Family recounts harrowing boat rescue near Gordon Pass

NAPLES, Fla. Retired police officers Angel and Cheryl Casabona thought their days of being first responders were over.

Then they received a mayday call while fishing in a boat Saturday near Gordon Pass. Three men and two children were involved in a boat wreck about 12 miles west of the pass and radioed for help.

“When I heard they were going in the water and I heard there were three children … my heart, I felt it deep down,” Cheryl Casabona said. “I said we have to go no matter how bad the weather, the waves, the wake, the water, we have to go.”

It was the Casabonas’ 12-year-old son, Jake, who first heard the distress signal over the boat’s radio. But before the captain of the sinking boat was able to give their location, the radio transmission cut out, leaving Angel Casabona to guess as he steered in what he hoped was the right direction.

He guessed right.

“I said a quick prayer and he pointed that boat in one direction and we hit it spot on,” Cheryl Casabona said. “Spot on. No left, no right. He hit it right on.”

They traveled between 6 and 7 miles before spotting the wreckage in the distance.

“It was capsized and you know it was upside down,” Angel Casabona said. “We could just barely see the bow of the boat sticking out of the water.”

Cheryl saw one of the men waving a life preserver and Angel saw the three children clinging to a cooler.

“When I saw those three little bodies huddled together, oh it was better than any fish I ever caught,” Cheryl Casabona said.

The Casabonas came to their aid and the Collier County Sheriff’s Office, U.S. Coast Guard and the Marco Island Fire-Rescue Department responded just minutes later. The identity of the people the Casabonas rescued remains unclear, but the enduring lesson of the encounter is readily apparent.

“If you hear somebody calling for help, just go,” Angel Casabona said. “Just go. You never know when it could be you.”