EAST O'AHU — Hanauma Bay is a place where memories are made, but sometimes memories are lost.

That is the situation for the owner of a gold wedding band inscribed with initials and the date 8/17/74.

The ring, scratched, dented and well-worn, was recently found at the nature preserve by a snorkeler, who turned it into the bay's lost-and-found department. Encrusted with a white coral, the ring is one of many items found at the popular snorkeling beach that draws more than 1 million visitors annually.

Every day, items are turned into lost and found, are reported lost and never found, said Jack Oehrlein, a park ranger at the bay.

"We get a number of rings turned into us," Oehrlein said. "The ones I hate to get are the plain gold bands with no identifying marks or inscriptions. We like to try to find out who they belong to."

The ring most likely was lost years ago, well before the bay began its lost-and-found program eight years ago, Oehrlein said.

Now, when someone loses something or finds something, a card is placed on file with the owner's name and a description of the item. If a recovered item is valuable, it's placed in a safe for four months.

If no one collects the item, it's turned over to the police. If the item is a snorkel or bodyboard, towel or eyeglasses, it's donated to a local charity, Oehrlein said.

Even a wheelchair and crutches were turned in, he said.

The cards, tied in rubber bands, fill a drawer in a file cabinet at the office of the Hanauma Bay Education Center. They tell tales of items lost and found: a cell phone, a plastic bag with clothes, a wallet, a plain gold wedding band in size 14, a silver digital camera and many more.

Oehrlein wants only to give the items back to their owners. If anyone wants to claim the size 9 1/2 wedding band with the initials inscribed inside and the date 8/17/74, call the Hanauma Bay Nature Preserve at 395-2211.

"I'm always so sad about the lost rings that we can't return," Oehrlein said. "This one has all the makings of one that could find a home. For the person who owned it, I want to return some of the coral that wrapped around it over the years."

Reach Suzanne Roig at sroig@honoluluadvertiser.com.