When Casey Brooks went swimming at high tide and lost his wedding ring in the water, he didn't think there was any way he'd ever see it again.
Fortunately, an anonymous hero with a metal detector was able to track it down hours after it was lost.
Brooks and his wife Lindsey were at Atlantic City's Tropicana Casino in New Jersey for a mini vacation when the ring went missing.
They spent the day at the beach on Wednesday, and Brooks paddled out on a boogie board at full tide with his wife watching from the shore. He estimates he was about 50 yards out when he felt the ring slide off.
"I instantly froze and started feeling around on the ocean floor with my feet." he told HuffPost.
His wife quickly borrowed a pair of goggles and joined him in the water. The couple started combing through the sand, but the waves and current made the ring impossible to find.
"With goggles on, we are searching and searching but at this point I feel the truth setting in," he said. "I lost my wedding ring and it's gone forever. We both look at each other and realize it's gone!"
The couple's first anniversary is coming up in November, so losing the almost brand new ring was devastating.
They returned for a walk down the beach later that evening when the tide was low, and couldn't help but keep an eye out for the sliver of gold.
When the couple came across a woman with a metal detector, they asked if she'd found a wedding band but unfortunately she hadn't. The woman took an interest though and asked where Brooks remembered losing it, saying that she'd helped others in similar situations before.
She waded knee-deep in the water and less than 10 minutes later said, "There's something over here, I got a hit in my headphones," Brooks remembered.
After sifting through three scoops of sand, she found his tungsten-carbide wedding band, buried more than a foot deep.
"I was speechless, my wife was crying tears of joy," Brooks said. "We could not believe it." Brooks pulled out his wallet and gave the mystery woman all the cash he had on him. The woman took the $100 and smiled wide for the picture Brooks' wife took to remember the moment. He said, "I didn't even get her name but she got big hugs from my wife and me."
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