Stop walking. A ring does not roll away and the sea does not take it — it is in the sand under you.
One thing worth knowing before anyone starts: nobody may search the Maspalomas dunes. The beach in front of them is a different rule.
The Maspalomas dunes are a protected natural space. Nobody takes a detector in there — not you, not whoever comes to help — and there is no permit a private person can be given. The same goes for any site catalogued by the Cabildo.
The beach strip is a different matter. Recovering your own property on an ordinary beach is not archaeological prospecting, which is what Canary heritage law actually regulates. Knowing where that line runs is the searcher's job, not yours.
One exception to keep in mind at Maspalomas: the reserve's own plan puts its edge roughly 75 metres in from the low-water line, so the dry upper beach by the kiosks and the dunes can be inside it. Where the reserve ends at Maspalomas.
Las Canteras in Las Palmas — a city beach, busy all year, with the La Barra reef flattening the swell. Most losses here are dry-sand losses, somewhere between the towel and the promenade.
Playa del Inglés — very wide and almost featureless, two identical parasols two hundred metres apart. A photograph with one fixed landmark in it is worth more here than on any other beach on the island. Maspalomas and Playa del Inglés have their own page.
Puerto Rico — next door to Amadores, the same imported sand and still water, smaller and busier. If it came off swimming, the circle is small, and that is good news.
A man-made beach between Puerto Rico and Tauro, with pale sand brought in and a breakwater holding the sea almost flat. That calm is why so many people stand in it chest-deep, and why so many rings come off here: cool water, sun cream, a hand in the sea for an hour.
It is also one of the easier beaches on the island to search. The bay is small, the water shallow and still, and imported sand lies loose. Say whether it was on the sand or in the water, and roughly how far along from the Puerto Rico end.
The sea here is mild rather than warm. Twenty degrees is enough to shrink a finger, which is why so many of these rings are lost in the first swim of the holiday rather than the fourth.
Say so when you post. In the water needs a waterproof detector and not everyone owns one. What a metal detector can and cannot find.
You do not need to be there. Most people notice at the airport or unpacking. The beach, the stretch of it and the day is enough to start with.
Retrievly does not search. It connects the person who lost something with the people who own a detector and like an excuse to use it.
We are new here. There may be nobody signed up near your beach yet — in which case we go looking, in the island's groups and forums, and send them your request.
In public only a rough circle is shown. The exact point goes to the one person you choose, and only then.
No money goes through Retrievly. A thank-you is arranged directly with whoever goes out.
The sooner it is posted and the smaller the circle, the better the odds. Retrievly vets nobody — meet in daylight, somewhere public.
Post a requestNo account needed, not even to post. We ask for your email at the very end, nothing else.
Kenny built Retrievly. He has snorkelled the Danube for years and keeps bringing up things that belong to other people: wallets with the ID still in them, phones, keys. That is where Retrievly came from.
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