Sacramento diver ‘Merman Mike’ pulls trash and treasure out of river waters
Just 10 months after he started his diving endeavor, Merman Mike has gained a reputation for finding submerged valuables. He returned a ring reportedly worth $17,000 to its owner on June 22, bringing attention to his dual goals: clear trash from local waters and find treasure.
When he isn’t Merman Mike, he is Michael Pelley, a 28-year-old estimator for a construction company. Pelley said he wants to make diving his profession one day, but for now it’s “a full-time hobby.”
He dreamed of diving for years. “I’ve always had a fascination for the water and deep-sea exploration,” he said. “It’s always boggled my mind that people are exploring new planets and we haven’t even got done exploring our own.”
Pelley first signed up to get a diving certification when he was 15, but he broke his collarbone two days before the course and put off trying again for a while. He was busy and it was an expensive hobby.
Eventually, Pelley came across a YouTuber called Dallmyd whose channel spurred him into action. Dallmyd has 10.7 million subscribers and makes underwater videos with cliffhanger titles like “What will I find swimming beneath 30,000 people?” He frequently finds lost valuables and returns them to their owners. Inspired by how Dallmyd helps people, Pelley got his diving certification and started a similar endeavor in Sacramento 10 months ago.
He began diving whenever he could, usually three or four times a week. Using a metal detector, he unearthed jewelry, iPhones and Apple watches that local swimmers and kayakers dropped. Pelley also made sure to pick up trash he found along the way — cans, golf balls, rusted toys and more.
“The rivers and lakes provide so much joy and fun for me it’s only right that I give back by cleaning them out,” he said.
When a man contacted Pelley earlier this month asking for help finding a valuable ring that he’d dropped into the Sacramento River, Pelley agreed to search for it. He dove into the murky water with a metal detector and, after struggling with a strong current and limited visibility, found the ring. When Pelley returned the jewelry, the thrilled owner gave him enough money to buy a new, more powerful metal detector as a thank-you gift.
Pelley said he does not require pay for finding lost items, but he accepted the money in hopes that a higher-quality metal detector will help him recover more valuables.
Pelley filmed his dive using a GoPro strapped to his mask and posted the video on his YouTube channel. Having heard of the feat, four or five people got in touch this week asking for help retrieving lost jewelry from the bottom of local bodies of water, he said.
The Merman Mike channel recently got monetized and Pelley made his first $100 — a step in the direction of making diving a job. He said he envisions building a network of divers, with someone always available to take a call seeking a missing iPhone or wedding band.
He cautioned aspiring divers, however, to get proper training before following in his footsteps.
“This is a beautiful and a fun hobby, but Mother Nature is also very unpredictable and dangerous,” Pelley said. He added that anyone who wants help finding their lost items should contact him privately rather than leaving descriptions of their valuables in the YouTube comments section.
This story was originally published July 7, 2020 at 7:58 AM.