22-year-old Dylan Gartenmayer is one of the luckiest people on the planet after his rescue from being lost at sea – and he knows it.
Dylan and his friends went spearfishing and deep sea diving off the coast of Key West a couple of weeks ago.
He ended up getting caught in a powerful Gulf Stream that swept him away from the boat during his last dive. It’s believed he was underwater for about two minutes as he was thrown around while holding his breath
Gartenmayer was finally able to get to the surface after the rough ride. Unfortunately, he was over a mile away from where he started.
His friends had no idea what had happened to him and thought he’d probably lost consciousness during his dive. They tried searching for him but quickly called his mother in a panic when they couldn’t locate him. She immediately jumped in a boat with her family and sped towards their location and contacted the Coast Guard, who launched a search and rescue mission.
Their boat was caught on video speeding through a canal at 40mph in a 5mph limit zone.
Dylan knew he couldn’t keep treading water and needed help to stay afloat. He had no idea how long he’d be in open water since he didn’t know when or if help would come.
A nearby buoy provided the assistance he needed so he swam towards it, grabbing some floating bamboo on the way to help him swim over.
“I had a bunch of bait floating up around me and everything,” Gartenmayer said.“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… but I’m glad I didn’t have to.”
At a point he could see flashing lights and a helicopter moving in patterns. Although his rescuers were within sight, it didn’t mean they’d spot him – it’s a big ocean after all.
“I could see Coast Guard out in the distance to the west of me. I could see their blue lights, the helicopter going, doing their grid pattern,” he continued. “My bamboo had started drifting away from me.”
“I was facing to the west looking at the Coast Guard, and I could hear a boat humming up behind me”.
Little did he know, the boat was full of his family and friends.
“My mom took my dive gear. She just started hugging, crying,” said Dylan.
They miraculously found their son and were able to bring him home safely.
“Too often missing diver cases don’t have positive outcomes, and the circumstances of this case didn’t forecast for one,” said Search and Rescue Mission Coordinator, Lieutenant Commander Elizabeth Tatum. “Sunset, weather conditions and Dylan’s outfit were playing against us in this case, but his foresight to lash mooring balls together to make him a bigger target in the water was smart.”
