22-year-old Dylan Gartenmayer was spearfishing in Key West when a robust Gulf Stream present dragged him away from his fellow divers late final week.

Dylan, who says he usually free dives 100 plus ft, went for one final dive as situations on the water worsened.

He went to 35 ft when the present pulled him deeper to about 150 ft and held him down for practically two minutes.

“In order that’s how I ended up getting separated,” Dylan advised native NBC 6.

“They had been primarily trying down, pondering I blacked out from a scarcity of oxygen,” he mentioned of his mates he had been diving with.

Dylan says he was dragged for a couple of mile and when he resurfaced he needed to swim one other mile to a channel marker the place he clung to a buoy and drift wooden.

“I had a bunch of bait floating up round me and all the pieces,” he recalled. “I knew that there have been large fish consuming these baits and there have been sharks that had been going to be shortly behind them. I used to be able to struggle the night time out, however I am glad I did not need to.”

In the meantime, his mom Tabitha Gartenmayer, whose household has known as the Keys residence for generations, bought the information her son was lacking.

Tabitha mentioned she and her household are all skilled on the water. “I used to be spearfishing with Dylan in my stomach,” she defined.

She mentioned she bought a name from her ex-husband, “‘Tab, one thing’s unsuitable with Dylan. They have not seen him in an hour.’ And from that second on, this sense came visiting me, identical to this, and I could not breathe. I could not speak.”

As his household mobilized their very own rescue mission, Dylan mentioned he may see the “coast guard out within the distance to the west of me. I may see their blue lights, the helicopter going, doing their grid sample” simply as his personal piece of drift wooden “began drifting away from me.”

“Let’s go,” Tabitha recalled earlier than noting the now viral surveillance video caught by a neighbor’s digicam displaying them dashing down a canal. “I am certain you have seen the movies of us going a bit bit quick down the canal for my son’s life.”

“We had the coordinates that got to us, however he clearly wasn’t on these,” the involved mom mentioned.

They continued previous the coordinates, eyes looking the water as the sunshine was failing.

“Joel seems to be to the suitable and he sees the buoys,” Tabitha mentioned, which they then famous gave the impression to be tied collectively.

Dylan later mentioned he tied them collectively to make a “little hammock.”

“I used to be going through to the west taking a look at Coast Guard, and I may hear a ship buzzing up behind me,” the misplaced diver recalled.

“My mother took my dive gear,” he mentioned of when the boat arrived. “She simply began hugging, crying.”

His cousin, Priscilla Gartenmayer, posted her movies of the dramatic rescue to TikTok, which have swiftly gone viral.

“That was actually emotional for me. So, , we all know how fortunate we’re to have so nonetheless have Dylan right here,” Priscilla mentioned.

Dylan, for his half, mentioned he shall be diving once more very quickly.