Two missing sailors and their dog were found safe but exhausted after their 30-foot sailboat veered off course and the trio were lost at sea for ten days before being miraculously rescued.
Sailors Kevin Hyde, 65, and Joe Ditomasso, 76, and their dog ‘Minnie’ left Utsch’s Marina in Cape May, New Jersey on November 26 in their vessel ‘Atrevida II’, bound for Marathon, Florida.
They were last seen on December 3 in the Oregon Inlet in North Carolina, but suddenly lost contact with the outside world when their ship drifted and they ran out of fuel and power, knocking out their radio signal and navigation equipment.
For ten harrowing days, Hyde, Ditomasso, and their dog Minnie floated across the treacherous ocean waters into the unknown with no idea if they would live or die.
Their luck changed Tuesday when the missing boaters spotted a tanker at sea around 4:18 p.m., about 214 miles east of Delaware. The pair began to frantically wave their red flag which drew the attention of the approaching ship and it came to their rescue.
Joe Ditomasso, 76, and his dog Minnie (not pictured) were traveling on an adventure on the 30-foot sailboat called ‘Atrevida II’ when they were stranded eight days into their voyage.
Kevin Hyde, 65, was on the boat when it lost power and the boat drifted along the treacherous waters for ten days before they were rescued by a flagging tanker.
The men were evaluated by the ship’s medical staff once they arrived at the tanker.
It’s unclear exactly what happened on that ship, or how the men and the dog survived being stranded at sea for so many days.
Family members, beginning to fear the worst, were overjoyed when the men were found safe and alive.
Nina Ditomasso of Doylestown, Pennsylvania said ABC6 News that when she got the call that her dad was found, she said, ‘honestly, I didn’t care what else they said.
The Ditomasso sisters were elated that their father, Joe, was alive and well, including their father’s friend Kevin and their father’s dog, Minnie.
The trio set sail on November 26 from Utsch’s Marina in Cape May, New Jersey, in their vessel ‘Atrevida II’, which headed for Marathon, Florida.
The 30-foot sailboat (pictured) veered off course and they ran out of fuel and power, knocking out their radio signal and navigation equipment.
A map shows their route which began in Cape May, New Jersey, on November 26. His last communication with family members was on December 3 when they were in Oregon Inlet, located in North Carolina.
Authorities say Hyde and Ditomasso were barely able to stand when they were rescued.
‘Because of how exhausted they were, they couldn’t speak. So they haven’t been interviewed yet. So, they didn’t get any details,” Sekel said, the news outlet reported.
On Wednesday, the Coast Guard will pick up the men and the dog after the tanker docks in New York around 2 p.m.
They will undergo a medical evaluation to see if they suffered any injuries, including hypothermia, while at sea.
Ditomasso’s daughters, Nina and Natalie, were very grateful to have their father back home and expressed their gratitude to the US Coast Guard.
“Anyone who knows my dad knows that he’s been in the water since he was a baby,” Natalie said.
His daughter Nina chimed in: “Dad has nine lives, we joke about it all the time.”
When asked if they would let her dad go on a sea adventure again, Natalie joked with a shake of her head: “It won’t happen!”
Now they look forward to their happy reunion just in time for the holidays.