Boater chases mysterious periscope off Hollywood beach (FL)

Palm Beach Post ^ | 6-20-10 | Robert Nolin

[STARWISE]

Talk about the big one that got away.

Ryan Danoff was fishing with two friends about four miles off Hollywood beach Sunday when he spied what appeared to be a mast on the horizon.

Funny thing: There was no boat underneath it.

Danoff, a Fort Lauderdale fish farmer who's on the water at least three days a week, aimed his 31-foot center console Fishy Business at the mysterious upright and found himself eye to eye with a periscope.

"It was crazy," he said. "If it was just myself out there I wouldn't believe what I saw."

Danoff moved closer. "It took off," he said. Very fast, about 20 knots. The periscope sank beneath the waves, and whatever was below the surface blew its ballast, sending aloft a mighty hiccup of bubbles. After five minutes the sea lay once again undisturbed.

Danoff, 30, reported the episode to the Coast Guard. They said they'd get back to him, but never did.

Coast Guard Petty Officer Barry Bena said Danoff's information went to the proper authorities. "As of right now, they're still looking into it," he said.

So could it have been a Navy sub taking a peek at the beach? "It's kind of uncommon," Bena said. "But it's a definite possibility."

[STARWISE]

Strange. Might it have been one of our mini subs checking for the Gulf leaking oil entering the Gulf Stream ?

[STARWISE]

~~Ping!

[hamboy]

NK-made midget!

[WoofDog123]

presumably narc traffic?

[WoofDog123]

presumably narc traffic?

[MaxMax]

He was fishing but didn’t mention anything about sonar.

[boatbums]

We talked to a sailor one time who had a sub follow him out the St. John’s River near Jacksonville, FL.

[matthew fuller]

Napolitano will be on this, lickety split!

[Ronin]

Good luck getting the sub service to admit to anything. Them fellers are sneaky.

[tlb]

Might be USN, might be druggies, or it might be a yacht. We are in an age now people with cash can buy their own submarine yachts. And Palm Beach would be a natural place to find that. I've been considering getting this one.

[LouAvul]

presumably narc traffic?

You can say that again! Wait, you just did!

[Gene Eric]

Was it by any chance yellow?

[OldMissileer]

I may have been Air Force, not Navy (I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express once) but you don’t “blow” ballast to submerge; you flood ballast to go down and if you really want to go down fast you flood the negative tank.

[allmost]

Can't exclude the possibility. The seas around this great land seem to be treacherous in an explosive way as of late.

[preacher]

Video - Thousands of UN vans at private Florida airport.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QwbtJHK4cd8

[OrangeHoof]

"Hahrry-rood!"

[LaineyDee]

I've been considering getting this one.

That's an awful lot of lunch money there... What would you use it for?

[tlb]

>>> What would you use it for?

Freaking out drunk fisherman.

[LaineyDee]

ROFL!!! Good one. :)

[DeaconRed]

Not to worry. it was the US Navy looking for the Commander-in-Chief.

He has been absent since election day! ! ! ! !