A rental boat that was stolen out of South Florida and driven to Cuba has since made its way back home, but the journey was anything but simple.
It turned out to be an international boat rescue operation that owner James Nabors never thought he’d find himself in.
“A $70,000 center console is gone, it’s in another country, communist country,” said Nabors.
It started just over a week ago when a couple showed up to the Beach Weekend Boat Rental Marina in Key West.
Police said 63-year- Floyd Devasier and a woman rented one of their boats and took where they weren’t supposed to: Cuba.
Devasier eventually flew back to Miami, where he was arrested.
The boat was ditched in Havana, so Nabors and his team rolled the dice and made the trip to go get their boat.
“We had every American document from passport, boat registration, boat insurance,” he said.
A liaison helped them find the boat docked in Havana. This was the easy part.
“Sitting on the boat, we can’t get off the boat,” said Nabors. “Then they come back and say, hey we moved the gulf post over here. We’d like to see this document, but would like a different stamp from the agency.”
Nabors said it would take a call to Congress in order to get things straightened out.
“(U.S. Rep.) Jimmy Patronis, he was in Washington, he answered,” said Nabors. “He got ahold of the Coast Guard office in Washington, (and) Washington called the Coast Guard in Miami. We decided to split up and leave the mechanic to drive the vessel back as soon as it was released.”
It was fortunate that Nabors reached Patronis. Despite the frustration, the situation could have gone much worse.
“I think we were fighting red tape process, not the individuals,” Nabors said. “They were all very nice great people. Never once were we threatened or felt unsafe.”
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