Lost a ring at Surf City on Topsail Island?

Yes, an Oura ring has a metal shell, so it reads on a detector much like a wedding band. The sea off Surf City runs about 48 to 57 F (9 to 14 C) in February, and cold water shrinks fingers, which is how most of these come off in the first place. Tell us which numbered beach access you used, how deep you were standing and roughly what time it was, because a search in the shallows is planned around low water.

Say first whether it went down on the sand or in the water. The north end of the island meets New River Inlet near Access 3, where strong currents run and sandbars drop away into deep channels, so a loss in the water there is a hard case. On the sand it is a normal search, and the numbered access gives a searcher a line to work from straight away.

Not always. The pier is 937 feet (286 metres) long, and the water gets deeper the further out you walked. A band, watch or phone dropped near the shore end can be searched along the pilings at low tide. Something dropped from the octagon at the end is in open water, and we would tell you the odds are poor before anyone travels.

Measure yourself against the pier before you move. The Jolly Roger sits near the centre of town at 803 Ocean Boulevard and reaches about 850 feet (260 metres) into the Atlantic, so it is the one thing on that stretch you can line everything else up against. Say how far along the sand you were from it, how far up from the water you had put your towel, and whether it went down on dry sand or wet.

Tell us where the boat came in. Lea-Hutaff Island lies across New Topsail Inlet from the south end of Topsail Island, about 4 miles of uninhabited beach and marsh that can only be reached by boat. Getting a searcher out there takes arranging, so the tighter you can place the spot against your landing point and how far along you walked, the better this looks.

The date and rough time, which town and which beach access, a map pin or screenshot with the spot marked, a photo of the ring or one like it, and whether it was dry sand, wet sand or water.

It depends which stretch you were on. North Topsail Beach finished a truck hauled sand placement along about 2.5 miles (4 km) of shoreline in April 2025, and Surf City is preparing a federal project to place about 6.5 million cubic yards (5 million cubic metres) of sand along roughly 6 miles (10 km) of beach. A ring under fresh fill is a long shot, and you would hear that from us first. Send the date and the access you used, and we will work out whether your stretch was touched.