Last week a household within the Florida Keys was capable of rescue their 22-year-old son after he was whisked away by highly effective Gulf Stream currents and left stranded within the open ocean. The miraculous rescue of Dylan Gartenmayer was akin to discovering a needle in a haystack, and his discovery made for a strong and emotional reunion on the water. Priscilla Gartenmayer, Dylan’s cousin, recorded a video of that scene and shared it to TikTok, the place it has been considered hundreds of occasions.
@kwmermaidp So grateful ???? #lostatsea #rescue #keywest #freedive #drifting #florida ♬ unique sound – Priscilla Gartenmayer
Gartenmayer, an skilled free diver and spear fishermen, later informed reporters that earlier than he was rescued he was absolutely ready to spend his night time combating off sharks as we watched the solar sink down within the sky. After he was carried roughly a mile away from his boat and crew, search-and-rescue crews with the U.S. Coast Guard had spent hours trying to find him to no avail. With his remaining vitality, Gartenmayer situated some buoys and lashed them collectively to vogue a small raft. Then he watched as bait balls began erupting throughout him.
“I had a bunch of bait floating around me,” Gartenmayer informed NBC-6 News. “I knew that there were big fish eating those baits and there were sharks that were going to be shortly behind them. I was ready to fight the night out.”
Carried Away within the Gulf Stream
On Jan. 19, Gartenmayer and a pair buddies headed out for a day of freediving and spearfishing at Western Sambo Reef, a well known coral reef space close to Key West.
Gartenmayer had made a number of deep dives from the boat that day whereas his associates saved watch from above. With climate circumstances beginning to deteriorate, the group determined to move again to shore quickly. But Gartenmayer wished to make one ultimate dive, and that’s when issues went south (or technically talking, when issues went North).
Gartenmayer dove roughly 35 toes down, the place he was instantly carried away by the Gulf Stream, a strong ocean present that brings heat water from the Gulf of Mexico into the Atlantic Ocean and extends alongside the jap coast of North America. Unable to flee the highly effective present, he was pulled to depths of 150 toes and whisked far-off from his buddies within the boat. No longer capable of see him, they notified Gartemayer’s household together with the Coast Guard. The USCG then despatched out a number of boats and plane in an effort to find him.
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An exhausted Gartenmayer surfaced roughly a mile away and swam to a channel marker, in line with NBC. He gathered some buoys and lashed them collectively right into a makeshift raft. He was shivering by this level, and he used the raft to maintain as a lot of his physique out of the water as doable. He was additionally seeing bait balls blowing up round him, and he knew all this exercise on the floor would draw predators in. He had already seen one reef shark swim previous. He waited there for hours, watching the solar go down as USCG planes flew overhead however failed to identify him.
“I had a small plane fly above but they didn’t see me, and about 30 minutes later they flew back again, still didn’t see me,” Gartenmayer informed reporters . “Shortly after that the sun had disappeared past the horizon. As I saw the sun disappear I knew things were starting to get a little more dire.”
Gartenmayers to the Rescue
Around the identical time the USCG launched its rescue mission, Dylan’s mom Tabitha was notified of the state of affairs by her ex-husband. The household and several other different associates shortly mobilized and launched their boat to affix within the search. They headed straight for Dylan’s final identified GPS coordinates and commenced on the lookout for their lacking son.
When they reached these coordinates and didn’t discover him, they continued trying within the fading mild. Eventually considered one of Dylan’s associates pointed to a gaggle of buoys that seemed to be tied collectively and seemed misplaced.
Roughly 4 hours after he was whisked away and left stranded within the open ocean, Dylan heard his household earlier than he even noticed them.
“I could hear the engines running and I knew from there that was actually my grandfather’s boat,” he mentioned.
The Coast Guard defined that Gartenmayer’s diving expertise and survival instincts made all of the distinction that day, including that his resolution to lash buoys collectively helped make him extra seen and staved off hypothermia. Tabitha agreed that her son’s expertise on the water was essential, however she additionally gave credit score to the next energy.
“It’s a miracle we landed right on my son in a needle in a haystack,” she mentioned. “You’re in the middle of the ocean, and that’s God.”