Couple, Dog Airlifted After Boat Breaks 2 Weeks Into Trip

Heather and Robert Cook and their dog, Bandit, set sail from Port Canaveral on Florida's Atlantic coast November 2, headed out on a monthlong trip that was meant to end in Biloxi, Mississippi, on December 1. Instead, on Saturday, about halfway into the adventure, they realized that they had a big problem. Heather Cook tells the Washington Post that her husband found her the day after departing from St. Petersburg, Florida, amid his routine check of the sailboat to tell her, "We are taking on water. We are taking on water." What followed was hours of bailing out water after activating a digital alert to send out a distress signal, which the Coast Guard received around 11am, it says in a press release.

A porthole on the boat had failed and water had started rushing in; eventually, the craft's electronic instruments started to fail and ultimately the engine completely died. The Coast Guard reached them via a handheld maritime radio, dropped an officer into the water near the boat, and the Cooks threw him a line to bring him on board. They tried plugging the hole and bailing more water, but the Coast Guard helicopter was losing fuel and then the couple started smelling smoke and knew they had to make the wrenching decision to abandon the boat. They were at least two days from shore in the Gulf of Mexico at the time. The Coast Guard airlifted the couple and their Maltipoo, who had his own life vest, to safety. The salvaging of the boat is being coordinated, People reports. (More Florida stories.)