Mystery boat washes ashore in Satellite Beach; Coast Guard unaware of its origins
Satellite Beach resident Keri Owen was riding her e-bike along the beach during sunrise Tuesday when she spotted a mysterious white boat, bobbing amid the surf zone.
Crafted of white foam blocks with a rusty metal frame, the unoccupied makeshift watercraft floated ashore near the Sea Villa condominiums, between Pelican Beach Park and Cassia Boulevard.
"There's two pairs of sneakers, two backpacks," Owen said hours later, standing on the sand alongside the beached vessel.
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"I saw it was empty — it's a mystery. Very curious about it," she said.
"I don't know if that's like a makeshift sail they had up. There's one oar."
Faded red "OK" spray-painted lettering along the starboard-side foam indicates that the U.S. Coast Guard previously encountered the boat at sea, Petty Officer 1st Class David Micallef said.
Or, in another scenario, the Coast Guard could have marked the hull after it washed ashore in a different community, he said.
"We don't know the exact origins of the vessel," Micallef said Tuesday morning.
"Once a vessel washes up on the beach, it's essentially considered marine debris and treated in accordance with the local municipality's procedures for trash or other waste that washes ashore," he said.
Soggy ropes remained tied to the abandoned boat's metal railings. The vessel appeared to have a metal rudder, and its construction incorporated wooden planks and green chain-link fencing.
Satellite Beach police guarded the foam-hulled boat Tuesday morning. City Manager Courtney Barker said they notified the Coast Guard, and city officials asked the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission to tow the boat away.
Barker said she did not know where the vessel may have come from, but it presents an environmental hazard.
"That Styrofoam isn't good for the environment when it breaks down," Barker said.
On Oct. 5, a boat crafted from plastic foam, lumber and outfitted with an engine beached north of a Jaycee Beach Park in Vero Beach.
There were no accounts of people seen with or near the vessel in reports to the Vero Beach Police Department. Riviera Beach Customs and Border Protection station agents were to examine the vessel.
After Hurricane Irma struck in September 2017, the unoccupied 45-foot "ghost ship" Cuki floated from Key West up Florida's East Coast before beaching at Spessard Holland South Beach Park.
The Columbia white-and-blue sailboat — which carried mannequin passengers — drew national media attention. An excavator demolished Cuki in January 2019, and the wreckage was trucked to the Cocoa landfill per a $12,000 FWC-Brevard County removal contract.
Rick Neale is the South Brevard Watchdog Reporter at FLORIDA TODAY (for more of his stories, click here.) Contact Neale at 321-242-3638 or rneale@floridatoday.com. Twitter: @RickNeale1
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This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Mystery derelict boat made of foam blocks washes ashore in Satellite Beach
