What you are looking at right now is an inflatable bubble floating off the coast of Florida. Inside the bubble are protein bars, bottled water, a satellite phone and Reza Baluchi.
CNN reports Baluchi planned to "run" from Florida to Bermuda in an inflatable bubble. And the trip wasn't a total failure. He made it about 70 miles off the coast of St. Augustine before ending the voyage.
The Coast Guard found Baluchi after receiving a report that there was a man in a bubble off the coast of Miami asking for directions to Bermuda.
"Coast Guard: Based on this information, do you wish to stop your voyage and embark the Coast Guard Vessel?"
Baluchi: "I did two-years practice for this."
Coast Guard: "I understand you've been practicing two years for this. So you are declining to stop your voyage at this time and embark the Coast Guard cutter?"
Baluchi: "I don't know what I can do."
(Via U.S. Coast Guard)
After refusing assistance from the Coast Guard at first, he activated his personal locating beacon Saturday morning, which lead Coast Guard vessels and helicopter crews back to him to bring him to shore.
It doesn't take long to find out what the trip was about when you visit Baluchi's website. It says he runs for peace and displays a detailed video on his planned trip to Bermuda.
"One man will attempt the seemingly impossible. Reza Baluchi will run the gauntlet of the unknown. 440,000 square miles of the most unpredictable water on the planet. The grave yard of the Atlantic."
(Via RunWithReza.org)
And this wasn't Baluchi's first trip in his "hydro-pod". He's been using it for a few years now and has traveled throughout America breaking world records and running for peace. Baluchi is a former Iranian citizen who now has been granted political asylum in the U.S.
Baluchi was transported to the Coast Guard air station in Clearwater, where he received a medical examination.
