Dylan Gartenmayer is a fourth generation Conch, which is the endearment that native or long residing Key Westers are referred.
And he has lived all his twenty-two years as such, spending most of his time either on or in the ocean.
Mostly in, either spearfishing or freediving, which is performed without a tank, and he dives as deep as 100 feet and is able to spend many minutes under water on a single deep breath.
Recounts his mom Tabitha, "As natives of Key West, we love the ocean. I was spearfishing with Dylan in my belly."
Last Thursday, January 19th, Dylan was drift diving with two pals at the western edge of Sambo Reef, five miles of the coast… ‘drift’ meaning as he drifts in the channel, his friends on the boat follow above.
On this particular dive, whilst about 35 feet down, he was swept up in a wicked Gulf Stream current that pulled him down to 150 feet, and then out towards the open ocean before he was able to break free enough to make it to the surface, about a mile and a half from where the boat was.
And the current was pulling him further out to sea.
“I was just getting dragged further and further, and I could watch the boat just slowly getting smaller. It was definitely, ‘OK, this is starting to get serious here, for sure.'”
His friends scanned the horizon, and searched above and below the fast moving and choppy water to no avail.
They thought the worst.
Said Dylan, "So that's how I ended up getting separated. They were mainly looking down, thinking I blacked out from a lack of oxygen."
Said Priscilla Gartenmayer, his cousin, “He could see them but they couldn’t see him.”
One of his pals, Joel Cruz, marked the exact coordinates and contacted the US Coast Guard, who immediately launched a search with boats, helicopters and planes.
“I had a small plane fly above but they didn’t see me, and about 30 minutes later they flew back again, still didn’t see me. Shortly after that the sun had disappeared past the horizon. As I saw the sun disappear I knew things were starting to get a little more dire.”
Dylan knew that if he had any chance, he would have to stop being further pulled out to sea and make it to the shallower reef.
"I knew the further and further I got out, the less of a chance I had to be found."
So he swam against the current for a mile until he reached a channel marker.
Although he was in danger, Dylan Gartenmayer took charge of his own rescue. At first, he used a bamboo stick that drifted by for some flotation support. Rather than get sucked out farther into the ocean, he decided to swim for the reef.
He then saw three mooring balls meant for boats to tie up to, cut three of them loose and used them “to make myself a little raft,” Gartenmayer said. As the sun started to go down and the water became cooler, he said he started to shiver. He could see Coast Guard planes overhead, but crews could not see him.
While he drifted on the buoys, conditions began to change. First, he saw a reef shark swim by. Then, a flurry of baitfish began to make the water appear to boil, a tell-tale sign larger fish were chasing smaller fish just beneath the surface. Early evening is feeding time in the ocean. “I just knew there was a bunch of action going on,” Gartenmayer said.
By this time, it was dusk.
Said Dylan, “Watching that sun drop was kind of like making my heart sink. I was like, ‘Oh, this is going to be a long night out here.’ That was my idea with the buoys, was tying those together and trying to get up as high as I can, keep a little warmth and put less of my body in the water for any potential predators.
I was starting to shiver at that point and my hands were starting to feel a little numb, so were my toes, so I knew this was starting to get serious.”
Jellyfish had begun to sting Dylan as they drifted by, but he was mostly protected by the wet suit.
On shore, Tabitha received the call.
"It was the worst call I ever got in my life.
I got the call right after I got off of work, and my ex-husband, his dad, said 'Tab, Dylan's been missing for an hour,' and the way he sounded, it literally took my breath away. I couldn't even breathe, I couldn't talk. Like everything just went away, and I was just standing there stuck.
It took the family to come together within seconds, because that's our baby.
And that's what you do. That's how we are. And we are always going to be there to protect our family."
And not being able to stay still and simply allow others to search, and knowing the water, the currents and her son, the family decided to begin a search of their own.
Said Jamie Cook, a family friend, “Tabitha was very much insisting, drop that boat right now.”
They all got into Dylan’s grandfather Edward’s powerboat and went straight to the last known coordinates, going full throttle at 60 miles an hour across the water, be damned the posted canal speed and be damned the ocean chop.
When they reached those very coordinates and didn’t find him, they searched in the fading light whilst allowing the current to take them, as it was for Dylan.
Until Sean pointed to a group of mooring buoys that were tied together, which one never sees.
You know how a pet can recognize and differentiate the sound of your car from all others?
When often in the water, you recognize the small differences in boat motors as well.
And so Dylan did.
He recognized the sound before he even spotted the bow lights.
"I was like, 'Oh my god, that's my grandpa's boat!' By some miracle, my parents and everybody else on board my grandfather’s boat had ended up driving and basically landing right on top of me.”
And as if guided to find a needle in a haystack.
"There he is!"
Said Tabitha, "Everything was silent on the boat until the flashlight hit him and he put his hands up – we finally knew he was OK."
This is what a million to one shot looks like.
This is what instant relief looks like.
This is what an answered prayer looks like.
This is what pure bliss looks like.
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Said Search and Rescue Mission Coordinator, Lieutenant Commander Elizabeth Tatum, "Too often missing diver cases don’t have positive outcomes, and the circumstances of this case didn’t forecast for one. Sunset, weather conditions and Dylan’s outfit were playing against us in this case, but his foresight to lash mooring balls together to make him a bigger target in the water was smart.”
"My mom took my dive gear. She just started hugging, crying. She and her friend did, to give me body warmth.” said Dylan.
“He was so smart to get the buoys, to know that his head wasn’t going to be enough to find him,” mused Tabitha. “It definitely had to be a miracle. It had to be God protecting him the whole time, our angels above, because for us to land right on him, you could see it’s a needle in a haystack out there.
He's a grown man, it's his passion, and every time he goes out, he's like, 'This is what I love to do.’ As long as he is doing what he loves to do, but he is safer, and goes with people that will be close to the boat and watch him. That's a big deal for me.
That was really emotional for me. So, you know, we know how lucky we are to still have Dylan here.
Oh, I love my son.”
Did someone perchance mention Key West?