Buoy from the US Gulf Oil fields Located and
Recovered Near Hillsboro Inlet
A buoy measuring 6 feet in Diameter and approximately 20 feet tall broke loose from it's mooring in the Gulf of Mexico and was adrift until it was recovered offshore of Hillsboro Inlet in late April by TowBoatUS Ft. Lauderdale.
The responsible party contacted our company after being notified by the U.S. Coast Guard that a buoy had been spotted adrift off the coast of South Florida. We began to search late in the afternoon and one of our senior captains located and photographed the buoy. Plans were set into place to recover the 6,000 lb buoy the following morning. Our 96' work boat the Richard L. Becker was called into action for the recovery. Captain Kevin Collins, our director of operations stated "The recovery went exactly as planned! We used one of our small boats to deploy a diver to survey the mooring gear that was still attached to the base of the buoy. After the diver was safely aboard our boat, we rigged lifting gear onto the buoy and lifted it onto the deck of the Richard L. Becker using the vessels 7.5 ton capacity crane. Subsequently, all of the mooring chain and cable was recovered and secured on deck. We were pleased to be able to assist with getting this hazard to navigation back to its owners."
The buoy and mooring gear were transported to our home docks located just south of Port Everglades in Dania Beach where we loaded each of these items on a truck for transport back to the owners.
