MOSSEL BAY NEWS - "It was against all odds. We thought the ring was well gone."
These were the words of Marni Bonthuys, whose husband of 16 years, Gert, had lost his ring while at Bikini Beach on the afternoon of 30 December.
It was Hartenbos resident, Michael de Nobrega, who took it upon himself to search the beach with his metal detector until 21:30 that evening until he finally found it.
Marni spoke to Mossel Bay Advertiser about how the ring was lost, and how they made contact with De Nobrega, and got back the ring they thought would be missing forever.
Marni said she and Gert were high school sweethearts, and that she had Gert's ring specially made for him, 16 years ago when they got married.
The couple, who live in Somerset West with their son, had been visiting Marni's parents in Hartenbos for the holidays when the family of three decided to go to the beach late that afternoon.
"Gert would usually leave his ring in the car or a safe space before going to the beach, but this time he asked me to look after it. I put it on my finger and made sure to keep an eye on it until my son was stung by a blue bottle.
"It must have slipped off in all the commotion. It was about an hour later, when my husband asked me for his ring back, that I realised it was gone."
Michael de Nobrega and his metal detector. Photo: Supplied
She said they spent some time looking for it, but it was difficult to search through the sand.
"My mom suggested we make a post on 'Mosselbaai op sy beste' which I did. Michael then got hold of us and said he was going to go out and find it."
De Nobrega told the Advertiser that there was a slight gap in communication regarding which beach the couple were on and so he first went out to Bayview Beach, before a phone call with the couple cleared up that they were on Bikini Beach when the ring was lost.
"I spent about an hour on Bikini Beach with the metal detector until I found it. I gave them a call, sent them a pin location for where I live and they came to fetch it that same evening," he said.
Marni said she could not believe it when De Nobrega told her he had found the ring.
"We brought him some wine, and some money to say thank you but he didn't want it; he said we should pay it forward," said Marni.
"We haven't had a very good year, so this was such a positive end to 2024. We are so thankful to everyone in the community, especially Michael. It was a very good deed that he did," she said.
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