A Couple In B.C. Searched A Beach For 18 Hours To Find Their Lost Engagement Ring

    A hell of an engagement story, though.

    Ishmael N. Daro
    by Ishmael N. Daro

    BuzzFeed Social News Editor, Canada

    Darrin Reimer and Caitlin McAuley spent the first day after he proposed marriage frantically searching a beach for the lost engagement ring.

    Chad Hipolito / THE CANADIAN PRESS

    Reimer proposed to McAuley in Tofino, British Columbia, and after she said yes the couple had a romantic dinner to celebrate. A few hours later, they headed for the beach to take in the view.

    That's when disaster struck. McAuley told The Canadian Press her hands were wet from the rain and she "knew it right away" when the ring slipped from her finger.

    "We were trying to find it in the dark and it was raining. We got some flashlights and we were back out in the morning as soon as it was daylight," she said.

    Chad Hipolito / THE CANADIAN PRESS

    A bunch of local residents who heard about the couple's plight came to help them search, and the RCMP even donated a metal detector to the cause.

    Chad Hipolito / THE CANADIAN PRESS

    After 18 long hours of scouring the beach with metal detectors, garden tools, kitchen utensils, and their bare hands, the searchers finally found the ring a few feet from where McAuley had been standing when she felt it drop.

    Chad Hipolito / THE CANADIAN PRESS

    "We were in shock. It was incredible," Reimer told The Canadian Press.

    The whole experience left Reimer and McAuley convinced they'd made the right decision in getting married. "We ended up sticking together really well," he said. "I said we know now how we deal with each other in stressful situations."