Washington
Your phone, glasses or keys went off a dock, a ferry or a paddleboard in Washington
Puget Sound, the big lakes, the ocean beaches, the Cascades and eastern Washington
Lake Washington is 22 miles (35 km) long, with swim docks, piers and beach parks from Seattle round to Renton and Bellevue. Puget Sound adds marinas, ferry landings and paddleboards. In a lake the thing stays where it sank. On the Sound the water's edge moves a long way in a few hours, and that goes for a lost ring too.
Ring Seekers is a lost ring and jewelry recovery service that connects people who lost a ring, wedding band, watch, keys or phone in Washington 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 also take enquiries for engagement rings, Oura rings, earrings, necklaces, bracelets, chains, Apple Watches, key fobs, metal-framed glasses and hearing aids.
The first hour, on salt water or fresh
Start with which kind of water it was. On a lake nothing moves the item, so the spot and the depth are what count. On Puget Sound, write down the time as well. NOAA gives 11.36 feet (3.46 metres) between higher high and lower low water at Seattle, so ground that was under water when the keys fell may be bare a few hours later.
Send a pin, photos of the dock or shore and the time to us on WhatsApp. If you were about to type metal detector service near me, this is how it works.
Areas and towns we cover in Washington
- Seattle and the Eastside
- Tacoma and Olympia
- Kitsap and the Olympic Peninsula
- Ruby Beach, Kalaloch and Rialto Beach, Olympic National Park
- Deception Pass and West Beach
- Mount Rainier and the North Cascades
- Whidbey Island and Skagit
- Spokane and eastern Washington
- Everett and Mukilteo
- Bremerton and Seabeck
- Anacortes and Mount Vernon
- Bellingham and Lake Whatcom
- Kingston
- Bridgehaven and the Hood Canal Bridge
- Chelan and Lake Chelan
- Long Beach Peninsula
- Westport and Ocean Shores
- Spokane and Liberty Lake
- Yakima
Four pages for the west, one for the east, then the rest
Each area page goes place by place.
Swim platforms and piers on Lake Washington
Madison Park and Matthews Beach on Lake Washington have floating platforms with diving boards, and Gene Coulon Memorial Beach Park in Renton has a 900 foot (274 metre) pier. Lost glasses or a phone in the shallows beside them is a fair search. Off the end of a platform it is a diver's job. We have had an enquiry from Discovery Park, on the Sound side of Seattle. More on Seattle and the Eastside.
Ruston Way, Owen Beach and the long tide at Olympia
The Ruston Way path follows Commencement Bay from Jack Hyde Park past Les Davis Pier. Lost keys on the beach at Jack Hyde Park are a tide search, while keys dropped off the pier more likely need a diver. Owen Beach at Point Defiance is about 1,000 feet (305 metres) of rocky shore. Olympia, at the southern end of Budd Inlet, has the biggest daily tide range of the four areas. More on Tacoma and Olympia.
Hood Canal stones, then piers from Bremerton to Port Angeles
Scenic Beach and Belfair, on Hood Canal, are rock and pebble beaches. Illahee State Park, by Bremerton, has a pier and a 356 foot (109 metre) moorage dock. In Port Angeles, Hollywood Beach sits beside the City Pier. The tide shrinks on the way, from 11.72 feet (3.57 metres) at Bremerton to 8.52 feet (2.60 metres) at Port Townsend. More on Kitsap and the Olympic Peninsula.
Double Bluff sand and the Skagit Valley
Whidbey Island is close to 40 miles (about 60 km) from end to end. At Double Bluff, Useless Bay shelves so gently that the high and low tide lines can be more than 2,500 feet (760 metres) apart, and in the soft sand by the access a ring usually stays in the top 15 to 25 cm (6 to 10 inches). Inland is Mount Vernon, on the Skagit River. More on Whidbey Island and Skagit.
Spokane lakes, snow and the Yakima Greenway
Visit Spokane counts 76 lakes within an hour's drive, and three county parks, at Liberty Lake, Bear Lake and Fish Lake, have a swimming beach. In winter there is the sledding hill at Lower Manito, and Mount Spokane has nearly 37 miles (60 km) of groomed Nordic ski trails, and Lake Roosevelt has day use beaches from Porcupine Bay to Kettle Falls. Yakima has almost 20 miles (32 km) of Greenway pathway. More on Spokane and eastern Washington.
Bellingham, Kingston, Bridgehaven and Chelan
In Bellingham, about 80 miles (130 km) north of Seattle, Bloedel Donovan Park on Lake Whatcom has swim docks and a boat launch. Kingston, with its marina, is where the ferry from Edmonds lands, about half an hour across the Sound. Bridgehaven is a community on Hood Canal, a few miles south of the west end of the Hood Canal Bridge, with private docks on its back channel. Chelan sits at the foot of a lake 50 miles (80 km) long. It is about 110 miles (175 km) east of Seattle on a map, and longer by road across the Cascades.
