IT was a case of tide and seek after Kelly-Jo Pawlyn lost her wedding ring while swimming in the sea at Leigh.

Kelly-Jo, 40, thought she would never again see the tailor-made diamond and platinum ring, specially designed by husband Michael, 46.

It slipped from her finger while she played with her children Umi, 12, and Sol, 10, in about six feet of water. It was too deep for her to try to retrieve it.

She had pressing engagements in Kentish Town, London – from where she was visiting – so was unable to wait until the tide went out in the hope of finding it.

However, Kelly-Jo soon went from deep despair to euphoria after her two sisters found it three hours later after the tide went out.

She said: “I thought I had lost it for good and was devastated.

“I told my husband, who was not cross, but very upset.

“It was foolish to go from hot to cold with the ring on because your finger expands in the heat.”

The unexpected find was made after Kelly-Jo scribbled a map.

An x on the back of an envelope marked roughly where she lost the ring, between the Gypsy bridge and Essex Yacht Club’s Wilton ship.

She left the map with her sisters. The family were even arranging for a metal detector to be delivered to help with the search.

However, in the meantime, her sisters Alexandra Parker, 45, from Kingswood Chase, Leigh, and Judy Hill, 39, from Primrose Hill, London, made the find.

Amazingly, the ring was right by the spot Kelly-Jo had marked on the envelope.

Within minutes of them getting there, at about 7pm on Friday, they saw it glinting in the sunlight about 40 metres from the shoreline.

Kelly-Jo said: “I just couldn’t believe it when they told me.

“The chances of it happening were so low, I just thought it would roll around and head out to sea. But it was wedged between two pebbles!

“If they had not gone back, someone else would have seen it.”

Her dad, Dennis Hill, 83, who lives in nearby Leigh Hill, said: “There was a rescue party made up of her sisters, which we dubbed Operation Needle in a Haystack!

“Their triumphant return to the house was heralded with the popping of champagne corks.”