Local scuba diver turns passion into business

LANCASTER, Ky. (ABC 36 NEWS NOW) —If you’ve ever dropped your phone, sunglasses, or any other belonging to the bottom of the lake, professional diver Nate Byrd can help you get it back.

“It’s so common and so frequent for people to drop stuff, it’s nice to be able to reassure people that ‘hey, it happens and it’s not a big deal,” Byrd said. “If you want us to come get it, we’ll come get it.”

He says the most common item he dives for is cellphones, but every once in a while, he gets a call for a more unexpected item like dentures.

“All of the sudden when my light came up, just a shiny set of teeth, and it just kind of took me aback for a second, and then I was like ‘oh that’s what I’m looking for’ then grabbed it and brought it up,” Byrd said.

Sometimes the items he’s diving for aren’t so shiny. He adds that most of Kentucky’s lakes have zero visibility at the bottom.

“A lot of what we find is actually by feel,” he said.  “We’ll go down and it’ll be completely black down there, and a lot of it is just running your hand across the bottom until you bump into it.”

The deepest Byrd has ever been is 132 feet, which for some may seem scary, but not for Byrd.

“It’s very peaceful down there, it’s very calming and relaxing and it’s very freeing,” he said.

Both Byrd and his wife spend a lot of time in different lakes throughout the Bluegrass. They say they want people to know how much trash they see, and how important it is to keep our lakes clean.

“We are on call 24/7, 365 days a year,” Byrd said.

In addition to diving for lost items, Byrd and his wife provide a lieu of other services for boat owners and lake-goers.

You can visit their website at Kingfisher Marine or Facebook page for more information.