Lost ocean beacon off coast found tangled to struggling sea turtle, Florida video shows

Two Florida boat captains set out from a St. Augustine port last month in search of a beacon that had gone missing — and ended up saving an entangled sea turtle, video shows.

The captains, Trey Tuggle and Jeremy Larson, were in their Hydra Sport tow boat on April 13 in search of a beacon that had broken off its mooring east of Cape Canaveral, according to Shonda Kennedy, president of TowBoatUS Daytona Beach, the towing fleet company they work for. Cape Canaveral is about 50 miles east of Orlando.

Tuggle and Larson attempted to follow the beacon, which transmitted its coordinates every two hours, but each time their vessel arrived at the location, the beacon was not there, Kennedy wrote in an email to McClatchy News. Beacons are used to help marine vessels with navigation.

A final ping showed the beacon was headed due west, and the captains arrived within 800 yards of its last-known coordinates about 43 miles off the coast of St. Augustine, she wrote.

As the captains got closer, they saw the beacon was attached to a sea turtle. The captains untangled the creature and set it free.

“It was a great day for all,” Kennedy wrote.

This story was originally published May 20, 2022 at 1:54 PM with the headline "Lost ocean beacon off coast found tangled to struggling sea turtle, Florida video shows."