AssetID: 52935963
Headline: Diver Recovers Woman’s Lost $9,500 Wedding Ring At The Bottom Of A California Lake
Caption: A scuba diver has successfully recovered a woman's wedding ring worth $9,500 after it was lost in a California lake. Michael Pelley, who is popularly known as "Merman Mike" on social media, shared a video of the rescue mission on YouTube, where he often posts videos of retrieving lost items underwater for people. In the video uploaded on July 10, Jennie from Bakersfield, California, explained that she lost her wedding ring while swimming with her family at Bass Lake. A friend of Jennie's suggested that there were many scuba divers who could help search for the ring, leading her to discover Pelley. In the caption of the video, Pelley mentioned that Bass Lake, situated near Yosemite National Park, is 45 feet deep and man-made, which made the search challenging. "Almost immediately after reaching the lake's bottom, I realised how difficult the search was going to be. The silt had immediately clouded the area, and I had almost zero visibility," Pelley wrote. He also mentioned that he had to take additional safety precautions this time due to the lake's depth. Pelley described using an underwater metal detector and a flashlight while removing his gloves to aid in searching the lake's bottom. "After pulling out a couple of sticks and cans from the thick silt, I finally came across what I thought would be another bottle top or pull tab. To my surprise, it turned out to be the wedding ring, a giant diamond! I was beyond excited, especially because I knew how slim the chances of finding it were," he wrote. In the video, Jennie and her family can be seen cheering as Pelley resurfaces with the recovered ring. "I find people are exceptionally kind with their tips, and it makes it all worthwhile," Pelley said. "This is also why I love doing this and why I have absolutely no problem not charging people for it. I feel like I have this huge book of just awesome stories." Merman Mike explained that when he does a dive, he also likes to remove as much garbage from the area as he can. “You can’t just go for the treasure, you have to go for the trash too,” he said.
Keywords: feature, photo feature, photo story, Merman Mike, diver, dive, recovers, dicsovery, rescue, wedding ring, offbeat, quirky
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