A unique website dedicated to fishing information from Florida's Northern Big Bend. This includes the area from the Econfina River west to the Apalachicola River
Search and rescue crews are trying to find a missing boater after a partially submerged cabin cruiser was found Sunday nearly 5 miles off the coast of Alligator Point.
Three people were on board the 49-foot vessel, called "Old School," on Sunday when it ran into unknown difficulties. Officers with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, who discovered the boat, contacted the U.S. Coast Guard around 6 p.m. for help.
They found two of the three boaters, though it wasn't clear whether they were on board or in the water at the time. One was found unresponsive and the other was taken to a local hospital. It was not immediately clear where the unresponsive crew member was taken.
"We don't know the cause as to why the vessel was submerged," said Petty Officer Lexie Preston, a Coast Guard spokeswoman. "Currently our primary focus is search and rescue."
The Coast Guard deployed helicopters from New Orleans and Clearwater, along with two search boats from Panama City, to look for the missing boater.
Anyone with information is asked to call the Coast Guard at (251) 441-5976.
This was water conditions about 5nm from Bald Point, yesterday about 3pm. There must be some other reason besides weather that contributed to this accident, unless they were out in TS Nestor.
FRANKLIN COUNTY, Fla. (WCTV) -- The U.S. Coast Guard confirms one of three people on board a boat that sank off Alligator Point has died. The Coast Guard located the victim early Monday after searching overnight. They were found unresponsive in the water.A second person found at the same time was alive and taken to the hospital. A third crew member is still missing and the Coast Guard continues its search, along with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. FWC first discovered the partially submerged 49-foot vessel Sunday evening, about 4 nautical miles south of Alligator Point. A Coast Guard spokesperson says the boat last made contact with authorities off the Atlantic Coast of Florida near Cape Canaveral.The privately owned boat was going from Cape Canaveral to New Orleans via the intra-coastal waterway, according to the Coast Guard. The owner was one of the three people on board. The Coast Guard is using two helicopters and two boat crews during the search.
Live across the street from TMH and regularly hear lifelight helicopters come and go.
Heard a loud chopper and went outside to check it out and saw a coast guard helo come in fast, stop on a dime and land(they typically make slow approaches to the hospital)..
Those CG helicopters are much louder than the run of the mill ones and it was quite a sight... I remember thinking WTF is the coast guard doing over here and kind of forgot about it.
Sad news. We may never know the whole story, but it certainly is unusual for a larger vessel to go down like that so close to shore without getting off a mayday.
I was witness as a 60-foot sport-fish caught fire off Cabo several years ago. The turbocharger overheated and the crew was able to get aboard another nearby boat quickly. The owner was in shorts and t-shirt; his passport and wallet were still in the master stateroom it happened so quick. Within 20 minutes the fiberglass melted like lava and the boat rolled over and then went down, bow pulpit up, in 5,000 feet of water. Will never forget that episode.
"Sun rise and sun sets. Since the beginning, it hasn't changed yet." Little Feat
I was thinking the same thing. Hard to imagine what could have happened so quickly on a 49 foot boat only 5 miles or so off shore. Even if they ran up on one of the shoals, they would have been okay until somebody got there.
Maybe a broken fitting or breach in the hull that caught them by surprise. I hadn't even thought about a fire.
Be careful out there everybody. Those of us who do this all the time tend to become complacent.
Stories like this and the firefighters who were lost a few months ago off the East coast have prompted me to buy a PLB and attach it to my auto inflating life vest. (that I now wear all the time)
A PLB or EPIRB would have probably saved one or more lives in this case.
Prayers for the family members and the hope of rescuing the missing crew member.
“It's hard to measure almost.....because almost doesn't matter”
― John Dutton
With just bit of sleuthing online can't help but wonder if there's more to the story than most of us know.
Boated at least from NYC down and around Miami with online updates from multiple major port stops along the way...
Big/fast boat going that far to go down and have fatalities so close to shore...
"The Marines I have seen around the world have the cleanest bodies, the filthiest minds, the highest morale, and the lowest morals of any group of animals I have ever seen. Thank GOD for the United States Marine Corps." Eleanor Roosevelt, 1945
Don't know anything about this, but it sounds like they were doing the "Great Loop". I've researched the Great Loop a bit and it seems like a fun way to spend 9 months. This boat is a larger they recommend though. I think some of the slips in the NE, Great Lakes and Chicago can be a bit tight.
In the end we will conserve only what we love. We will love only what we understand. And we will understand only what we are taught.
I know the boat, I am the broker who sold it. If reports of them departing Crystal River at 10AM Saturday are correct, it would appear they were headed straight into Nestor, which made landfall later in the day at 5PM. Hopefully the fellow in the hospital will survive and be able to tell about it. The seller was in contact with the new owner regularly until around Wednesday, then law enforcement contacted him Sunday evening and he in turn called me looking for additional information. It has hit us all pretty hard, the guy was really nice and very resourceful.
The boat was powered by a pair of Man D2866's, 600hp, turning Arnessen #12 surface drives. The original purchaser was the father of the immediate prior owner (my seller), thus in the family since new. Pop replaced the original quadruple big block's with this power train package some years back. The boat was straight out of Miami Vice, only thing missing was Don Johnson at the helm.
This is terrible. How on earth could they have not known about the storm? For less than a fill up, they could have had a epirb or plb. I’m going to pony up for a new bottom machine w xm radar. I can more easily drop serious money on my boat if I can call it a safety feature. Then the budget goes to a different level. How much is your life worth? Prayers
Catholic girl pray for me, you’re my only hope for heaven
There's more info over at the Hulltruth board, including input from a friend who was supposed to go on this trip. He has spoken with the survivor who said they lost an engine in rough seas. When it started sputtering they stopped and opened the engine compartment to see that it was already completely flooded. Two of them tried to get to the front to drop an anchor, but the boat spun around in the rough seas and took a wave over the transom. Survivors estimate was that the entire thing took 20 seconds.
I guess in a 1989 hull there was no floatation foam?
Making the crossing during a tropical storm? Really... I hope that isn't the case but if so then they win the Darwin award in my mind.
Always hate to hear about the loss of life but people need to realize that a stupid decision not only puts them self in danger but also the brave souls that will attempt to rescue them. I'm reminded of this fact on most of my snapper trips. Reason being one of my favorite spots is an old Coast Guard plane that went down in our waters. All 6 crew members lost there life.
Wife had been aboard until a day or two earlier when she'd flown home from one of the prior port stops... they definitely knew about the storm. Can't recall precise time that wave heights were max but for anyone who does, here's a timeline on communications from Crystal River and then when traveling again the next day...
"The Marines I have seen around the world have the cleanest bodies, the filthiest minds, the highest morale, and the lowest morals of any group of animals I have ever seen. Thank GOD for the United States Marine Corps." Eleanor Roosevelt, 1945
Per Steve Stinson's reference to the Hull Truth posts sounds like despite knowing about the storm they evidently underestimated it and things just went south really quickly.
"The Marines I have seen around the world have the cleanest bodies, the filthiest minds, the highest morale, and the lowest morals of any group of animals I have ever seen. Thank GOD for the United States Marine Corps." Eleanor Roosevelt, 1945
