Charlotte couple found lost wedding band in St. Lucia and then tracked down the original owner in South Africa

Seriously, flawless.

On day three of their trip, they made a surprising discovery at the bottom of the ocean near their resort—a wedding band that had been missing for four years.

“The water was pretty rough every day we were there, except the day we found the ring,” Julie said. “We spent several hours in the water looking around because it was so calm and clear. I went down and popped back up and said to Colin, ‘There’s a ring!'”

It took her several tries to get down to it due to the pull of the current, but she finally emerged victorious. The goggles that made it possible for her to see the ring, she pointed out, came from Blis Gift Boutique in Founders Hall.

Having just exchanged their own bands a few days earlier, they knew how important it must be to someone else and decided to try and find the original owner.

It was a long shot, but my sister posted on Facebook:

“We found a treasure at the bottom of the ocean yesterday in Saint Lucia. The wedding band is engraved MT 12-16-2012 and was found in the water at Sandals Regenecy La Toc. It is yellow and white gold. The jeweler’s stamp is “sja” and links to a jeweler in New Hampshire. Let’s share this out and see if we can find the owner!!”

The post exploded. Thanks to nearly 140,000 shares and the power of the internet, it made its way to the original owner… in South Africa.

Before my sister and her husband were even home from their trip, they had found their guy.

He told them he lost the ring while on vacation with his family in 2012. It flew off when he was tossing a ball around with his son and was presumably lost forever. That is, of course, until it showed up 4 years later at a different resort.

The ring is with representatives at the resort and will be on its way to South Africa soon.

The original owner has filed the necessary paperwork to claim the lost item.

Meanwhile, nearly 8,000 people have commented on the original Facebook post, some sharing tales of their own lost rings and and the sense of hope this story gives them that they may show up again one day.

“We had no idea it would get so many shares!” Julie said. “We figured it was worth trying to find the owners, but we didn’t think we actually would.”

Many commenters are skeptical and think the whole thing is a lie—or at least that the ownership claim is false.

I hate to break it to the naysayers, but the man claiming the ring provided a marriage certificate matching the date engraved on the ring as well as photos of him wearing it on his wedding day. It’s either legit or he’s gone to extreme lengths to lie about it. I’m going with legit on this one.

Moral of the the story? Engrave your ring and never underestimate the power of Facebook.

Oh, and maybe don’t wear rings in the ocean.