Dylan Gartenmayer — A family’s sea rescue mission to save a member of its crew who’d gone missing for hours has reeled in TikTok users and gone viral.
Three days ago, Priscilla Gartenmayer posted on TikTok a video of the moment her family spotted her missing cousin, 22-year-old Dylan Gartenmayer, floating on a makeshift raft.
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In the clip, Gartenmayer family members burst into cheers and tears when they realize they’ve finally found Dylan, who’d gone missing hours earlier while free diving on Jan. 19.
Speaking to NBC affiliate WTVJ, the family says Dylan had been missing for nearly three hours.
Dylan says he can go more than 100 feet deep on a single breath underwater while free diving — forgoing the aid of a breathing apparatus like scuba gear. As weather conditions blustered, Dylan and the two friends he’d been on the boat with decided to head back. Still, the temptation to squeeze in one more splash won out, and as Dylan put it, “that’s where everything started happening.”
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Dylan was in a free dive at almost 35 feet when the Gulf Stream current drew him out of waters that were nearly 150 feet. For about two minutes, Dylan says he remained underwater, holding his breath.
“So that’s how I ended up getting separated,” he explained. “…They were mainly looking down, thinking I blacked out from a lack of oxygen.”
When he resurfaced, Dylan says he found that he was nearly an entire mile away from his original diving spot and swam more than a mile to reach a channel marker.
“I had a bunch of bait floating up around me and everything”, Dylan noted. “I knew that there were big fish eating those baits, and there were sharks that were going to be shortly behind them. I was ready to fight the night out, but I’m glad I didn’t have to.”
Dylan Gartenmayer rescue videos
@kwmermaidp So thankful 💙 #lostatsea #rescue #keywest #freedive #drifting #florida
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