Cleveland, Akron and the Lake Erie shore
An Oura ring or Apple Watch lost in the water off Cleveland, Akron or Canton
Edgewater and Huntington, Headlands and Fairport Harbor, the Portage Lakes and Sippo Lake
Oura's help page describes two tools in its app for a lost Oura ring: a map of where the ring was the last time it connected to the Oura app, and a nearby search that uses your phone to pick up the ring's Bluetooth signal. Oura adds that the map only reflects locations recorded before the ring went missing. So the app may get you back to the right beach, and the rest comes from what you remember.
Apple says much the same about a lost Apple Watch: Find My shows it on a map, and a watch that does not appear there might not be connected to Wi-Fi, cellular or your paired iPhone.
Ring Seekers is a lost ring and jewelry recovery service that connects people who lost a ring, wedding band, watch, keys or phone in Cleveland, Akron, Canton or on the Lake Erie shore 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. A plain lost ring, an engagement ring, a bracelet or a gold chain gets the same care. It just has no app to check first.
Screenshot the app, then look up from the phone
Open Locate in the Oura app, or Find My for the watch, and save a screenshot. Oura says its nearby search works best when your phone is in the same room or apartment as the ring, and a beach is a good deal bigger than that. Were you level with the rock jetty at Edgewater, or the breakwall at Headlands? Was the water at your knees, your waist or your chest?
Send us the screenshot, the landmark, the depth and the time on WhatsApp. If lifeguards were on duty, check with them before you leave, in case it has been handed in.
Places we cover in Cleveland, Akron and the Lake Erie shore
- Cleveland
- Akron
- Canton
- Bay Village
- Massillon
- Edgewater Beach
- Huntington Beach
- Villa Angela Beach
- Headlands Beach State Park
- Headlands Dunes
- Cuyahoga Valley National Park
- Fairport Harbor Lakefront Park
- Portage Lakes State Park
- Turkeyfoot Lake
- Nimisila Reservoir
- Sippo Lake Park
Lake Erie beaches, the Akron lakes and a marina near Canton
What each park says about its own sand and water, and the moments when a ring or a watch might come off.
Edgewater Beach and its swim buoys
Of the 2,400 feet (about 730 metres) of sand at Edgewater, 1,000 feet (about 305 metres) is set aside for swimming. Cleveland Metroparks places it minutes from downtown, with beach volleyball, a dog-friendly west end and paddling access along the rock jetty. A watch strap, an earring or a necklace clasp could give way in a volleyball dive, and an Oura ring could slide off a wet hand as you lift a kayak. Tell us which stretch you were on.
Huntington in Bay Village, Villa Angela by Euclid Creek
Cleveland Metroparks places Huntington Beach on Cleveland's west side, in Bay Village. If something came off in the water, work out where you were in relation to the designated swimming area. Villa Angela Beach, in the Metroparks' Euclid Creek Reservation, is 900 feet (about 275 metres) of sand with a boardwalk that leads out to a fishing pier. Measure from the pier there.
Thirty-five acres of natural sand at Headlands
Nobody guards the water at Headlands Beach State Park. The Ohio Department of Natural Resources calls its 35 acre (14 hectare) beach the largest natural sand beach in Ohio, and notes a federal breakwall at the east end. From the parking lots at that end, a trail marked with white posts leads into Headlands Dunes, 25 acres (10 hectares) of Lake Erie beach and dune. Lake Metroparks says it provides lifeguards at Fairport Harbor Lakefront Park during the summer season.
Cuyahoga Valley National Park, between the two cities
The National Park Service describes the park as a short distance from both Cleveland and Akron. The Towpath Trail runs through the valley past Boston and Peninsula, and the scenic railroad stops along the way. For keys or a phone lost here, tell us which trailhead or station you started from and where you stopped to rest.
Turkeyfoot Lake and the rest of the Portage Lakes
The Ohio Department of Natural Resources puts the Portage Lakes a few miles south of Akron: eight lakes and 2,034 acres (about 823 hectares) of water. The public beach, on Turkeyfoot Lake, is 900 feet (about 275 metres) long with sand volleyball courts beside it. Rex Lake and Cottage Grove Lake each have a swimming area for boaters, parts of Turkeyfoot are open to water skiing, and Nimisila Reservoir takes electric motors only. Tell us which lake, and whether you were on the sand, swimming or under way.
