Sinking Boat

While it may not look like much, the picture below shows the only part of a 26' Pursuit fishing boat that had a problem at the marina here at Sunshine Key. The marina harbor is about 35' deep and this boat had just been put in the water by a family camped here. Unbeknownst to them the automatic bailing plug had warped open. The owners used the boat one day, then left the campground, but left the boat for use later in the week. Unfortunately, they did not leave a contact number and while the boat was noticed to be taking on water, there wasn't anything anyone could do and without permission, nothing could be done.Once the owners showed up the salvage started with a skin diver placing air bladders around and under the boat to lift it.


After two or three hours of floating the boat it was escorted to the ramp and its trailer to be pulled out of the water. The boat pulling out is one of the commercial fishing guys helping out.
As you can see in this shot below the boat was safely recovered, and at this time is being worked on to repair the salt water damage.

One last note, there were no less than 4 government agency people here to oversee the recovery of the boat and to see that no major or any damage was done to the environment. The cost of recovery just to bring the boat up and out of the water was $2,500. Rumor has it that the owner was ticketed by the agency's that were doing the inspection, but that there would probably not be any fines.