Floating restaurant sinks in Fort Lauderdale waters, owner says. Crew escapes unharmed
A floating restaurant known for its alligator delicacies sank Sunday afternoon on the Fort Lauderdale Intracoastal Waterway — but the crew abandoned the watercraft unharmed, its owner told the Miami Herald.
Jeremy Lycke, the chef and captain of Jay’s Sand Bar Food Boat, said a wake from a passing vessel snapped his boat’s starboard outrigger — which keeps it leveled — causing it to flip and sink in a matter of minutes.
Lycke noted that his two employees could have been trapped or burned in the pontoon if it weren’t for their training and quick response.
“It could have been much worse,” he said.
At about 12:30 p.m., Lycke was in another watercraft making deliveries when he heard the food boat’s distress signal, he said. After rushing back, he used his delivery boat to push the food boat to shallow waters to stop it from fully sinking and blocking the waterway.
“I’m disheartened right now,” he said.
The floating restaurant’s hostess, Coulette Murray, created a GoFundMe to help cover the costs of removing the boat from its shallow grave and perhaps even building a new one.
“The boat is a total loss,” she wrote.
Petty Officer Jose Hernandez, a U.S. Coast Guard spokesman, confirmed the boat’s sinking Sunday night but said the agency is not investigating the incident.
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The 32-foot floating restaurant made of reclaimed wood and metal by Lycke himself had become a fixture in the area over the last three years serving jalapeño gator fries, seafood and wings to hungry boaters, he told the Sun Sentinel in 2020.
It is licensed as a “mobile food dispensing vehicle” by the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation, according to the agency’s website.
On its Facebook page, loyal diners lamented the material loss but were relieved that everyone was safe. One even offered help unloading anything salvageable.
“We’re so sorry, but thank goodness you all are OK. That’s what’s most important,” one diner said. “We’ll miss you until you return.”
“I’m so sorry!” another customer said. “I also have no doubt that you will come back bigger and better.”
This story was originally published May 9, 2022 at 12:01 AM.
