Knight in shining wetsuit recovers car key from the ocean for jetty damsel
A heart-warming Facebook post about a Busselton Jetty rescue on Tuesday was the key to local Deb Gallagher going viral.
The feel-good post on the Busselton community page has garnered more than 900 likes and dozens of comments.
Mrs Gallagher explained that while enjoying a stroll on the jetty with her husband Neil, they encountered a young lady called Iluh, who was visibly anxious and stressed.
They chatted for a while and Mrs Gallagher asked Iluh how to spell her unusual name.
“Its easy to remember, its an acronym of I Love You Heaps,” Iluh said.
Having run the length of the jetty for a workout, Iluh had launched herself into the ocean from the jetty platform to cool off.
Emerging from the water, she realised the only key to her car had slipped from her bathers and was about to become one of the smaller exhibits of the new Underwater Sculpture Park.
Iluh began to panic and when Mrs Gallagher encountered her, she was clearly in need of a little help.
Peter Wissink, an experienced free-diver who dives from the jetty daily, was informed about the missing key by one of the jetty staff.
Mr Wissink quickly found Iluh and got a description of the missing key and rough location of where it may have sunk.
“I find value in trying to be positive and create a change for the people around me,” he said.
“Losing something important can be super stressful.”
With this in mind, he tried to turn the situation around and bring about a happy ending.
He dived from the platform and completed a couple of laps of the area with no luck.
He then dived for the sea floor and was relieved when he spotted the plastic section of the key sticking up from the sand.
Holding the key high above his head, he surfaced to a huge round of applause from small crowd that had gathered.
“I could see the excitement and relief on Iluh’s face,” he said. “Handing over the key was a very fulfilling moment.”
As Mr Wissink handed over the key, one of the crowd cheekily suggested that Mr Wissink would make a superb husband for Iluh.
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