It’s a sickening moment: that telltale plop of water splashing up to inform you that you’ve just dropped something important, like an iPhone or your glasses or your wallet, into the liquid abyss. For a tantalizing moment, it reflects under the waves—and then it vanishes. Or maybe it’s not until you get back to your hotel room that you look down and realize: “Oh no! My wedding ring is gone!”
But while these treasures might well be lost forever to a normal person, YouTuber Jake Koehler—user name: Dallmyd/Scuba Jake—has spent the better part of the last decade finding them. When possible, he even identifies owners of such diverse things as wedding rings and iPhones, GoPros and other seriously miscellaneous stuff. Sometimes he even has to call the cops.
Since 2011, Jake has been diving in various lakes, rivers and oceans, camera in hand to document his findings. The bubbling, gurgling noises of his scuba regulator create an oddly mesmerizing soundtrack to his otherwise mostly silent videos. He cleans up beer bottles and other cast-off detritus.
But Jake also finds amazing and unexpected things: rings and phones of course. But then there are things like Claymore mines, guns, human bones, remnants of a drug lab, a grenade … even a pickup truck!
The fascinating aspect of watching Jake’s oddly compelling videos is the fact that you start to feel like he might find almost anything.
Jake’s enthusiasm for discovery is practically contagious. He gets excited (we hear through muffled whoops underwater, generally speaking) about everything he finds. And then he surfaces to report on his findings.
When possible, Jake also seeks to return valuables he’s discovered. In fact, his YouTube page even invites people to email him if they’ve lost something important in a given body of water. (Though one suspects he quite likely has more search requests than he can handle.)
“Heck” and “freaking” are as bad as language ever gets. Occasionally, Jake uncovers something a bit on the CSI side of things, like, say, a human bone. (Don’t worry, he called the cops.)
One could argue that the apparent ease with which Jake finds valuables underwater could potentially make treasure-hunting look a lot easier than it probably is in real life.
Jake Koehler’s underwater treasure hunting offers an engaging and innocent glimpse into the adventures of a YouTuber who has mastered the art of rescuing valuables from a watery grave.
Note: Plugged In’s YouTube channel reviews are not exhaustive summaries of everything viewers will find, but a representative sample of recent videos to give you a sense of the kinds of things you might expect to see.
After serving as an associate editor at NavPress’ Discipleship Journal and consulting editor for Current Thoughts and Trends, Adam now oversees the editing and publishing of Plugged In’s reviews as the site’s director. He and his wife, Jennifer, have three children. In their free time, the Holzes enjoy playing games, a variety of musical instruments, swimming and … watching movies.
