David Adams
February 22, 2014
MIAMI (Reuters) – A Cuban man who attempted to windsurf across the Florida Straits to the United States was rescued on Friday after four days at sea, the U.S. Coast Guard said.
The man was one of three who left the communist-ruled Caribbean island on Tuesday, only one of whom reached Florida unassisted.
Under the “wet foot/dry foot” policy of the Cuban Adjustment Act, Cuban migrants who make it onto United States soil are allowed to remain while those intercepted at sea are returned to their home or a third country.
On Friday afternoon, the man was spotted by a boater on the Marquesas Keys, an outcrop of small, uninhabited islands about 20 miles west of Key West, according to U.S. Coast Guard spokesman Peter Bermont.
“He was unable to move himself and the officers had to use his surfboard to carry him,” Bermont said.
Many Cubans have died trying to cross the Florida Straits separating the southeast coast of Florida from Cuba and known for its sharks, difficult currents and sudden squalls.