NEW SMYRNA BEACH, Fla. — Driftwood, seashells, messages in bottles.
Plenty of things have washed up on Florida beaches over the years, but few have shown the sheer power of mother nature like the massive buoy that rode the waves all the way from South Carolina.
The navigational marker named ‘Red No. 8’ went missing in 2017.
The Daytona Beach News-Journal reports it showed up last week on New Smyrna Beach and quickly turned locals into picture-snapping tourists.
Measuring 19 feet long and tipping the scales at six thousand pounds, it’s bigger than a heavy-duty pickup truck – and the U.S Coast Guard has been keeping an eye out for it.
That’s because its navigation light still works.
Crews got right to work.
“The reason we removed it is because they don’t want it to be mistaken for a buoy that’s supposed to be out there,” Petty Officer 2nd Class Ryan Dickinson told Florida Today.
But removing the entire buoy is a really big job. In fact, the Coast Guard needs some assistance getting it off the beach and back to ‘Sector Charleston.’
“The city is going to provide equipment that will help us get it onto a flatbed truck, a crane or something,” said Dickinson.
He said while buoys don’t often break free from their giant concrete block anchors, it’s not unheard of.
Deputy Chief Andrew Etheridge from Volusia County Beach Safety warned that climbing on the beached buoy can be really dangerous, but that’s not stopping people from taking pictures for social media.
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