Islamorada News

The Coast Guard rescued two people from a sinking vessel Thursday approximately 3 miles east of Key Largo.Rescued were Eric Kample, 40, and Robert Pflugh, 56.At approximately 4 a.m., Coast Guard Sector Key West received a distress call from the crew of the 36-foot sailing vessel, No Worries, via VHF-FM radio channel 16 stating they were taking on water and on the verge of capsizing. Watchstanders launched a Coast Guard Air Station Miami MH-65 Dolphin helicopter crew and Coast…

The U.S. Coast Guard and a good Samaritan rescued six people from the water near Conch Reef, Fla., Saturday.  A good Samaritan aboard the 25-foot center console, Quality Time, notified Coast Guard Sector Key West watchstanders at approximately 1:46 p.m. of a capsized 22-foot white center console with six people in the water.  Watchstanders directed the launch of a Coast Guard Station Islamorada 33-foot Special Purpose Craft—Law Enforcement crew who arrived on scene and embarked two children due to the fact that they may have ingested salt water, while the good Samaritan embarked four adults. They were transferred to emergency medical services in Tavernier Creek. Towboat Islamorada towed the vessel to Harry Harris Boat Ramp.

So far in 2016, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), Air and Marine Operations (AMO) aircrews have detected six rustics (homemade boats) on the Florida Straits transporting 56 undocumented migrants from Cuba. On New Year’s Day, an Air and Marine Operations aircrew aboard a DHC-8 aircraft spotted the first two in a series of homemade boats. The aircrew alerted interagency partners to the vessels transporting four and two undocumented migrants, respectively, off the Florida coastline. On January 2, the DHC-8 crew detected and reported three additional rustic vessels, which prompted the subsequent interdiction by the U.S. Coast Guard. The three groups had 19, 12, and 8 migrants aboard each vessel, respectively, sailing in tandem a few nautical miles south of the Florida Keys.

Six people were rescued by a good Samaritan following a boat fire aboard a boat southwest of Islamorada, Florida Thursday, the U.S. Coast Guard reported. No injuries have been recorded. A good Samaritan notified watchstanders at Coast Guard Station Islamorada of a fire aboard an approximately 40-foot cigar boat roughly five miles north of Lower Matecumbe Key, Florida at approximately 2 p.m. The good Samaritan then rescued the six individuals from the burning vessel. A USCG boatcrew from Station Islamorada is currently on scene to ensure the safety in the area of the burning vessel.

Florida boat dealers Plantation Boat Mart & Marina acquire Hydra-Sports Boat Company from M C B C Hydra Sports LLC (Master Craft Boat Company). The new company is know as Hydra-Sports Custom Boats, LLC. Poised to represent an entirely new concept within the boating industry, customers will be able to order their new vessels directly from the company's Islamorada and Palm Beach factory test centers and take delivery. Every model will be available on-site at the company's Florida Keys location and ready for sea trial.

On September 20, 2011, SeaHunter Boats, a South Florida yacht builder, hoisted a new, standard production, 35 foot boat, twenty feet into the air and dropped it on a concrete yard at Plantation Boat Mart in Islamorada, Florida. The impact registered 100 g’s at the transom. The result was a thunderous sonic boom when the quarter million dollar vessel first hit the pavement. The kinetic energy, caused by the nearly four ton vessel falling towards earth, caused it to bounce off the hard pavement not once, but three times after the initial impact.

1968-M/V Triple Crown foundered off the coast of Southern California with a loss of nine lives while retrieving the anchor and chain of a large offshore drilling rig. At the time of the casualty Triple Crown had eight anchors and 26,000 feet of chain on board, the weight of which caused a low freeboard aft. Three-to five waves washed over the stern and entered a stackhouse door that could not be closed due to the location of one anchor on deck. The engine flooded, the vessel listed to starboard and sank. The Coast Guard investigated. 1999-Elian Gonzalez, a 5-year old Cuban boy, was found on Thanksgiving morning clinging to an inner tube three miles off the coast of Fort Lauderdale, Florida. He was among three survivors of a boating catastrophe which killed 11 migrants fleeing Cuba.

