Update: Coast Guard Calls Off Search for Missing Teens Off Florida Coast!!!!

Aww, this is really sad. The US Coast Guard has called off the search for the 2 missing teens off the coast of Florida. The 2 teens, Perry Cohen and Austin Stephanos were 14 yrs old and went on a fishing trip together in a 19 foot boat on July 24th. The boys were both avid fisherman and worked together in a bait shop in Florida. They were supposed to stay in the intracoastal waterway and the Loxahatchee River. But on Sunday, the 26th, their boat was found floating upside down 67 miles off the Coast of Florida in the Atlantic Ocean. So the Coast Guard anchored the boat where they found it and turned it right side up, hoping the boys would return to the boat.  But they never did. It's been 7 days since they went missing and the Coast Guard has searched up and down the Eastern Seaboard from Florida to South Carolina and down towards the Bahamas. Many commenters on the original Yahoo story of the boys going missing, think that the boys were trying to go to the Bahamas because they bought $110.00 worth of gas the day they left. And apparently that's the exact amount of gas needed to motor to the Bahamas. Personally, I blame the parents. 14 is too young to be out in a boat alone with no adult supervision. I bet they were not wearing their life preserve vests nor did they have a radio on the boat or other safety equipment. If, I were on a small boat, like a 19 foot dingy, I would always have my life preserve vest on and I might have one of those blowup boats. They are designed to float, so if your boat capsizes, it will be floating nearby and you can grab it and pull the cord and it will inflate in seconds.

A private fund was established to pay for the search and it raised $340,000.00. So the family says that the search for their children will continue with volunteers from the public and people being paid for by the fund. The families are refusing to give up hope that the boys are still alive out there somewhere. "It is a mother's prayer that you will be safe and sound in our arms today," Austin's mother, Pamela Cohen, tweeted Friday. "Missing you both more than you could ever imagine."

It's so sad, these 2 boys had their whole lives ahead of them. Proms, graduating from High School, going to college or trade school and meeting someone and falling in love and getting married. Now they will do none of that. What a waste. It's just so sad!!!