A fishing charter off Fort Pierce potentially became a lifesaving rescue mission for two divers who were reported missing a few hours earlier.
In the end, the anglers caught their limit of red snapper, but the two men survived a trip into the Bermuda Triangle where they nearly became stranded in shark-infested waters.
The afternoon of July 9, Jordan Walther, Charles Resta, Will Music and Carlton Young were fishing on Resta's 23-foot boat for red snapper in about 130 feet of water due east of Fort Pierce Inlet. After catching their limit, Walther aimed the boat to a fishing spot in shallower water where he planned to catch mangrove snapper, mutton snapper and maybe other species like kingfish.
"We started running back inshore and I saw something in the water about 300 yards away. Then I told Charlie they were divers. When they realized we saw them, they started waving their floats," said Walther, who operates Wake Up Call charters out of Vero Beach.
Right away, Walther and his crew shifted into rescue mode. When they pulled up, they could tell the men were in trouble.
As the divers came aboard, it was clear they did not know when — or if — they would be found. They told Walther, the boat that took them to the reef they were diving was supposed to rendezvous with them in an hour. But after the hour passed, there was no sign of the boat. The divers refused to talk to TCPalm for this story.
Walther said the men had activated a personal locator beacon so the Coast Guard had been notified of their plight, but was unable to located them. Good thing Walther and Resta came by when they did.
"We gave them water which they sucked down right away. One diver had already dropped his tank and weight gear, so we could tell he was tired. The divers told us they were hoping to spear some red snapper, but all they saw was short mutton snapper and lionfish," Walther said.
Walther called in to the Coast Guard who called off any search. They were able to connect with the boat who had been instructed by the Coast Guard to wait inside Fort Pierce Inlet. That's where Walther and Resta helped transfer the divers to their original boat. The divers offered to pay Walther who refused their money, but he did accept their delicious lionfish.
Resta told the two divers they were lucky. They had been in 113 feet of water and were drifting at about 4 knots to the north. If no one found them, they could have drifted farther out to sea and been picked up by the Gulf Stream.
"I told them to buy lottery tickets," Resta said. "I guess the moral of the story is to have an airtight float plan with your chase boat and never depend on someone finding you after being under water for 45 minuets. The chase boat should always stay with the divers displaying the proper flag. It was our lucky day to limit out on red snapper and prevent a possible tragedy."
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