Olympic's ocean beaches, the Deception Pass dunes and the North Cascades
Olympic National Park has 73 miles (117 km) of shoreline. Ruby Beach, the northernmost access in the Kalaloch area, has sea stacks and tide pools. At Rialto Beach, Hole-in-the-Wall is 1.5 miles (2.4 km) north along the sand. At the north tip of Whidbey Island, a 0.8 mile (1.3 km) paved loop at Deception Pass State Park crosses the West Beach dunes between the Sound and Cranberry Lake, where people swim in fresh water. In the North Cascades, the Diablo Lake Overlook on Highway 20 looks over turquoise glacial water.
What happens after you message us
You message one person
For most people, metal detecting in Washington state is a weekend hobby. This is different. You message one person on WhatsApp, who stays with you until the search is over.
Your pin and photos go ahead of the detectorist
Whoever searches has your map, pictures and the time of the loss before setting off.
Straight talk about deep water
If a phone goes over a ferry rail in mid crossing, it is in water nobody can wade, and we tell you so at the start.
We read the water first
A search here can mean salt or fresh, sand or stones, 8 feet of tide or 14. Double Bluff is planned around low water, Lake Sammamish around depth.
Costs before anything is booked
We explain the costs before any search is booked.
Salt water, deep lakes, ocean sand and mountain snow
The Sound's tide grows as you go south
NOAA's gap between higher high and lower low water is 11.36 feet (3.46 metres) at Seattle and 14.56 feet (4.44 metres) at Olympia. Low tide comes at a different hour each day, so the time of the loss matters.
No tide on the lakes, but real depth
King County lists Lake Washington as the second largest natural lake in the state, with a maximum depth of 214 feet (65 metres). Lake Chelan reaches 1,486 feet (453 metres), on Washington State Parks' figure.
Ocean beaches measured in miles
State Parks describes 62 miles (100 km) of Pacific shore in its Seashore Conservation Area. The Long Beach section alone runs 27 miles (43 km), from Cape Disappointment to Leadbetter Point. Others run from Tokeland to Westport and north from Ocean Shores.
Cold water all year, deep snow all winter
Puget Sound averages about 45 F (7 C) in February and about 53 F (12 C) in late summer. Up in the Cascades, the National Park Service records an average of 637 inches (16.2 metres) a year at Paradise on Mount Rainier.
Questions from Washington docks, beaches and ski slopes
My phone slid off the pier at Gene Coulon park in Renton into Lake Washington. Any point looking?
There can be, and it comes down to depth. A lost phone in a lake stays put, so yours is lying where it sank. Further along the 900 foot (274 metre) pier it may be a diver's job. Tell us which side and how far along you were.
I fell off my paddleboard on Lake Sammamish and my glasses went down. Can a detector even find glasses?
Only if the frames are metal. Plastic frames give no signal, and are found by eye or by a diver. If you could stand up where you fell, off Tibbetts or Sunset beach, it is a fair search. Out over deep water the odds are poor.
We dropped the car keys on the beach at Mukilteo and the tide has come in. Are they gone?
Probably not. Puget Sound has little surf, so the keys and fob may well be where they fell. At nearby Everett, NOAA gives 11.09 feet (3.38 metres) between higher high and lower low water, so that ground comes out again. Note the time and line the spot up with the lighthouse.
Would a metal detector rental do for a ring I lost on the lawn yesterday, or should I ask you?
Renting can do the job for a fresh loss on a lawn or dry sand, when you know the spot to within a few steps. For wet sand, water, a large area or something as small as an earring or a hearing aid, a detectorist makes more sense.
I lost my Apple Watch swimming at Liberty Lake, near Spokane. Do you cover eastern Washington?
Yes, we take enquiries from anywhere in the state, Spokane and Yakima included. Nothing in a lake carries a watch away, so it is still where it went down. Tell us how deep the water was on you.
My Oura ring came off on the sand at Long Beach, which goes on for miles. Can it be found?
With a good fix on the spot, yes. That stretch of coast runs 27 miles (43 km), so somewhere along the beach is a poor bet. If you can place it within a few metres, by the beach access you used and how far you walked, a ring on dry sand is a fair search.
My engagement ring flew off with my glove at a ski area in the Cascades. Do I wait for the snow to melt?
Not to get in touch. Mark the spot today against a lift tower or a sign. Snow does not block a detector's signal, but more can pile on top than a detector reaches. Then a search waits until the pack thins in spring.
Washington
Tell us which dock, beach or lake it was
The water, the time, a pin and two photos.
A phone in Lake Washington, keys on a Sound beach or a lost ring in the snow all start the same way. Message us on WhatsApp with the place and the time, and we will tell you plainly what the odds are.