Navigation marker goes missing off Florida Keys. Then, it shows up 4,300 miles away

Things are always vanishing in the open sea, but an amazing example of the Atlantic spitting something back out is being reported by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

A navigational marker that vanished off NOAA Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary in South Florida turned up on an island more than 4,300 miles away, officials say.

“Scotland has around 900 offshore islands and one of ‘em is the Isle of Eriskay, or Eric’s Isle, which is home to 140 residents and one buoy. The buoy is ours,” NOAA wrote in an April 12 Facebook post.

“It escaped from the Elbow Sanctuary Preservation Area in the Upper Keys and went on an epic journey. ... It’s Eriskay’s most fascinating arrival since the 1941 grounding of a boat carrying 57,000 bottles of malt whisky. The wreck was looted by locals (make that rescued), who hid the whisky all over (the) island. ... That buoy must be thirsty.”

The bright-yellow buoy — part of a “Fishing Lobstering Collecting” program — was found by Mary Ann Macintyre, who shared photos showing it arrived intact.

NOAA didn’t reveal what happened next, but it’s doubtful federal officials will be swinging by to pick it up.

The buoy likely hitched a ride northeast via the Gulf Stream, a current of warm water that flows from South Florida to Canada, then east across the North Atlantic to the British Isles, experts say.

The Gulf Stream averages about 4 mph, which suggests the buoy began its journey nearly three years ago.

Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary “protects 3,800 square miles of waters” around the Keys, including the continent’s only coral barrier reef, NOAA says.

It stretches from south of Miami to the Dry Tortugas, and begins at the high-water mark, “essentially meaning that once you set foot in Keys waters, you have entered the sanctuary.”

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