Florida Keys

He was being pushed out to sea in a kayak off Key West. The Coast Guard then stepped in

Coast Guard cutters are shown moored to the pier at Coast Guard Sector Key West.
Coast Guard cutters are shown moored to the pier at Coast Guard Sector Key West. U.S. Coast Guard Atlantic Area

The U.S. Coast Guard on Monday helped a man who was being pushed out to sea in his kayak off Key West.

At about 6 p.m., a Key West police officer alerted the Coast Guard that a kayaker was in distress near Mallory Square.

A Coast Guard crew on a 33-foot special purpose craft found the man in good health but struggling to paddle his kayak while towing a second one.

The kayak he was towing was filled with food.

No injuries were reported and the man didn’t go into the water.

The kayaker asked to be brought closer to his destination: Wisteria Island, an undeveloped island off Key West.

The crew put him and his kayaks back into the water so he could finish his trip in safer waters.

“We remind mariners to check the weather before going out on the water,” said Petty Officer 2nd Class Harlan Kendrick. “And make sure they have the proper safety equipment.”

Gwen Filosa
Miami Herald
Gwen Filosa covers Key West and the Lower Florida Keys for FLKeysNews.com and the Miami Herald and lives in Key West. She was part of the staff at the New Orleans Times-Picayune that in 2005 won two Pulitzer Prizes for coverage of Hurricane Katrina. She graduated from Indiana University.
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