Fishing captain perseveres until locating missing wedding ring

MARCO ISLAND, Fla.- A fishing boat captain from Marco Island found a wedding ring that had been lost in the ocean for weeks near the Walker’s Coon Key Marina.

“Man it’s a God thing, we found that ring. That was an impossibility but it was found, the lost was found,” said Richard Varnes who has been a fishing boat captain for decades.

A few weeks ago, Varnes says he had a day he’ll never forget with a family visiting Marco Island on vacation. After returning from a fishing trip, Varnes was cleaning fish alongside Telly Ginos when Ginos’ wedding ring fell into the water.

Varnes picked up a relatively large rock and threw it in the water as a reference point, later attempting to dive down and recover the ring but he was unsuccessful.

“They said ‘what are you doing?’ I said ‘I’m going to go find that ring!”

Varnes went into the water every few days for weeks, sifting through the sand and hoping to find the ring.

“I just started scooping and scooping and I said, ‘I know this ring is here somewhere.’ I kept on and kept on and you know I turned that net over one time, threw it in the bucket, and there it was, the ring.”

Back home in Portland, Ginos was amazed Varnes had retrieved his ring, “what an amazing person, amazing.”

Ginos says his father-in-law blessed the ring right before he died, adding to its sentimental value. He finally received the ring back on Tuesday and says he immediately texted a picture to Varnes.

“I just want to thank him so much, it’s an incredible thing, what he’s done for me,” Ginos said.

“I am happy that they found it, for their marriage, for their future and every time that wife looks at that ring, they’ll remember the story,” Varnes said.