you wearing the glasses. We look for someone who already does metal detecting in Alabama and can reach your beach or lake, and they get everything you sent.
Areas and towns we cover in Alabama
- Gulf Shores and Orange Beach
- Gulf State Park
- Fort Morgan
- Bon Secour National Wildlife Refuge
- Dauphin Island
- Mobile
- Fairhope and Mobile Bay
- Lake Martin
- Wind Creek State Park
- Smith Lake
- Lake Guntersville State Park
- Oak Mountain State Park
- Little River Canyon
- Birmingham
- Tuscaloosa
- Auburn
The Gulf beaches, Mobile Bay and the lakes further north
The surf beaches of Gulf Shores and Orange Beach
Gulf Place, the main public beach in Gulf Shores, sits where Highway 59 reaches the Gulf, with open air pavilions and volleyball courts. In Orange Beach the Cotton Bayou access is beside The Tides Hotel, and along Perdido Beach Boulevard guests walk out of a high rise condo straight onto the sand. Rock jetties line Perdido Pass. Beach by beach detail is on the page for Gulf Shores and Orange Beach.
Gulf State Park has a lake as well as a beach
The state park lies between the two towns. Its pier runs 1,540 feet (about 470 metres) into the Gulf. The park also has Lake Shelby, a 900-acre freshwater lake, and a large campground, so keys, phones and glasses can go missing on land here as well as in the surf.
Dauphin Island, Fairhope and Mobile
On Dauphin Island the Public Beach and its pier are in the heart of the island, and West End Beach is at the western tip. Fairhope's municipal pier and park, on the eastern shore of Mobile Bay, have a large sandy beach. In Mobile, Langan Park has a lake, a walking trail and pavilions, and Cooper Riverside Park sits downtown beside the Arthur R. Outlaw Mobile Convention Center, facing the port.
Bon Secour's Gulf beach and Little River Canyon
Bon Secour National Wildlife Refuge covers about 7,000 acres of dunes, marsh and pine-oak woods west of Gulf Shores on the Fort Morgan peninsula. The Pine Beach Trail leaves Fort Morgan Road and runs close to 2 miles (3 km) through the dunes to an open Gulf beach. Up on Lookout Mountain near Fort Payne, Little River Canyon National Preserve has Little River Falls and, a short walk away on Highway 35, the Blue Hole, a calm swimming spot on the river.
Lake Martin and Wind Creek State Park
Lake Martin, on the Tallapoosa River, covers 41,150 acres and has 880 miles of shoreline in Alabama Power's figures. Wind Creek State Park, on the lake, has a swimming and day-use area, a marina and boat rentals. For car keys or a phone lost on a boat day, what decides the rest is whether it went in beside a dock or out in open water.
Smith Lake, Lake Guntersville and Oak Mountain
Smith Lake, on the Sipsey Fork, is a 27,316-acre Alabama Power lake. Lake Guntersville State Park sits on the banks of the Tennessee River in northeast Alabama, with a beach complex, a lodge, a campground and 36 miles of trails. Oak Mountain State Park near Birmingham has two beaches and swimming areas, six fishing lakes and more than 100 miles of trails. A loss in Tuscaloosa or Auburn is handled the same way.
How we handle an Alabama search from a distance
Whoever replies also arranges the search
You write to Bartek on WhatsApp. He asks the questions, looks for the detectorist and carries messages both ways.
The detectorist sees your shore photo before the beach
Before setting off, the detectorist has your pin, your photo of the shore, the time and the depth. On a long beach, that photo is what points to the right few metres.
Dry sand, knee deep or past the bar
On dry sand by your umbrella the chances are good. Knee deep inside the sandbar they are fair. Past the bar in breaking surf they are poor, and you hear that in the first conversation.
Gulf, bay or lake changes the plan
The Gulf tide here is small, so the day is picked for calm surf, not for low water. A lake search is planned around depth and season.
What it costs is explained before booking
We explain the costs before any search is booked.
A small Gulf tide, a sandbar close in and two lakes lowered for winter
What a detectorist has to plan around in Alabama.
White quartz sand and a bar near the shore
Rip currents form at gaps in the sandbar and beside the Perdido Pass jetties. Moving water can shift a small item or cover it, which is why the mark and the time matter. A search in the water is timed for a calm day.
One high and one low a day, with little between them
This part of the Gulf usually has one high tide and one low tide a day. The mean range at NOAA's Dauphin Island station is about 1.2 feet (36 cm), and at its Mobile stations, up the bay, about 1.5 feet (46 cm). With so little rise and fall, low tide does not uncover much wet sand.
Warm water in August, cool in February
Tell us the month as well as the beach, because cool February water changes how a search in the water is planned.
Lake Martin and Smith Lake sit lower in winter
Both are Alabama Power storage lakes, drawn down from late autumn into the winter and raised again by early spring. Ground that was under water beside a dock in July may be shallower or dry some months later. Lake Martin is 155 feet (47 metres) at its deepest and Smith Lake is deeper still, so the first thing we ask is how far from the bank you were.
Seven questions about glasses, rings, phones and keys lost in Alabama
My glasses came off under a wave at Gulf Shores and I cannot see to look. What should my wife photograph?
The shore, taken from the water's edge where you walked in. We need whatever stands behind the beach there, so that a detectorist can stand on the same line another day. Add a pin, the time and how deep you were, plus a photo of you wearing the glasses.
My husband's ring came off knee deep at Cotton Bayou, before the sandbar. Does the sandbar make things worse?
No, inside the bar is the better place to have been. The trough between the beach and the bar is usually the calmer water. A lost wedding band there, with a rough mark on the shore, can be worked through in lines. Past the bar, in breaking surf, the odds drop.
My daughter's Apple Watch came off in the waves at West End Beach on Dauphin Island. Does the small tide help?
Some of each. NOAA's station on the island shows about 1.2 feet (36 cm) between an average high and low, so the water's edge moves only a little and what she remembers about depth still holds the next day. Low tide will not uncover the place, though. Ask her how far up her legs the water came.
The ring is in dry sand by our beach chairs at Romar Beach. Could we find it with a rented detector?
You might. A fresh loss in dry sand or on a lawn, in a patch you can point to, is where typing metal detector rental near me into your phone is a fair first move. Mark the patch and sweep slowly in overlapping lines. For wet sand, the water, a wide area or something small like an earring, a detectorist makes more sense.
I jumped off the boat in a cove on Smith Lake with my phone in my pocket. Is a cove too big to search?
That comes down to how well you can place the boat. Alabama Power gives Smith Lake 713 miles of shoreline and a maximum depth of 264 feet (80 metres). A photo taken from the boat that afternoon, with a dock, a house or a point of land in it, is the best thing to send. Tell us whether anyone could touch the bottom.
Our car keys are somewhere between our Gulf State Park campsite and the lake. Is that a job for a detector?
It can be, once the walk is narrowed down. Walk your route again in daylight first, because a bunch of keys is big enough to spot by eye. Then send us your site number, the path you took and where you stopped or sat down.
My necklace came off at a swimming beach at Oak Mountain State Park. Would you search the sand or the water?
Whichever your afternoon points to. Oak Mountain has two beaches and swimming areas, so tell us which one, where your towels were and how deep you swam. A lake beach has no tide, so the depth you remember still applies.
Alabama
One photo of the shore is where an Alabama search starts
Beach or lake, depth, time, and a picture of what you lost.
Skip the evening of scrolling through metal detectorist near me results. Take the photo of the shore, drop the pin, and send both on WhatsApp with the time and the depth.