What happens to jewellery that falls into the ocean?

Imagine you’re on a holiday cruising the Mediterranean, hopping from one city to another.

During sailing day, you decide to check out the cruise.

You’ve familiarised yourself with the restaurants, bars and entertainment venues on board. Then, you move up to the deck for some salty ocean mist on your skin.

As you lean against the railing on the cruise deck to spread your arms like Rose DeWitt Bukater, that dreaded feeling comes. No, it’s not nausea but…

Your jewellery falls into the water!

What happens now to the jewellery?

If it directly falls into the ocean, chances are you'll never see the ring again.

It will eventually sink to the bottom of the ocean where you can find shipping containers and goods that have long been lost at sea.

The ring might wash up on a beach but the possibility of reuniting with it is likely to be impossible especially if that beach is time zones away from your address.

It can be challenging to convince people to become emotionally detached from their jewellery. But the truth is, if a ring is store-brought, it's possible to get an identical one to replace what's been lost.This is especially true for diamond solitaire rings which are a common style for engagement rings.

Haven't I got any hope of finding my jewellery that fell in the water?

In some cases, there's still a possibility of finding lost jewellery.

If you lost your ring at a beach in Australia, you can hire water detectorist to search for it. They either work in organisation or as a hobbyists with their own equipment.

Jewellery Rescue is a hobby-turned-business that helps those who've lost jewellery on the beach.

Every job is different but each search begins with the detectorist asking a lot of questions.

You might be asked to specify what tide were you swimming on, the time when you were out there, your height and other details that have something to do with the location.

Heed our friendly unsolicited advice: have that ring resized TODAY. Or keep your jewellery in a safe place before going near the water.