Woman in good spirits after ordeal

Kristine Green spent two days drifting in the gulf after being separated from her boat.

By Times staff writer

© St. Petersburg Times, published June 7, 2000

YANKEETOWN -- Alone in the Gulf of Mexico last weekend, Kristine Green swam toward the lights in hopes of reaching shore.

She screamed for help to boats in the distance. But on Sunday, a day after she and her fiance got separated from their boat and each other while diving 9 miles off the Levy County coast, the boats never noticed. So Green, 27, drifted yet another day.

Green, who was rescued by a Coast Guard helicopter Monday afternoon about 5 miles west of Yankeetown, told her story to Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission investigator Roger Young as she waited for emergency care Monday evening, following her airlift to Tampa General Hospital.

After spending up to 45 hours in the water, the Citra resident was happy to be on dry land, Young said Tuesday.

"She was really in good spirits," he said. "She wasn't down on anybody. She was happy to be alive . . . and glad to be in the hospital."

Investigators said they could not figure out how Green and Douglas Wilson of Citra, north of Ocala, got so far from the boat while diving, Laird Canfield, an officer with the Commission's Bureau of Marine Enforcement.

Wilson was found Sunday clinging to a pylon about 5 miles north of Yankeetown.

The couple had gone diving about 2 p.m. Saturday, the Coast Guard said.

Levy County sheriff's Lt. C.A. Bastak said Tuesday that a search of the couple's 18-foot cabin boat revealed nothing amiss, he said.

"Once they talked to Kristine, everything was what it was; a potential tragedy averted," he said.

According to Green's account, Wilson, 35, was diving and she was snorkeling Saturday afternoon when they drifted too far from the boat, Young said. Wilson gave Green his buoyancy straps and they began swimming toward shore but she could not keep up with him.

She saw lights and thought they might be from Cedar Key or the Florida Power Corp. nuclear power plant in Crystal River. She was much closer to Crystal River.

"She remembers it being really clear; there was a crescent moon," Young said. "The second morning she started getting really cold."

Green, suffered from exposure and dehydration when she arrived at the hospital, Young said.

"She didn't mention much about being scared," Young said. "She's lucky to be alive."

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