Panasonic Lumix Camera Found on Floor of Pacific Ocean
An Awesome Journey of Recovery and Reunion
This is the tale of the amazing adventure of a Panasonic Lumix camera.
Mark and I have enjoyed skin diving and snorkeling ever since we met in 1982. Back then, we embarked on a three-month backpacking journey to Tahiti, New Zealand and Fiji. We brought our fins, masks and snorkels along to enjoy the underwater views of down under. Forty years later, we still enjoy frolicking in the summer ocean waters here in San Diego.
We live 20 minutes away from the Pacific Ocean. So we can hop into our car with our gear whenever we want to visit the garibaldis, bass, lobsters, seals, docile leopard sharks and all the other inhabitants off our coast.
Off to the Beach on a Slow Work Day
That is just what we did a few years ago on a slow-work day. We drove out to La Jolla Shores, suited up and strolled down the beach and into the water. Then we donned our masks and fins. Mark and I plunged into the ocean and began our snorkeling adventure. We had no idea what kind of submerged treasure awaited us. Conditions were exquisite: a sunny day, warm water, low surge, low tide and brilliant visibility. We had just seen a newscast by a local weatherman who had found someone’s GoPro on the beach and was trying to get it back to the owner. Consequently we entertained thoughts of how cool it would be to find a camera on our dive. Sun rays penetrated the typically murky, kelp-filled water leading Mark to notice an unusual glint in a sandy patch on the floor of the Pacific Ocean. So down he dove about 25 feet to retrieve an orange camera partially submerged in the soft sand.
Look What I Found!
Mark returned to the surface calling out “Look what I found!” He waved the camera in the air. And thus began an awesome journey of recovery and reunion. Neither one of us realized it was an underwater Panasonic Lumix camera. And so we both assumed that it was a goner. But we thought maybe the card might still be good. Mark rinsed it off at the showers. And then when we climbed into the car on our way to a networking event, while sitting in the passenger seat, I decided to try and turn it on.
We Have Power!
It powered up. I got so excited about it, I looked for the review button to see if I could access any photos. Again the camera responded with a flood of photographs, nearly 300 of them. I scanned for selfies and found some of a handsome guy and his beautiful wife. There were shots from a sailboat trip on San Diego Bay, a vacation at Palm Springs, a visit to Julian and even a skindiving day in La Jolla. And yet the latest photos were not from that skindiving trip; the last clips taken were at the La Jolla Playhouse at a children’s performance featuring the man’s son. There were photos going back to New Year’s Eve of 2011 at Half Dome in Yosemite. This was such an adventuresome and fun-loving family, Mark and I knew we had to get the camera and its contents back into their hands. I snapped a shot of Mark as he drove, just to see if the camera still worked, and if the time was correct. Again, yes, and yes.
We showed the camera to people we encountered at the Buena Vista Social Club where UCSD was hosting an event (Mark is a UCSD alumnus.) We powered that camera on again and again, to share the photos and the story of how Mark had just found the camera a couple of hours earlier at the bottom of the ocean. Everybody was amazed about it and loved the story.
Sending Out an SOS
As soon as Mark and I returned home, I went on Facebook and posted the couple selfie asking if anyone recognized them. I continued posting to Facebook, as I have over 1,000 friends there, and although I continued getting “Likes” and “Shares” (over 300) nobody who knew the couple was coming forward.
So I clicked to the Channel 10 news website and filled out their form about a story. I wrote that this was not an earth-shattering story, but if we could find the Lumix camera’s owners, it would be an incredible heart-warmer. Reporter Joe Little responded and drove over the very next day. He was the first reporter on the scene on 9/11 when the airplane crashed into a field in Pennsylvania. Fortunately, this time for the one-man-band who now enjoys working in San Diego, ours would be a whimsical story, Divers Look for Family Who Lost Camera at Beach in La Jolla on Channel 10.
The Answering Machine Lighted Up
Within two hours of that story hitting the airwaves, we came home to our answering machine to see that there were two messages; the first was from a woman who knew the name of the man: Jamie. the second call was from Jamie himself. After verifying that he was indeed the owner of the Lumix, we set up a time for the next day for his wife Alycen and pre-teen son to join Mark and me in La Jolla to receive the camera, under the watchful eyes of three television crews and the Inside Edition crew.
And then Diane Bell, reporter for the San Diego Union Tribune, penned a story: Ocean-Dwelling Camera Not Shot
And who doesn’t love a Happy Ending?
Patty Mooney is a VP, Video Producer, Sound Technician, Video Editor and erstwhile Social Media Sleuth at award-winning San Diego video production company, Crystal Pyramid Productions.
