On January 17, 2013 at 2049 hours, myself and Officer received a call of an overdue vessel with two people on board, south of Spanish Harbor Channel on the reef. We proceeded to Dolphin Marina to prepare a vessel to search for the missing boaters. Upon arrival we were met by Officer. Due to very rough sea conditions and U.S.C.G Marathon having two boats on scene as well as a helicopter we decided to stand by until any further information was received. At approximately 2352 hrs we received confirmation from the mother that the missing boaters had swam into shore and were safe. The following day i met with the operator of the vessel. He explained to me that he and his friend were on a 16 ft vessel returning from spear fishing around Lou Key Reef when a storm from a cold front started to move towards them. Within minutes the seas had picked up and they began to take on water, once the boat took a few waves over the bow, and finally one at the stern, it flipped over and went straight to the bottom. Operator swam down towards the vessel and was able to retrieve two life jackets from the front hatch of the vessel. They were an estimated 4 to 5 miles south of land in between Bahia Honda and Spanish Harbor Channel when the vessel went down. They proceeded to swim towards shore and were passed by Coast Guard Vessels several times on their swim but due to the conditions were unable to be seen. After swimming for several hours they were nearing the shoreline, finally reaching shore at approximately 2345 hours they walked to a house close by and called Operator's mother and let her know that they were on shore and to come pick them up. On 1/24/13 Pilot and I attempted to located the sunken vessel with no avail, the search for the vessel is ongoing
BIG PINE KEY