Florida Keys

Coast Guard searching for a missing boater in the Florida Keys. He’s on a 25-foot boat

Jason Heath, 35, is missing. Coast Guard officials believe he took his boat out into the waters off the Florida Keys.
Jason Heath, 35, is missing. Coast Guard officials believe he took his boat out into the waters off the Florida Keys. U.S. Coast Guard

The search is underway for a 35-year-old boater who was reported missing in the waters off the Florida Keys this week.

Crews are trying to find Jason Heath, who left his Sugarloaf Key home on a 25-foot blue Panga style center console, the U.S. Coast Guard announced Wednesday. He was last heard from around noon Monday.

Jason Heath, 35, is missing. Coast Guard officials believe he took his boat out into the waters off the Florida Keys.
Jason Heath, 35, is missing. Coast Guard officials believe he took his boat out into the waters off the Florida Keys. U.S. Coast Guard

Heath’s boat — last seen on its lift at 8 p.m. Monday — is now also missing, the Coast Guard added.

No other information was immediately available.

Anyone with information on Heath’s whereabouts is asked to call 305-292-8727.

Jason Heath is believed to have left his Sugarloaf Key home on a 25-foot blue Panga style center console, U.S. Coast Guard says.
Jason Heath is believed to have left his Sugarloaf Key home on a 25-foot blue Panga style center console, U.S. Coast Guard says. U.S. Coast Guard

This story was originally published November 24, 2021 at 3:22 PM with the headline "Coast Guard searching for a missing boater in the Florida Keys. He’s on a 25-foot boat."

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Michelle Marchante
Miami Herald
305-376-2708
Michelle Marchante covers the pulse of healthcare in South Florida and also the City of Coral Gables. Before that, she covered the COVID-19 pandemic, hurricanes, crime, education, entertainment and other topics in South Florida for the Herald as a breaking news reporter. She recently won first place in the health reporting category in the 2025 Sunshine State Awards for her coverage of Steward Health’s bankruptcy. An investigative series about the abrupt closure of a Miami heart transplant program led Michelle and her colleagues to be recognized as finalists in two 2024 Florida Sunshine State Award categories. She also won second place in the 73rd annual Green Eyeshade Awards for her consumer-focused healthcare stories and was part of the team of reporters who won a 2022 Pulitzer Prize for the Miami Herald’s breaking news coverage of the Surfside building collapse. Michelle graduated with honors from Florida International University and was a 2025 National Press Foundation Covering Workplace Mental Health fellow and a 2020-2021 Poynter-Koch Media & Journalism fellow.  Support my work with a digital subscription
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