Some vacation photos are taken just for fun, while others are a snapshot of our treasured memories meant to last a lifetime. Alex Mansur was not so lucky when he lost his camera to the Tennessee River while vacationing there in 2012. The trip was special because Mansur and his family met with other relatives to go paddle boarding for the first time together in Chattanooga. While out on the water, the lanyard that carried his camera somehow slipped from his wrist. Dozens of photos Mansur snapped while on the trip were all lost in the river — or so he thought. As fate would have it — five years later on June 10 — party boat Chattanooga Cycleboats was on the same river filming a fishing segment for the travel web series Moving Mountains Roadshow. While trolling the lines, master captain Nate Wilson and co-captain Matt Schubert snagged an unusual object — a water-logged and algae-covered Olympus camera.

Wilson turned from captain to detective to retrieve the photos. A screw driver freed the SanDisk 8 GB SD memory card inside. “Being a hobby photographer and having three small children, I’ve put some memory cards through the ringer, the washer and dryer being the most surprising.” Wilson said in a press release from Chattanooga Cycleboats. As former corporate worker, Wilson cashed out his retirement to start the party boat business. “It's been a hard winter with the start up business. People have given us money for Christmas and someone anonymously paid our light and water bill. I wanted a job outside. I was in the corporate world, office and factory work and was looking to do something with my hobbies. Found the cycleboat on Craigslist and cashed out my retirement to buy it. Been happily eating rice and beans ever since,” he wrote to Your Daily Dish.

Grateful for the help he received to start his business, Wilson wanted to return the favor. He posted on Facebook in search of the camera's owner. “I need help finding this man" he wrote on Facebook. "We snagged his camera with fishing line in Chattanooga. There are pictures of what seems to be a mother and daughter too, pics date from 2009 to 2012.” There were hundreds of pictures and videos, but he posted one selfie video of Mansur camping and one photo of him paddle boarding.