Monterey, Carmel and Salinas
Lost a ring or watch in Monterey?
From the dive beach on Cannery Row to the white sand below Scenic Road and the park lawns of Salinas.
Divers kit up on the grass above San Carlos Beach and walk down the stairs to the sand, and that is where a watch or a ring most often comes off, not out in the water. The lawn and the dry sand are far easier to search than the bay offshore, so it is worth working out which of the two you had before anybody gives up on it.
The same holds along this stretch of the California coast. A lost ring on the dry sand at Carmel Beach or on a park lawn in Salinas can often be found if you know roughly where you were and nobody has dug around the spot. In the surf at Monterey State Beach the odds are lower, because the water keeps moving the sand.
Ring Seekers is a lost ring and jewelry recovery service that works with experienced local metal detectorists to search for a ring, wedding band, watch or phone lost in Monterey, Carmel-by-the-Sea or Salinas. Nobody from us is waiting on Cannery Row. Tell us what happened and where. We choose an experienced detectorist who knows the place, brief them with your map and photos, and tell you honestly if the odds are poor.
Fix the spot before you leave the peninsula
Go back to where it happened and pick a fixed marker, such as one of the nine stairways off Scenic Road in Carmel, the stairs down from the lawn at San Carlos Beach, a building on Cannery Row, or a named field or picnic site in a park. Photograph the spot with that marker in the frame and drop a pin in your map app. Please do not scrape through the sand or grass with your hands.
Then send us a WhatsApp message saying which beach or park, where on it, what was lost and when you noticed. Say whether it went down on dry sand, in the wet sand, on a lawn or in the water, because those are four different jobs.
Places we cover in Monterey, Carmel and Salinas
- Monterey
- Monterey State Beach
- Del Monte Beach
- San Carlos Beach Park and the Breakwater
- McAbee Beach on Cannery Row
- Fisherman's Wharf and Wharf II
- Lake El Estero
- Monterey Bay Coastal Recreation Trail
- Carmel
- Carmel-by-the-Sea
- Carmel Beach and Scenic Road
- Carmel River State Beach
- Monastery Beach
- Point Lobos, Whalers Cove and Gibson Beach
- Salinas
- Natividad Creek Park
- Sherwood Park
- Closter Park
- Toro County Park
Where things come off between Cannery Row and Salinas
The ground changes a lot in a few miles here.
Monterey State Beach and Del Monte Beach
Monterey State Beach is three expanses of sand about a mile apart between Monterey and Seaside, and Del Monte Beach, at Tide Avenue and Surf Way, is an extension of it. A wedding band or Oura ring that slips off in the surf here means a wet sand search, planned around the lower low tide.
San Carlos Beach Park and the Breakwater
This city park at 100 Reeside Avenue, at the start of Cannery Row, is a favourite spot for dive classes. Divers leave their kit on the grass above the beach and walk down stairs to the sand. A ring or watch taken off while changing on the lawn is a much easier search than anything lost in the water offshore.
McAbee Beach and Fisherman's Wharf
McAbee Beach is one of the smaller beaches along Cannery Row, hemmed in by buildings, which is a help when it comes to placing a spot. Old Fisherman's Wharf draws 3.9 million visitors a year, and Wharf II has a 700 foot (about 213 metre) fishing promenade, so what goes over a rail here goes into the harbour.
Carmel Beach, Carmel-by-the-Sea
A white sand beach at the foot of Ocean Avenue, with a parking lot and sand ramp at the bottom and nine stairways down from the Scenic Pathway along Scenic Road. There are no lifeguards. Rings and earrings dropped on the dry sand here are worth a search, and the stairway number is what makes one possible.
Carmel River State Beach and Monastery Beach
A mile long state beach on Carmel Bay, where the Carmel River meets the ocean in a lagoon. Monastery Beach, also called San Jose Creek Beach, is part of it and popular with scuba divers. It is a steep beach where the waves surge up the slope, so the high, dry sand is the ground a search works.
Point Lobos, Whalers Cove and Gibson Beach
The entrance to Point Lobos State Natural Reserve is three miles (5 km) south of Carmel on Highway 1. Divers go in at Whalers Cove, and Gibson Beach, the southernmost beach in the reserve, is a strip of sand at the foot of a staircase. Tell us the cove or the stairs, and whether it came off while kitting up or out on the sand.
Salinas parks and Toro County Park
Toro County Park covers 4,756 acres six miles from downtown Salinas, with softball fields, playgrounds, picnic sites and more than 20 miles of trails, and Natividad Creek Park, Sherwood Park and Closter Park are the city ones people name. A ring lost on grass, with no tide, is usually an easier search than one lost on a beach.
