Diver, 80, Survives 18 Hours in Ocean

[jviehe]

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=324202

MIAMI Dec 12, 2004 — An 80-year-old diver spent 18 hours holding on to a buoy in the cold, rough waters of the Atlantic Ocean before a relative found him Sunday, ending an exhaustive search off the Florida Keys.

Ignacio Siberio said he survived with the help of a wetsuit and instincts developed

from more than 60 years of free diving and spear fishing. He did not require hospitalization, but was recovering at his weekend home in Tavernier on Sunday night.

"I'm feeling OK, but I got back home pretty beaten up, because I was all night and all day in one spot without moving," Siberio told The Associated Press in a telephone interview.

Siberio, a lawyer who immigrated to the United States from Cuba, went in his boat to one of his favorite spear fishing spots off Tavernier around 11 a.m. Saturday. By about 2:30 p.m. he realized the boat was no longer anchored.

Siberio said he furiously swam after the boat for about three miles before giving up, grabbing a buoy to a lobster trap and watching his boat drift away in roughly 300-foot-deep waters.

As night fell, the temperature dropped to the 50s in the coldest South Florida night this fall. Winds picked up from the north, churning the seas and tossing Siberio around.

Siberio, who dives nearly every weekend, said his experience helped him know how to handle the ocean currents and how to cope with the cold water by keeping his body moving.

"You have to concentrate mentally in an extraordinary way so that you don't get to the point that the cold, the danger, and the fact you are helpless make you quit," Siberio said. "When you quit, it's over."

Meanwhile, Siberio's wife called his great-nephew Carlos Lopez to ask if they were together. Lopez realized there may be trouble and called the U.S. Coast Guard, which began a search with aircraft and boats.

Lopez and friend Roberto Garcia drove from Miami to the Keys, hopped on their boats and began looking for Siberio's boat in 4- to 6-foot seas in the dead of night. They ran into trouble themselves, with Lopez's boat running aground and needing a tow to shore.

The Coast Guard stopped its search about 2 a.m., but Siberio kept fighting. He mustered all his mental and physical strength to move his legs underwater to prevent hypothermia from settling in.

He battled until after daybreak, when he began swimming to shore, more than 10 miles away.

Siberio's family grew even more worried Sunday morning, when the Coast Guard found his boat about 23 miles east of Elliott Key roughly more than 40 miles from where Siberio began diving Saturday.

Lopez and Garcia continued searching aboard Garcia's boat. At about 10:30 a.m., Garcia spotted Siberio about four miles offshore. They pulled him onto their boat and called the Coast Guard.

Lopez marveled at the strength of his great-uncle. Lopez says that medical personnel were concerned when they finding that Siberio's heart rate was 56 beats per minute, but Siberio told him that was his normal rate.

Siberio, a lawyer who immigrated to the United States from Cuba, said he survived by not thinking too much about his desperate situation.

"You can't start thinking for one second what's happening to you, because it will take over," Siberio said. "The sensation that you can die at any moment is constant."

 

[archman]

All I have to say is, that guy is a MACHINE.

 

[Jmaserati]

I just read this, and thought of Jack Lalanne. LOL. Man, that is what I call a constitution!

 

[derwoodwithasherwood]

The news report I heard on the radio this morning made it sound like he was left behind by someone. No mention at all that he was solo and his own boat drifted away. I wish they would get the facts straight...

 

[Humuhumunukunukuapua'a]

The Guardian's(AP) version has the obligatory shark reference:

At around 2 a.m., the Coast Guard stopped its search. But Siberio didn't stop fighting. And, sometime in the night, Siberio kicked something ``large and hard, a large animal.''

``I don't know what it was. I was more worried about making it through the night,'' Siberio said.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uslatest/story/0,1282,-4669944,00.html

It seems like whenever there's a story of daring ocean rescue or whatever, they have to at least suggest that the waters were teeming with maneaters. Funny ABC pulled that part. Sharks sell, baby!

Glad this guy is OK. What a tank!

Gregg

EDIT: Oh, and I agree about the ambiguity surrounding whether it was his boat or not. Do you think they make it sound like he was left behind by a dive boat so it's more Open Water-ish? Gotta love sensationalism.

 

[Mako Mark]

what a dude, I just hope that I am still doing things like that when I am his age..

 

[NauticalbutNice]

So I'm 60 years younger than him, and he puts me to shame!

Nauticalbutnice :fruit:

 

[Doc Intrepid]

what a dude, I just hope that I am still doing things like that when I am his age..

Me too. At least that's the plan...

 

[simbrooks]

what a dude, I just hope that I am still doing things like that when I am his age..

Maybe not quite those things!!

Good on him, heard it on the tv this morning. Was wondering if someone would drop in some shark bumpings, of course it could have been the line/chain from trap?

A 6 mile swim is a good distance, particularly for some who had been in that kind of exposure all night!

 

[ShakaZulu]

Wow, that is amazing............