Two rescues in two days may be too many.
The U.S. Coast Guard rescued two crews and their disabled commercial fishing vessels — the Karen J. Belle Oct. 27 and the Barbara Jean Oct. 29.
And both vessels wound up at A.P. Bell Fish Co. in Cortez.
Trouble on the 52-foot Karen J. Belle grouper boat, which runs out of A.P. Bell, was first reported Oct. 20 when the boat was about 65 miles west of Sanibel Island.
A rudder-tiller arm broke, A.P. Bell owner Karen Bell said.
The three-man crew attempted to fix the mechanical problems, but ran into trouble when they encountered 6- to 8-foot seas.
Bell said she usually sends a boat for aid, but due to the 80-mile distance from Cortez, the boaters eventually contacted the U.S. Coast Guard Station Fort Myers Beach at 5 p.m. Oct. 27.
According to Coast Guard public information officer Ashley Johnson out of Fort Myers Beach, the rescue crew went out at 11 p.m. in 8-foot seas and 20-knot winds and towed the Karen J. Belle to a Fort Myers dock.
Rescued from the Karen J. Belle were Rich Bontrager of Cortez, Tim Bontrager of Sarasota and Shelley Yates of Bradenton.
The vessel and crew returned Oct. 29 to its dock at A.P. Bell.
The U.S. Coast Guard Station Cortez received a mayday call at 3:30 a.m. Oct. 29 and, within about 45 minutes, rescued two men with engine trouble on the fishing vessel Barbara Jean 13 miles west of the northern tip of Anna Maria Island in the Gulf of Mexico.
Coast Guard Officer Charles Richter and his three-man crew rescued the boaters and towed the 40-foot vessel to the A.P. Bell Fish Co. docks in Cortez.
Richter said the men were traveling north from Port Charlotte to Port Hudson after purchasing the vessel and they “had more issues than they had thought.”
When the Coast Guard arrived on its 45-foot response boat, the fishing boat was taking water over its sides and battling 5-foot waves, he said.
The Coast Guard towed the vessel from the Gulf of Mexico through Tampa Bay and, at dawn, Richter noticed a water problem and passed a pump to the Barbara Jean.
The men pumped out the vessel and the Coast Guard continued the tow.
No injuries were reported in either incident.