a day ago
A Florida fishing captain lost a $25K gold chain in Gulf. ‘Need expert divers.'
Captain Tyler Feijoo of Keep On Reeling Fishing Charters posted to the Tampa Bay Fishing Club Facebook with a desperate plea.
'Need expert divers. I lost a very sentimental item today offshore and offer a $5,000 reward if found. I have it marked and should be a easy find!! 160 ft is the depth I will pay for your time and expenses if you're able to try!'
The post, dated Thursday, Aug. 14, at 1:50 p.m., made it clear he lost something of substantial value. That loss occurred when he was fishing with fellow captain Ty Colby earlier in the day.
'We went out on kind of a scouting mission,' said Colby, who has been a longtime friend of Feijoo. 'The first spot, we pull up and put out the trolling motor. Some mahi started going off around the boat and I said, 'Tyler, throw out some baits to keep them around.' When he threw out some baits, I watched his bracelet come off in a perfect circle. He was immediately distraught and turns ghost white. We kind of sat there for a while in silence.'
The bracelet was an 18K gold Cuban link chain with diamonds that weighed around 300 grams. Colby estimated its value at $25,000 of gold weight alone. It had been passed down through Feijoo's family, adding more sentimental value on top.
'His post found some guys who said they'd try the very next day. I didn't think Tyler would be able to go, so I offered to take them back and show them where, but he was able to last minute,' Colby said. 'I honestly thought there was no way we'd find it, and it would be crazy if we did so we thought we'd at least try.'
The divers who joined were very experienced spear fisherman Chad Tripp and Dalton Conrad. Colby said it was apparent they knew what they were doing from the beginning.
'We dropped down a marker ball and Tripp went down first. He came up with a big Hogball he said was lying in the sand, which meant to him the bracelet should also be exposed in the sand and not under it,' said Colby.
Tripp described what he was seeing and they repositioned the boat to try to get back to the spot where the bracelet flew off. Conrad was next to try and went down with an underwater scooter to cover more ground.
'We saw his bubbles coming up a bit away from the boat. He didn't say much when he got to the surface. We grabbed his scooter and tanks then helped him in the boat up the ladder. We kind of watched him. He then pulled up his sleeve and said 'you guys looking for this?' We went nuts!'
Under his wetsuit sleeve was the bracelet. He told the crew that after only being down for about 45 seconds, he saw it, put it on, and headed toward the surface. Near the spot it dropped was a red grouper hole, leaving the crew thankful it wasn't eaten.
Finding it quickly with only two dives the group was ecstatic and a huge relief came over Feijoo. With tanks and air to spare, Colby asked if they wanted to kill some fish. They did just that, adding a few African pompano to the box.
Back at the dock, the divers got their reward with Feijoo and Colby happy Tripp and Dalton were able to retrieve the bracelet.
'We were wondering if we would find someone who just wanted us to go out and show them where it was, and then they'd come back and try to get it for themselves,' Colby said. 'But everyone we talked to said they were stand up guys and honest.'
'They made it look easy,' he added.
