The owners of a popular food boat are vowing to rebuild after the vessel sunk in the waters off Fort Lauderdale on Sunday.
The incident took place in the Intercoastal Waterway when Jay's Sandbar Food Boat began to sink.
In a message posted on social media, the owners said a stabilizer pontoon caused the vessel to go underwater. No one was injured, but the owners said it was a "total loss."
"It was the most awful thing I've ever seen in my life," said owner Jay Lyke. "And I built that boat, so I knew immediately that the pontoons had snapped because it's got stabilizing outriggers on the side because it's so big. If we didn't have those, it would fall over."
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He recalled when the boat started to sink.
"My crew was starting to scramble," he said. "My hostess, Collette — she jumped out the side, and then the boat started to roll up higher, and then my chef was kind of trapped, so he basically scurried out the top and climbed to the top, now he's 15 feet over the water."
But besides worrying about his crew, Lyke was fearing something worse.
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"The boat can explode because it's a restaurant and we've got, you know, 15 gallons of 400 degrees fryer oil," he said.
In the end no one was hurt, and nothing exploded. But Lyke lives on a boat with his girlfriend Collette and the restaurant boat was his only way of making a living.
"We're trying to get salvage companies together because the boat is a total loss, and it's really sad to see, it was a magical place," he said.
"It could have been much worse, my crews is more important than anything," the business' social media message read in part. "It was never easy but we enjoyed you guys. We will rebuild."
