Stand still. A ring that comes off in the sand stays within a step of where it went. It does not roll, and the calm water here does not carry it anywhere.
Playa Blanca has two kinds of beach, and which one you were on decides what can be done. The town beaches are easy ground. The Papagayo coves are inside a protected area, where no detector goes.
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The beaches along the Playa Blanca promenade are sheltered, flat and full of families, and the sand is turned over all day by people standing in the shallows. If it came off while you were in the water, the circle is short: it is where you could still stand up. If it came off on the sand, say which beach, which end, and which hotel or kiosk was behind you. These beaches are good ground for a detector: firm sand, shallow water, and landmarks close by.
Playa Mujeres, Playa del Pozo, Playa de la Cera, Papagayo itself, Caleta del Congrio: the coves south-east of the town, reached by the track with the barrier, lie inside the Los Ajaches natural monument. No detector goes in there, and nobody on Retrievly should offer to bring one; searching there with one needs an authorisation from the Cabildo that a private person does not get for a ring. What you can still do: go back at low tide and look by eye in the wet sand where you were, ask anyone who was near you, and ask whether it was handed in. More on what the islands allow: Is metal detecting legal in Spain?
If you post a request from a Papagayo cove, say in it that you know a detector cannot be used there. Honest searchers will still answer, and some know these coves well enough to look by eye at the right tide.
The water is calm at Playa Blanca, but it still rises and falls, and on a flat beach that moves the edge by metres. A ring lost near the waterline has not moved; the waterline has. Say the time, and whether you were in the water, in the wet sand or up by the towels.
Sun cream, cool water and a towel are how most rings go. If you noticed it after drying off, think about where your things were, not where you swam. That is a search of a few square metres.
Under Spanish law whoever finds a ring has to give it back or hand it in to the town (Article 615 of the Civil Code). Playa Blanca and the Papagayo coves belong to Yaiza, so the place to ask is the Policía Local of Yaiza. Ask your hotel reception too, today and again in a week.
You do not need to be on the island. The beach, the landmark, the day and the time are enough to start with.
Retrievly does not search. It connects the person who lost something with people nearby who own a detector and will go and look.
One of the first searches on Retrievly was on Lanzarote. There may still be nobody signed up near your beach on the day you need them; if not, we go and look for someone and send them your request.
Only a rough circle is shown in public. The exact spot goes to the one person you choose.
Posting is free and no money goes through Retrievly. A thank-you, if you want to give one, is between you and whoever goes out.
Post the same day and draw the circle tight: those two decide it more than anything else. Retrievly vets nobody, so 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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