In Australia, a snorkeler accidentally found a groom’s missing $1,000 gold wedding ring after seeing it around the body of a mullet fish.
Nathan Reeves and his wife Suzie Quintal were visiting Norfolk Island to see their family over the Holidays.
However, when Reeves went for a swim in Emily Bay, he suddenly noticed his wedding ring had fallen off.
Reeves and Quintal were devastated to know that the ring had sunk into the sea and that it is impossible to retrieve the jewelry back.
All hope was lost until a local snorkeler named Susan Prior spotted the missing golden ring around the neck of a fish.
Prior said that she’d heard that a couple had lost their wedding ring at Emily Bay, so she tried to track the couple thru social media.
Fortunately, Prior was able to contact Reeves and Quintal on a community Facebook page.
Prior told Daily Mail Australia that seeing the mullet fish trapped in the ring was ‘gut-wrenching’. She added that she’d seen other fish caught in plastic rings, but to see another sea creature being weighed down by metal was truly worrying.
“The metal can only be removed by catching the fish in a net and gently removing it,” Prior said. “The fish seems to be OK so far but as it grows, the ring will cut into it.”
Quintal said her husband tried hard to search for the wedding band but he was unsuccessful.
“He tried to look for it and then broke the news to me and I was not happy,” Quintal told Daily Mail Australia. “I always tell him to take it off before he goes for a swim. He lost it a day before our second wedding anniversary.”
Quintal explained that the locals on the island immediately offered to help them find the ring with metal detectors.
“People are now trying to source nets, some have got scuba gear,” she said. “The team in the glass bottom boats are going to have a look – Norfolk’s really good like that.”
Quintal said she just ‘spun out’ after hearing that a snorkeler had found the ring five months later.
“I just couldn’t believe it,” Quintal said. “I’ve got a few friends on the island and they’re pretty adamant that they’ll find it.”
“It doesn’t worry my husband, he doesn’t understand all the fuss,” she added. “I’m just worried about the poor little fish.”
At the time of this writing, the couple were unable to return to Norfolk Island and are now patiently waiting for updates if the wedding ring has been retrieved.
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