For Denise Rivera, a breezy open-air meal overlooking the Hudson River turned into a jewelry nightmare when her engagement ring slipped from her finger, rolled across the restaurant dock and disappeared into the murky water below. But thanks to a remarkable team of volunteer student divers, the sentimental treasure was back on her finger less than 24 hours later.
Rivera was dining with her sister and brother-in-law at Billy Joe’s Ribworks in Newburgh, NY, when she moved the ring down her finger to relieve an irritation. In an instant, it was gone.
“It just slipped off,” Rivera told News 12. “It rolled off the table, rolled on the floor and then off the dock and into the water. And my heart dropped.”
The ring was particularly meaningful. Rivera and her fiancé, Alfred Gonzalez, had reconnected through a mutual friend earlier this year after discovering that they had attended middle school together in Queens. Gonzalez proposed in May.
Rivera thought the ring might be gone for good, but there was an extraordinary stroke of luck: A group from the nearby Hudson Valley Commercial Diving Training Center happened to be eating at Billy Joe’s that evening. After hearing about the mishap, school owner and dive instructor Christian Dougherty offered to help.
“I run an underwater welding school right next door to Billy Joe’s,” Dougherty recalled telling Rivera in an interview with ABC 7 News. “We’re in the Hudson River every day. We’ll go find it for you.”
The next morning, six student divers met Rivera at the restaurant. They reviewed the restaurant's security video to determine exactly where the ring had entered the water before beginning their search.
The conditions were daunting. The Hudson was approximately 12 to 15 feet deep beneath the dock, with virtually zero visibility. The divers couldn't see their hands, much less a tiny piece of jewelry. Instead, they had to feel their way through the mud and debris covering the river bottom.
After roughly two hours — and four 40-minute dives — the divers still hadn't found the ring. Rather than give up, they changed tactics. They began scooping buckets of silt, mud and debris from the riverbed and inspected the contents on the shore.
The first bucket came up empty. The second produced a miracle.
“Believe it or not, it was the second bucket,” Dougherty told News 12.
When the ring emerged from the muck, Rivera was overwhelmed.
“I couldn’t believe it when he showed me the ring and I immediately put it on,” she told ABC 7 News. “I didn’t care [that] it wasn’t clean. I just put it right back on.” She also vowed to never take it off again.
Restaurant owner Jonathan Gatsik told News 12 that Rivera isn't the first customer to lose a wedding ring from the dock — it has happened three times, and all three rings have been recovered.
“These amazing guys found it for us,” Gatsik said. “We’re really happy about that. Only happy endings at Billy Joe’s.”
Rivera was so grateful that she plans to invite the divers to her wedding.
“They were just angels there at the right place and the right time,” she told News 12. “They came to help. No questions asked.”
Credits: Screen captures via abc7ny.com.