Recovery Robert - aka Lord of the Rings

Picture of Robert's website homepage

This morning was like any other morning. We wandered up to the restrooms to freshen ourselves up for the morning and after coming back, I decided to take Tuco out for his morning stroll. After walking around Lexington's beautiful public park we headed back to the boat. The boat was a bit far from the dock and I was worried about Tuco falling in so I reached down for our spring line to pull the boat closer and picked up the dog and bloop, I hear my phone fall into the water. Awesome, just awesome. I threw on my bathing suit, grabbed our mask and psyched myself into diving in the water. It wasn't deep but there is something mentally I have to prepare for when I jump in water where you can't see the bottom. Give me a tank and I'll jump right in but I hesitate when jumping into new waters blind. I jumped in after 30 seconds of pep talk and was pleasantly surprised when I found the water warmer than the air. One bonus. After attempting to dive down twice, I'm way too buoyant without fins, a tank and a weight belt, I knew me getting down to the bottom of the harbor was a lost cause.

I forgot to mention that the visibility was zero, unlike the viz in the harbors in northern Michigan. Brady was kind enough to attempt to free dive down to try to retrieve it. His legs at least got under the water and didn't flail up on the surface like mine did. (I'm currently chuckling to myself right now because I'm envisioning what everyone else in the harbor saw when I tried to free dive and retrieve my phone compared to what I thought I looked like. The first time I tried to free dive down I thought I did a decent job. I knew I didn't get the second half of my body under the second attempt. When I asked Brady how I did, he crushed my dreams and answered, both times it looked like you were a deranged synchronized swimmer.) 

It was a lost cause. My phone was gone. Brady, being awesome kept reassuring me that it was just an expensive mistake and to not worry about it. Weirdly, I wasn't too distraught about losing it forever but I did feel bad about losing all of the pictures we took on our entire northern Michigan part of the trip. So, instead of just saying screw it and sailing on, Brady convinced me that we might be able to retrieve it. Up to the harbor office we went to see if the kids working had access to some scuba gear. At Montrose, they have a tank to help do upkeep on the harbor and sometimes they will help boaters retrieve stuff. So, worst they could say was no. Unfortunately they didn't have any scuba gear. Brady would not let me give up. We waiting around until 9am, when all the dive shops were open and then he called one of them. He was very animated and excited to the man on the other side of the phone. Immediately I had hope we might be able to get it back, in true Brady and Nadine form, we called at just the perfect moment when the owner just happened to be grabbing something in the shop and happened to pick up the phone. He gave Brady a number for a guy who "retrieves things from the lake". Now my hopes are up. I can't believe that there is a guy in the area who might be able to dive for my phone in a harbor in Lake Huron on a Wednesday. 

So, we continued on our quest. Thankfully Robert picked up his phone awaiting our call. Apparently the dive shop owner gave him a heads up that we would be calling. Robert told Brady he would be able to try to retrieve the phone the following morning. After asking Brady where in the lake I dropped it and Brady explaining that we are on a boat and will be on the boat awaiting him whenever he could come help. For some reason this led the conversation to why we were living on a boat and that we were gonna sail to our next destination after he came to get my phone. Not sure what changed his mind but Robert then informed Brady that he would be able to stop by this evening to help us out and that his charge was gas and cost to refill his tank (which cost about $6). What!?! I'm sorry, is this guy really going to come here for practically nothing? Is this really happening?!? 

So, we hung out in Lexington for the day stopping in a bar or two and the local brewery (which makes really amazing fruity beers). We happened upon his website and found that Scuba Bob, we affectionately named him, aka Lord of the Rings on his website, is kinda amazing! Best story is about a ring Robert found that was a class ring from 1954 that was used as an engagement ring and returned it back to the owner and his still wife 54 years later! We knew we were in good hands!

Recovery Robert, another name we affectionately had for Robert, showed up in full scuba gear at the Lexington Municipal Marina around 6pm and literally jumped right in! (Ok, he really walked down the ladder and swam over to where the phone made contact with the water and then descended down into the murky harbor water. After a couple of minutes and a handful of bubbles later up popped an iPhone with a hand grasped tightly around it in triumph! Robert's buddy grabbed it from him and handed the phone to me and sure enough that was my phone, recovered from the lake only 12 hours after it went for its swim. Robert gleefully climbed back up the ladder and was received by many cheers and thanks from Brady and I! 

After giving Robert his reward for his time and just for being him, we walked him back to his truck where we saw the treasures he recovered when diving for 6 hours, yes 6 hours, off Belle Isle in the Detroit River. The coolest thing we thought he found was an Ovaltine decoder ring, like the one Ralphie got in A Christmas Story! Robert walked away with another happy, smiling, satisfied costemer. Seriously, this was amazing, too unreal to make up. Robert has inspired me to go out and try to find my own gems under the water! Click here to see a local news story about the man, the myth, the legend, Recovery Robert!

Next step, put the phone in a bag of silica gel for a few days and see what happens. Keep those fingers crossed and stay tuned!