Whilst heading back to Key Largo through rough seas on Tuesday of last week, Capt. Joe Hall on the Sailors Choice party boat saw something he couldn’t believe.

A lone diver, frantically waving his arms, bobbed alone among 6-foot seas near Pickles Reef off Tavernier.

“It was really rough. Waves were crashing over the bow of our boat,” said Capt. Joe. “I barely caught a glimpse of him.”

Mate Jamie Stephenson put the ladder down and helped the diver onto the 65-foot fishing boat. “Then [the diver] asked, ‘Is everybody else here?’ I asked him what he meant.”

An intense rescue effort was then started that found four other divers, scattered from near Molasses Reef to Pickles Reef, approximately three miles away.

The group of five divers from Georgia was diving at Molasses Reef when the anchor line from their unmanned boat snapped.

“One of the divers was underwater when he saw the anchor line go slack,” said Officer Bobby Dube, a Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission spokesman. “They went to the surface and saw the boat drifting away.”

“They didn’t leave anybody topside,” said Officer Dube. “This shows why it’s always a good idea to leave a safety man on deck.”

The owner of the boat tried to swim after it, but 25 mph winds pushed the vessel away.

The Sailors Choice started running a search pattern after hearing Lunsford’s story. Many of the 18 fishing customers aboard went forward to scan the seas.

“Everybody on board helped out,” Capt. Joe said. “You could see they knew they were part of something important.”

Four FWC patrol boats headed offshore after getting the 5 p.m. call. One of the FWC boats later rescued a diver, who apparently tried to follow Lunsford, near Pickles Reef.

The Sailors Choice, accompanied by a Sea Tow Key Largo boat, spotted the remaining three divers, who had inflated their BCDs and stayed near Molasses Reef.

“By the time we saw them, they were drifting farther offshore,” said Capt. Joe. “We got on the loudspeaker and told them they were going to be OK. Sea Tow went in and scooped them up.”

A TowBoat US Key Largo vessel found the Wellcraft adrift on the shoreward side of Pickles Reef. The U.S. Coast Guard also took part in the search.

The divers were in the water for approximately 2 hours. After the first diver was found at around 5 pm, the rest were out of the water before 6.

“It’s a really nice feeling” to help in the rescue,” Capt. Joe said. “It was the end of the day so no other boats were going to be out there. Those guys probably would have spent the night at sea.”

Source: www.keysnet.com