Emergency services were called at about 18:00 GMT on Wednesday after reports he had become cut off by the tide near Portmeirion.
The Criccieth lifeboat was launched and a Caernarfon coastguard helicopter called in.
But a Holyhead Coastguard spokeswoman said he "rescued himself" before retiring to the Ship Aground.
The pub, in Talsarnau, is on the other side of the Dwyryd estuary from where he was believed to be missing from.
A man thought to be lost off the Gwynedd coast was in a pub, coastguards said.