The way a Monterey Bay case is run
Nobody hands you around
One person takes the details, finds the searcher and comes back to you with the answer.
The detectorist reads your photos first
Your pin, the marker you picked and the time of the loss go over before anyone leaves home.
Poor cases get named
A watch lost in the surf at Monterey State Beach several days ago is a poor case, and that is the first thing you hear.
Sand, grass and cold water
The dry sand at Carmel, a lawn in Salinas and the cold bay water off Cannery Row are three different searches, and the searcher is told which one to expect.
Nothing is booked before the figure
What a search would come to is settled with you while it is still only a plan.
Tide, surf and cold water around Monterey Bay
The things that decide how a search goes here.
Tides at Monterey
The NOAA tide station in Monterey (9413450) gives a mean tide range of 1.08 metres (3.54 feet) and a great diurnal range of 1.63 metres (5.34 feet), based on the 1983 to 2001 epoch. Wet sand searches are planned around the lower of the two daily low tides. Salinas has no tide to wait for.
Surf and steep sand
Carmel Beach has no lifeguards, and rip currents and rogue or sleeper waves come up without warning. At Monastery Beach the sand drops away steeply and the waves surge up the slope, which is why a search there works the high, dry sand rather than the water line.
Water temperature
Average water temperatures for Monterey Bay sit around 12.6 C (54.7 F) from January to March and reach about 15 C (59 F) in August. Cold fingers shrink, so rings and Oura rings slip off more easily.
Grass inland, and no tide
Away from the coast nothing moves what you dropped. On the fields and picnic sites at Toro County Park, and on the Salinas park lawns, a ring stays where it fell and a detector reads it cleanly through the turf.
Want a first idea of your chances? Try the lost ring recovery calculator.
Questions about Monterey, Carmel and Salinas
My watch came off getting ready for a dive at San Carlos Beach. Where do we start?
With the grass, not the water. Divers kit up on the lawn above the beach and walk down the stairs to the sand, and a watch or an Oura ring usually comes off while a wetsuit is going on. Both have metal in them, so a detector reads them. Tell us where you laid your gear out and which way you walked down, and a searcher can start there instead of offshore.
My wedding band came off in the surf at Monterey State Beach. Is a search worth it?
Possibly, if you can say which of the three stretches of sand you were on and roughly how far out. The surf keeps moving the sand, so a search soon after, around the lower low tide, gives the best chance. Send a photo from where you stood, looking back at the car park, and tell us the hour.
An earring went missing on the sand at Carmel Beach. Can something that small be found?
Earrings are harder than rings, but a small area of dry sand can be searched properly. Tell us the nearest of the nine stairways off Scenic Road, or whether you came down the sand ramp at the foot of Ocean Avenue. There are no lifeguards at Carmel Beach and conditions change quickly, so any wet sand search waits for calm water.
I dropped a ring at Monastery Beach. Should I go back down to the water and look?
Please stay up on the dry sand. Monastery drops away steeply and the waves surge up the slope without much warning. Send us a photo of where you were standing and what you lined up with on shore, and let a searcher work the dry sand around a low tide instead.
I lost a necklace at McAbee Beach on Cannery Row. Is a small beach easier?
Usually, yes. McAbee is one of the smaller beaches along Cannery Row, so there is far less ground to cover than on the state beach, and the sand above the water line is what a detector can work properly. Tell us which building you came down beside, where you put your things, and whether it went off in the water.
I lost my ring on the grass at Toro County Park or a park in Salinas. Is that easier than a beach?
Usually, yes. On grass there is no tide and no surf moving the ground, so a ring sits where it fell until somebody mows. Toro County Park near Highway 68 has fields, playgrounds and picnic sites, so tell us the field or the picnic site rather than the park, and say whether it has been cut since.
My phone went into the water off Fisherman's Wharf. Can a detector help?
Not from the beach. A phone that falls off a wharf into the harbour needs a diver, and the harbour is busy with boats, so tell us exactly where along the wharf it went in and how deep the water was. Plastic sunglasses are found by eye, not by a detector, and we say so rather than send anyone out for them.
Monterey, Carmel and Salinas
The stairway number, or the picnic site
Which beach or park, the marker nearest you, the hour, and a photo.
The grass above San Carlos Beach will still be holding a watch next week. The sand at Carmel and on the bay will not, because the tide works it twice a day. Take the photo and drop the pin now, then send us both on WhatsApp.