Sippo Lake sits between Canton and Massillon
Pedal boats, kayaks, canoes and stand up paddleboards go out from the Sippo Lake marina in the summer season. Stark Parks describes a lake of about 100 acres (40 hectares) in Perry Township, with an accessible fishing pier near the marina. A phone or a watch could go over the side of a board. Metal-framed glasses could drop from the pier as someone leans over the rail.
What you get when you write to us
Your story goes to one reader
One person reads your WhatsApp messages from first to last, so the afternoon at Edgewater only has to be explained once.
The app screenshot travels with your photos
Whatever Locate or Find My showed, with your landmarks and the depth, reaches the detectorist before they set off.
Shallow for a Great Lake, still deep off a boat
The EPA calls Lake Erie the shallowest of the Great Lakes, with an average depth of only about 62 feet (19 metres). That is still far over anyone's head, so we ask whether you were wading or on a boat.
Mid-lake on Turkeyfoot is not the swim beach
An Apple Watch that came off somewhere along a ski run leaves no spot to start from, and we will say so plainly. One that came off inside the swim beach is a different conversation.
Money is discussed before dates
We explain the costs before any search is booked.
What Lake Erie does between your swim and the search
Wind-built sand at Headlands, back yards inland
The state park page describes the wind mounding sand into dunes at Headlands. A ring dropped on dry sand there may be covered by the next day, though it should not have gone far. A back yard in Akron or Canton is simpler. In the water, it depends on how deep you were and on what the lake has done since.
A seiche can shift the waterline
NOAA names Lake Erie as known for seiches, especially when strong winds blow from southwest to northeast. Wind and pressure push water to one end of the lake, and it swings back when the wind drops. NOAA counts the Great Lakes as non-tidal, because even the biggest true tide is less than 2 inches (5 cm). Tell us if it was blowing that day, because the water's edge may have moved.
74 F in August, 34 F in February
Those are long-term averages, from the National Weather Service's 1981 to 2010 table for the water off Cleveland: about 23 C and 1 C. The EPA notes that Lake Erie frequently freezes over in winter. Inland, the Portage Lakes state park page lists ice skating and ice fishing when conditions allow.
The app, the lake and the odds, in plain answers
The Oura app still shows my ring on the map at Edgewater. Is that where it is?
Not exactly. Oura says the map shows where the ring was the last time it connected to the Oura app. That could be your towel. Screenshot it anyway, and tell us where you swam after that.
My Apple Watch came off near the breakwall at Headlands and Find My shows nothing. Any point writing to you?
Yes. Apple says a watch that is missing from the map might not be connected to Wi-Fi, cellular or your paired iPhone. Its Lost Mode locks the watch and lets you put a phone number and a message on the screen, so turn that on. Then tell us how far from the breakwall you were, and how deep.
Is Lake Erie simply too big for anyone to find one lost ring?
No. How deep you were, and how well you can place yourself, matter more than the size of the lake. Someone who stood inside the swim area at Huntington or Edgewater has given us a small patch to work with. A ring that went off a moving boat in open water is a long shot.
We rented a pontoon on the Portage Lakes and my engagement ring went over the side while we were stopped for a swim. Where do we start?
With where the boat was. The state park page gives Rex Lake and Cottage Grove Lake a swimming area for boaters each. If you were at one of those, say which, and how deep the water was on someone standing.
My phone and key fob slid off a rented paddleboard at Sippo Lake, a few minutes out from the marina. What now?
Tell the marina staff first, in case either turns up with them. Sippo is a small lake, about 100 acres (40 hectares) by the Stark Parks page, and the marina and the fishing pier give you fixed points to work from. Tell us which way you paddled, roughly how far out you were, and whether you could see the bottom.
My husband is looking into a metal detector rental so he can wade in at Huntington Beach after his wedding band. Should I let him?
Not for a ring in the lake. Renting one yourself can suit a fresh loss on dry sand or a lawn. A detectorist makes more sense for wet sand, water, a small item, or a large area such as the 35 acres (14 hectares) at Headlands. Have him mark where he stood against the designated swimming area while he still remembers.
I am in Canton and my hearing aid fell out in our own back yard, nowhere near a lake. Is that something you take?
Yes. Type in metal detecting Ohio and you mostly get the hobby, but a careful search of one back yard in Canton, Akron or Cleveland is ordinary work for a detectorist. Tell us where you walked that day, and send a photo of the other hearing aid.
Cleveland, Akron and the Lake Erie shore
Open the app once more, then write to us
Screenshot, landmark, depth and time.
Oura says its nearby search stops working once the ring's battery has run out, and memories fade too. So do it today, and send us what you have. We will reply on WhatsApp with how the odds look and what the next step is.