Cruise ship finds missing 74-year-old man adrift in disabled boat off Cuba, USCG says

A 74-year-old boater who vanished two weeks ago off Florida was found drifting at the mercy of the sea off Cuba, according to the U.S. Coast Guard.

“USCG crews received a notification from a cruise ship reporting David Diehl & the Stargazer were disabled in (international) waters off Cuba,” officials said. “He was in good health.”

Specifics of what happened to his boat and how long it had been adrift were not revealed.

Diehl had not been heard from since Dec. 4, when his catamaran was 20 miles off Fort Myers in southwest Florida, officials said. Fort Myers is about a 130-mile drive south from Tampa.

A Coast Guard alert for mariners to keep an eye out for the Stargazer was issued Dec. 12, and an update Dec. 14 noted the USCG still had received no word of his whereabouts.

A social media post reports the Stargazer was located about 30 miles off Cuba, and video shows a small boat was sent from the cruise ship to fetch Diehl.

Havana, Cuba, is about a 245-mile trek directly south from Fort Myers.

“Tell someone where you are going & when you’ll be back to keep loved ones from worrying this holiday season,” the USCG wrote in its social media post.

This story was originally published December 17, 2024 at 2:34 PM with the headline "Cruise ship finds missing 74-year-old man adrift in disabled boat off Cuba, USCG says."