![]() ![]() The airboat accident was just one of more than 75 that have taken place in the past three years in Florida, according to a New Times examination of state and local records. "It was my first time on an airboat - probably the last one too. "I was hysterical," she recalls two years later. Most, including Dorst, are sent to hospitals 15 miles away in Kendall. Of the 48 passengers on the two boats, 25 are injured, 15 severely. The two hulls scrape and thrash against each other. There's not even a minimum age to operate an airboat. ![]() Suddenly, she remembers the warning, "Watch for the baby gators." A pool of water wells up at her feet, and she feels the boat sinking. It seems a bone is shattered.īlood dribbles down Dorst's face, and the taste of iron fills her mouth. As she grabs her leg, a companion rushes to her side. As he sits up, his hips are at first numb and then painful. A man is ejected from his seat and tumbles into the shallow creek. ![]() The woman's nose twists sideways, broken. High in the air behind her, Teggart is launched from her perch and lands on top of a woman in the other boat. A massive side-to-side collision ensues.ĭorst's body tenses as her forehead bangs into a metal rail. Teggart backs off the accelerator, but nothing can be done. The two share what she calls a collective "oh shit" moment. Though she's not wearing a seat belt, she doesn't think to brace herself.įor a split second, Dorst locks eyes with a passenger in the opposite boat. Maybe they'll splash water at each other. Oh, fun, Dorst thinks, it's probably another stunt. Suddenly, the other boat jerks left and begins veering toward her. We'll probably just pass one another, like cars driving down a two-way street. As it enters the clearing, she squints at its driver and then back at Teggart. It's another Gator Park boat with 20 or so passengers. She leans over the metal rail and looks through her airboat's grimy windshield. It's a small orange flag, hurtling toward the mouth of the left artery ahead. The vessel jets into the clearing, hugging the right side.Īs they pass the clearing's midpoint, Dorst sees something flicker in the corner of her eye. Thinking there are no other boats in the area, Teggart revs the boat's 700-horsepower Cadillac engine. On the far side, less than 30 yards away, are two narrow exit arteries extending northward like the prongs of a carving fork. It's just a stunt, Dorst realizes and calms herself.Įight minutes later, the airboat arrives at the entrance to another large clearing. A mist of musty marsh water douses the crowd, and passengers let out a giddy whoop. She shifts the rudder again and maneuvers the vessel into a sharp zigzag. With an angry groan, the flat-bottomed hull tilts onto its side.ĭorst feels her chest tighten, but Teggart remains unfazed. Sensing there are no other vessels nearby, Teggart steps on the accelerator and rams the rudder stick forward. Watch out for baby gators." A few chuckle in reply. As the boat putters along no faster than a couple miles per hour, the sporty, blue-eyed blond from Miami warns her 26 passengers: "Hands inside the boat at all times. Six rows back, sitting on a towering chair near the boat's stern, is 23-year-old Ashley Teggart, a tour guide recently hired by Gator Park, a 26-year-old airboat tour company that ferries half a million visitors around the Glades annually. Though the wet breeze slams against her eyelids, the mother of three from San Francisco sighs contentedly. Within minutes, it's skating down a creek banked by razor-edged sawgrass, spatterdock water lilies, and copper-red dragonflies. A last-second airboat tour of the Everglades is the perfect end to our girls' Labor Day weekend getaway. Thank God we spotted that brochure back at the Fontainebleau, she thinks. The doe-eyed 30-year-old brunette turns to her girlfriends and flashes a smile. Still, the narrow path of rippling water ahead feels more airport tarmac than wetland. To drown out the deafening sound, Anastacia Dorst cups her hands tightly over her ears. Deep in the Everglades, just off the Tamiami Trail, a seven-foot-wide propeller perched on an airboat violently slaps the wind. ![]()
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