Diving underwater invites a person to escape into a whole ‘nother world. The firsthand glimpse of the magic lying under the water’s surface makes it worth the risk.
Deep sea divers stumble across a variety of sea creatures while divers in rivers and other shallower bodies of water often search for lost treasurer.
Mike Pelley, also known as Merman Mike, scuba dives in the lakes and rivers around Sacramento, California, cleaning up trash and seeking goodies.
Some of the treasures and trinkets he’s found below the rippling waves include computers, phones, toys and even a wallet filled with credit cards.
He recently found and returned to their owners in working condition two GoPros that had tumbled to the bottom – one had been hanging out there for more than four years.
But a recent find blew his mind…
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Bill Fitty discovered Mike’s talents on YouTube through the videos he shares and asked him to search for something important to him.
A ring worth $17,000 that had been lost in the Sacramento River.
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Mike usually doesn’t try to look for missing possessions in the Sacramento River due to the strong currents, but couldn’t pass up helping Bill find something that meant the world to him.
“We’re trying to find a valuable and precious ring that was given to me by my brother who passed away. We just need that ring back … and we came to the merman to see if he could come through for us.”
Mike was concerned about finding the ring, since there was a pretty strong current the day they chose to dive. In a video that captured him in action, he shared that he was encouraged by this mission.
“If it doesn’t look like I can do it safely, I’m going to have to come back up. I’m having pretty high hopes, he knows exactly where he dropped it, right off the side of the boat, where he dropped his ice chest.”
For the dive, Mike went under the water and searched around but initially couldn’t find anything. Not one to give up, he resurfaced and rethought his approach.
He realized that swimming down current was easier and that the river was pulling his boat’s anchor. Mike’s girlfriend assisted and they dropped a brick where Bill believed he lost his ring.
Pelley made a line between it and his anchor that could give him better markers for his search and helped him realize when he was under the side of the boat. It was a trick that yielded a long lost and valuable ring that meant the world to Bill.
Mike’s underwater camera captured the merman’s ecstatic response to finding the ring. Bill was so thrilled he promised to help Mike with his future dives with a special gift.
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He truly saved the day!
“I’m gonna give you $1,500 so you can get that metal detector.”
This find was different than all others for Mike, he shared.
“I’m like getting choked up talking about it. Doing this has brought back the good in humanity in me because everyone I talk to is always so grateful and happy.”
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Once Mike gets his hands on a new metal detector thanks to Bill, he’s going to scour the murky bottom for two wedding rings that his current equipment hasn’t been able to find. He hopes to help the rings’ owners reunite with their precious possessions.
Merman Mike doesn’t want to keep the goodies he finds and encourages people to scour his social media sites to see if he might have found something someone lost.
“I always try my best to return anything I find to the original owner.”
On an Instagram post, Mike described the dive as “intense” and the day as “incredible.” We’d have to agree that this dive was very exciting to watch!
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