By Joel Marino
Sun-Sentinel

THE EVERGLADES, Fla. — They came to celebrate the anniversary of a historic rescue mission in the Everglades, but two members of an airboat tour along with a Broward Sheriff's Office firefighter wound up needing to be rescued themselves after being stranded in the swamp Sunday night.

Michael Ballard, 50, traveled with a group of six friends from Avon Park in Central Florida for a ceremony honoring the survivors of Eastern Airlines Flight 401, which crashed in the Everglades on Dec. 29, 1972.

The group even rode an airboat with Robert "Bud" Marquis, the Homestead resident who saw the crash while catching frogs. He helped pluck survivors out of the water.

"We'd been looking forward to this event, seeing how airboats are a big hobby for us," said Ballard, who has been driving the machines for two years. "Only problem is we didn't know the area too well."

This was the group's first outing to the Everglades, he said.

They took out four boats for an evening ride through the swamp, but some last-minute repairs delayed the team a few hours, said group member Wesley Mosser, 48.

Ballard was separated from the group sometime before 8:30 p.m. as they waded through patches of thick brush, he said. His boat eventually ran out of gas.

"I wasn't scared, but I know that once you lose your direction you've got to keep cool or you're gone," Ballard said.

Back on land, the others waved down a security guard on Interstate 75 who contacted the Broward Sheriff's Office.

Lt. Fred North, of the Broward Sheriff's Fire Rescue team, responded to the scene and went out with Mosser to find the stranded group member.

The thick vegetation forced the men to find a longer route to track Ballard even though a helicopter guided their way, North said.

They found Ballard a few hours later, but by that time their own boat had run out of gas.

"There was no immediate medical need and a heavy fog was rolling in, so we just made the decision to stay put until another boat could come find us at daybreak," North said.

The men used flashlights to ward off alligators. Their biggest problem were mosquitoes; a thick cloud of the insects swarmed around them throughout the night.

Ballard used a raincoat to cover himself from the bites, but Mosser and North were still bitten despite carrying bug spray.

"The waiting wasn't that bad," Mosser said. "There was just the mosquitoes and the brush, and that can get nasty very quickly."

Another Broward Sheriff's rescue team reached the men at sunrise. The boats were refueled and they were escorted back to I-75 around 9 a.m.

"I'm glad everything ended up fine, but this is just too much adventure for a man in his 50s," Ballard said.

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