LOST  (IN ARUBA)   AND FOUND (IN FLORIDA)

This is an amazing story about Dick de Bruin, he was one of the divers that recovered the SS Oranjestad propeller as well as the anchors off Eagle Beach, and a very good Samaritan in Florida by the name of Paul Shultz.  Below is Dick's email to me giving the story, follow the links and read the comments on the pages of how a waterproof floating camera Dick lost while cutting one of the anchor chains on one of the Anchors off Eagle Beach was lost, it floated off, was pick up by a sea turtle who must have activated the camera while it was in the turtle's mouth, then let the camera go so it continued floating and ended up on a beach in Key West Florida, the finder looked at the footage and pictures in the camera and was able to track down Dick and return the camera.  What a wonderful story and what a wonderful world, turtles seem to have a lot of fun and there are wonderful people in the world.  Go to the bottom of this page to see the route Dick's camera took.

DICK'S EMAIL

Good evening all,
 
You don't believe this Aruban diversity, but it's really happened to us!
 
On November 11th 2009 Toine van der Klooster and I were diving on the big Eagle Beach anchor, what is now a WWII monument on the Marine Barracks in Savaneta.


During the dive when we're sawing the chain of the big anchor I unfortunately lost my underwater camera.  Because it had a positive buoyancy it floated away. 

Toine joked to me that the camera will be found somewhere in Costa Rica or Panama.

Today somebody told  my wife Mandy the story at "the Schakel", the school of our son Delano, that the Ikelite camera was found in Florida, Key West!

The finder of the camera put the latest film of the camera on you tube.com , but............
 
the film wasn't made by me?
This is what I think happened...
 
In January this year a sea turtle activated the camera somewhere in the Caribbean sea and made a real movie of himself!!
 
Hilarious!
 
After the film shooting the camera floated further to Florida Key West and washed ashore at the half of May by Paul Shultz.
 

Paul Shultz immediately started a search operation on Scubaboard.com, cruisecritics.com and aruba.com to find us.
 
Below the links to the you tube film and the 2 forums. 
 
Amaze yourself and have fun,
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E43sg-Ytt58

http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/basic-scuba-discussions/335831-found-camera-stage-com-help.html 
 
http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1209894 
 
Regards
 
Dick de Bruin

The current came out of the Atlantic, into the Caribbean and past Aruba picking up Dick's camera.
The current carried the camera towards Central America, turned and then entered the Gulf of Mexico going between Yucatan and Cuba.
Once in the Gulf of Mexico it hit a junction, the camera could have gone to Mexico, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama or the west coast of Florida.
It ended up going east, along the north coast of Cuba and then on to Key West, Florida where it was pick up on the beach, finder did a lot of research and managed to find Dick and return the camera. 
MORE COVERAGE OF THE CAMERA
This story was carried in the FLORIDA KEYS NEWS and it was was also picked up by the BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation
A very good article was done on MAIL ON LINE a service of The Daily Mail
Then it was picked up by the Associated Press and published in many more newspapers around the country.  See what the Los Angles Times said.
Now don't you think that is a good story?
THE END OF THE STORY

Dick has been reassigned by the Dutch Marines and returned to Holland for his new assignment.  Before returning to Holland he and his family flew to Orlando to visit Disney World and then down to Key West to visit with Paul Shultz, the man who found the camera.  These are photos of Dick and Paul, with Dick presenting Paul with a plaque as well as a copy of The Propeller.  The other photo is Paul and Dick with his family, including his father-in-law and brother-in-law, who came from Holland and met them in Orlando.

 
 
The group at Paul's house.
To see more about this story go to this web site.

http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/basic-scuba-discussions/335831-found-camera-stage-com-help-59.html

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