WHAT HAPPENED OUT THERE?

Rescued Freediver Tells Keys Weekly His Harrowing Story

“One last dive.” That was Dylan Gartenmayer’s plan on Jan. 19, when he dove 35 feet to the ocean floor with a deep breath and a loaded speargun.

He never imagined the last dive of the day could be his last one, ever.

Video of Gartenmayer’s family finding him at sea, hours later, clinging to three rubber mooring balls in near-darkness, has gone viral since the incident. The video, shot by a cousin from the family’s boat, has appeared on CNN and countless other media outlets. The “Today” show interviewed Gartenmayer, 22, with his mother, Tabitha, who’s seen in the video clinging to her son in relief once he’s found and pulled on board.

While he was underwater, the powerful Gulf Stream current swept Gartenmayer, 22 and an experienced freediver, away from his 20-foot boat, where two other divers were watching for him to surface.

“I don’t know the guys, Justin and Chris, well,” Gartenmayer told the Keys Weekly on Jan. 30. “I had been diving with Justin once before, and we follow each other on Facebook and Instagram. But I just met Chris that day. They had been doing a good job following me at first.”

On his last dive of the day, “I was down and saw, by looking at the ocean floor, that the current had started pushing hard to the east. I started moving really quickly,” he said.

“The guys said they didn’t see me surface,” Gartenmayer said.

Gartenmayer did surface, minutes after descending, but he could no longer see the boat, and the other divers couldn’t see him.

Night was falling and conditions on the water — already less than ideal — were deteriorating.

Gartenmayer swam over a mile, with the help of a piece of bamboo he found floating, to the shallow part of the reef that’s marked with floating mooring balls. He cut three of them free, lashed them together and used them as a flotation device. He also hoped their light color would make him easier to see, as Gartenmayer eventually heard a helicopter and boat in the distance.

Artist Mackenize Thorpe and his love-inspired work, including the cover image of ‘Hand in Hand,’ appears at Key West Gallery, 602 Duval St. on Feb. 3 and 4.

Throughout the hours-long ordeal, Gartenmayer kept his speargun with him, knowing that dusk was prime dinner hour for bull sharks and other predators.

“If it were me, I would have stayed out looking for someone until I ran out of fuel,” Gartenmayer said “But after the guys searched for me, it was getting dark and they weren’t comfortable navigating at night. They called the Coast Guard with my last coordinates. Then they took my boat back to Murray’s Marina, even though I haven’t kept my boat there since October. We had left from behind the house on Riviera Canal that day. They also called a buddy of mine, who dropped everything he was doing and went to let my family know I was missing. They instantly got on another boat to come find me.”

Gartenmayer said on the morning of Jan. 30 that his two fellow divers hadn’t called to check on him since the incident occurred.

“That seems messed up,” he said. “But I called Justin today (Jan. 30) and we spoke. I’m a very understanding person.” continued on page 7 continued from page 4

Gartenmayer said the two men have been portrayed as reckless and negligent villains in online comments.