It had been a sunset cruise on July 28, from the Sanibel Harbour Marriott Resort & Spa about a mile-and-a-half off the Florida Gulf Coast, when a dog was spotted paddling for her life. The dog had been out on a boat ride not far away, with her family and fell or jumped overboard.
About a dozen people and crew had been a dinner cruise; they had just finished dining when someone shouted, “There’s a dog out there!”
And yes, perhaps the crew or the guests onboard didn’t hear that correctly, but indeed there was a pup doing the doggy paddle, trying to stay afloat. The captain stopped the engines, and the dog swam right up to the boat where the crew and guests were able to pull her out of the water.
And that began the mystery? Where did she come from? She was a well-cared for dog, and she wasn’t that exhausted, so she likely had not been in the water for that long. Maybe she had been swimming from the shore and got caught up in a current? Someone had to have been missing their sweet dog.
Now we’ll back up for a few hours. The two-year-old Australian cattle dog, named Eleanor, had been enjoying a family outing near the Sanibel Causeway of Fort Meyers on Sunday evening. It only seemed like a minute, but when her owner, Kathleen Baker, turned around to check on Eleanor, the dog was gone!
Kathleen and her husband searched the area, but could find no clues as to where the dog was. The sun was setting, and they were running low on fuel; they thought that Eleanor was gone. The couple felt terrible; they had let their beloved dog down.
And now back to the dinner cruise ship Princess.
No one on the cruise knew where Eleanor had come from. Her microchip had not been recorded, but although, we don’t live in a perfect world, sometimes life just works out perfectly. Kathleen and her husband saw the story on the news of the dog rescued in the water and knew the furry survivor had to have been Eleanor.
It later turned out to be a great reunion. Eleanor was very happy to see her family, and the heroes who saved the friendly little stranger in the ocean, were moved to tears – of happiness of course.
Source: (Bill Carrick on Facebook) (Photos via Bill Carrick)
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