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A 21-year-old man has been rescued after being swept away by the Gulf Stream while snorkeling more than five miles off the Florida Keys.
Diver and spearfisherman Dylan Gartenmayer was with two friends and family when he went down for a final dive of the day around West Sambo Reef last Thursday.
To the surprise of his friends and family, he did not show up. so they notified the US Coast Guard.
Almost four hours after he was last seen and after being transported two miles across the ocean, he was found clinging to two buoys that he had cut from the reef.
Gartenmayer, who grew up in the Keys, has more than a decade of freediving and spearfishing experience. ‘As Key West natives, we love the ocean. I was spearfishing with Dylan in my tummy,” said her mother, Tabitha. NBC6.
22-year-old diver and spearfisherman Dylan Gartenmayer (right) was rescued after being swept away by the Gulf Stream while diving more than 5 miles off the Florida Keys.
On January 19, as he and two friends were preparing to wind down for the day as water conditions worsened, he made one last dive.
During that dive, he was at a depth of about 35 feet when suddenly currents swept him to depths of 150 feet, keeping him submerged for about two minutes.
“I do a lot of deep freediving, so I like to go more than 100 feet on a single breath,” Gartenmayer said.
His friends waiting on the boat became concerned when he never got back on. “They were mainly looking down, thinking I passed out from lack of oxygen,” he said.
They then contacted the Coast Guard and notified his family to start a search operation, sharing with everyone the coordinates of where he had gone for the last dive.
“A friend went snorkeling and is missing in this area off Western Sambo Reef at these coordinates. Coast Guard now looking to see if anyone has a fast boat and can help search before sundown,” wrote friend Sean Caggiano .
That was at 6:03 p.m., the nearest hour to the minute the sun was due to set that day.
Relatives and the coast guard began a search operation and he was discovered clinging to two buoys just as the sun was setting
Once they realized he was missing, his friends contacted the Coast Guard, his family shared the coordinates of where he had gone for the last dive.
His family went out in his grandfather’s boat to look for him. They described the miraculous moment when, minutes after reaching the reef, one of his friends on the boat saw something strange: two buoys were attached.
When they got closer, they saw it on the surface, just 0.3 miles from where it had landed, and four hours later. At 6:37 p.m., Caggiano posted an update that his friend had been found.
The moment he was seen was captured on video and showed family and friends cheering as Gartenmayer used his rifle to row out to his boat.
Once on board, he was transferred to a coast guard boat and brought to shore. Although his temperature was low at first, he was discharged just an hour later.
Once rescued he realized what happened. He says that after being swept away by the currents, he surfaced about a mile from where he entered.
‘There was a lot of bait exploding around me. I knew there were big fish eating that bait. I was ready to fight all night, but I’m glad I didn’t have to,” Gartenmayer told NBC6.
Once he got up, he swam about a mile to a channel marker while holding on to a piece of bamboo.
At 6:37 p.m., half an hour after sunset, Caggiano posted an update that his friend had been found.
Gartenmayer, who grew up in the Keys, has more than a decade of freediving and spearfishing experience.
Once on board, he was transferred to a coast guard boat and brought to shore. Although his temperature was low at first, he was discharged just an hour later.
At that moment he could see a helicopter searching and the blue lights of a coast guard boat but the distraction caused him to lose the bamboo that kept him afloat.
‘I could see the coast guard in the distance to the west of me. I could see its blue lights, the helicopter going, making its grid pattern,” he said.
Without the bamboo he cut buoys from the reef and used them to stay afloat. ‘I ended up cutting three of those out of [the] reef [and] tying up a small hammock,’ he said.
He described how he could hear the hum of the boat’s engine. ‘My mom took my scuba gear. She just started hugging herself, crying,” Gartenmayer said.
His cousin, Priscilla Gartenmayer, recorded key moments in the rescue mission and uploaded videos to social media in a story that has now gone viral.
“He is the smartest and most experienced diver I know in the water, he swam about two miles and before losing power he grabbed 3 buoys and made a hammock to float on,” he wrote.
‘It’s a miracle we landed right on my son on a needle in a haystack. You’re in the middle of the ocean, and that’s god,’ said his mother Tabby.