StatoilHydro has reached agreement with BPC Limited to become the operator of three offshore exploration licenses, Zapata, Islamorada and Falcones in the Cay Sal area of the south-western Bahamas. Approval and award of the licenses by the Government of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas is still pending. “There is no drilling commitment during the first phase of the license. At the end of the initial 3-year license term the license holders will have the option to commit to drilling a well in the second phase,” said Global Exploration vice president Erik Finnstrom. Limited historic 2D seismic and satellite data indicate the presence of several large structures in the license areas. New seismic may prove the presence and shape of the structures.

By R/C William E. Florida’s Palm Beach Sail & Power Squadron a unit of the United States Power Squadrons has honored sixteen student heroes from neighboring Riviera Beach Maritime Academy. A month before this event, these seafaring students were cruising toward Key West and the Dry Tortugas on a 10-day training mission aboard the S/V Denis Sullivan. Suddenly they became central figures in a highly publicized rescue involving three stranded fisherman adrift off the Florida Keys. High school sophomore T.J. Quails, with only ten minutes remaining on his watch, spotted signal flares in the evening sky. He immediately alerted his ship’s captain who notified the United States Coast Guard.

Personnel from Coast Guard Station Islamorada, Fla., intercept a south bound go-fast vessel, played by the Coast Guard Auxiliary, as part of Unified Support '07 exercise yesterday off Islamorada Homeland Security Task Force Southeast (HSTF-SE) maintains the operational plan for mass migration from a Caribbean nation called Operation Vigilant Sentry (OVS). The plan details the actions HSTF-SE will take to deter mass migration, respond to a mass migration and restore normal operations.

Sea Tow Services International Inc., announced the expansion of its Sea Smart VHF service offering. Sea Smart VHF will be available throughout Florida’s Southeast coast, from Jupiter Inlet to Islamorada. The service is already available throughout the West Coast of Florida and in the Northeast from Cape Cod, Mass., to Cape May, N.J. Thecommunications service, launched at the 2006 Miami International Boat Show, utilizes boaters’ existing equipment to provide an application for their DSC-enabled VHF: a reliable communications connection on the water. Sea Smart’s marine voice and data network is comprised of coastal high site radio towers that connect, via RoIP, to a national operations center manned by professional marine dispatchers and licensed captains 24-hours a day.

The USCG has added two cutters to its fleet based in the Florida Keys, helping to make it easier to patrol 55,000 sq. miles of increasingly busy waters. The two 110-footers, Chincoteague and Key Largo, and their crews were welcomed to port during a Trumbo Point ceremony. Chincoteague, named after an island in Virginia's Outer Banks, was previously stationed in Mobile, Ala. Key Largo comes close to its namesake from Savannah, Ga. Five other 110-foot cutters, two 270-ft. cutters and 10 small patrol boats are already stationed in the Keys. Another 110-footer will join the fleet next summer. From stations in Key West, Marathon and Islamorada, the USCG patrols about 750 miles of coastline and waters roughly bordered by Card Sound, Andros in the Bahamas, Cuba and Cape Sable.

Marvin O. Virginia. at the Elkins' fire station. environment." Mr. of life and property in and around Randolph County, West Virginia. volunteers, and many other activities that help improve public safety. so much of their time," said retired Navy Vice Adm. Conrad C. administrator. communities. mission. and Sylvia Earle, and actor Ted Danson, head of the American Oceans Campaign. recipients. There are a total of 36 winners-35 individuals and one organization. awards are being presented posthumously. William A. Wilmington, N.C. New Bedford, Mass. Islamorada, Fla. Marvin O. Billings, Mont. Ypsilanti, Mich. Francis H. Falmouth, Mass. Lothian, Md. Moss Point, Miss. Capt. Krzysztof Romowicz, Capt. Adam Kedziora, Capt. Darek Grzybek, Capt. Cathy P. Golden, Colo. Thomas F. Sunrise, Fla. Milton C.