Family find 21-year-old free diver lost in the ocean in Florida trends now

A 22-year-old man was rescued after being swept away by the Gulf Stream while free diving more than 5 miles from the Florida Keys. 

Diver and spear fisherman Dylan Gartenmayer was with two friends when he descended for a final dive of the day around the West Sambo Reef last Thursday.

To his friends' shock he failed surface, so they notified the US Coast Guard and his family.

Nearly four hours after he was last seen and after being transported miles through the ocean, he was found clinging on to two buoys he had cut from the reef.

Gartenmayer, who was raised in the Keys, has more than a decade of experience free diving and spear fishing. 'As natives of Key West, we love the ocean. I was spearfishing with Dylan in my belly,' his mother Tabitha told NBC6.

On January 19 as he and two friends were getting ready to wind down for the day as the water conditions were worsening,  he went for one last dive.

During that dive he was at a depth of about 35 feet when suddenly currents swept him out to depths of 150 feet - keeping him submerged for around two minutes.

'I do a lot of deep free diving, so I like to go over 100 plus feet on a single breath,' Gartenmayer said. 

His friends waiting on the boat became concerned when he never came back up. 'They were mainly looking down, thinking I blacked out from a lack of oxygen,' he said.

They then contacted the Coast Guard and notified his family to initiate a search operation, sharing with everyone the coordinates of where he had gone for the last dive.

'Friend diving went diving and is missing in this area by Western Sambo Reef at these coordinates coast guard now searching if anyone has a fast boat and can help look before the sun goes down,' wrote his friend Sean Caggiano.

That was at 6.03pm - the time to the nearest minute that the sun was due to set that day.