It was a beautiful August night for Michael Cherney, 76, and his wife of New Milford, Connecticut. They were enjoying their stay in Boothbay Harbor and decided to try the Cod's Head Fish House and BBQ for dinner.

“It was about 8 o’clock, and we were sitting at a two-person table at the railing edge,” Cherney said. “I started talking to somebody, a member of staff, and I had left my wallet on top of the table. Somehow I swiped it off the table, straight into the water 10 feet down. There it floated and I just stared. All our vacation money, my military ID, Medicare information, credit cards. Our entire vacation was in that wallet.”

Cherney said he was “resigned to it sinking,” but that his wife asked staff for a pole or net to try and grab it before it slipped under. It was then that Elena Smith, wife of owner Ralph Smith, saw what was going on.

“She sized up the situation and acted without hesitation,” Cherney said. “She just ran to the lower dock, took off her long hostess skirt, and dove in. She swam towards the wallet and rescued it, came back and handed it to us. She saved our vacation.”

Cherney came back to thank Smith with a bottle of Moët wine, and wanted to give it to her in person but couldn't find her at the restaurant when he came back, so he left the thank you.

“We were so very grateful,” Cherney said. “She was like a guardian angel. She did what she had to do to help someone in need, then she disappeared.”

Cherney said he will most definitely return to the Cod's Head, but that next time “I will watch myself.”