<p>SARASOTA — Animal control officers and the Coast Guard teamed up to rescue a man who had been stranded on a floating island made entirely of pool noodles for five days after his &#8220;genius transportation idea&#8221; went horribly wrong.</p> <p>Derek Callahan, 29, had constructed what he called &#8220;The S.S. Foam Dream&#8221; using approximately 800 pool noodles duct-taped together, believing he could sail from Sarasota to the Bahamas &#8220;for basically free.&#8221;</p> <p>&#8220;He was very confident about his engineering,&#8221; said Coast Guard Lieutenant Amy Rogers. &#8220;He had a lawn chair, a cooler full of Gatorade, and a golf umbrella. That was his entire supply list for a 250-mile ocean voyage.&#8221;</p> <p>Callahan launched his pool noodle vessel at dawn, waving to confused beachgoers. Within three hours, ocean currents had pulled him five miles offshore, where he became stuck in a circular pattern he described as &#8220;nature&#8217;s lazy river.&#8221;</p> <p>The situation deteriorated when dolphins began investigating the bright blue structure, apparently thinking it was some kind of toy. &#8220;They were really friendly but kept bumping into it,&#8221; Callahan reported. &#8220;One of them took my sandwich. I named him Carl.&#8221;</p> <p>Rescue crews located Callahan after a fishing charter reported seeing &#8220;what appeared to be a man sitting on a pile of swimming pool supplies, shouting about dolphins and demanding someone call his mom.&#8221;</p> <p>By the time of his rescue, Callahan had drifted 18 miles from shore and had constructed a makeshift flag from his t-shirt reading &#8220;SEND SNACKS.&#8221; He had also befriended three dolphins he named Carl, Susan, and &#8220;Big Tony.&#8221;</p> <p>&#8220;I almost made it work,&#8221; Callahan insisted while being checked for dehydration. &#8220;If I&#8217;d used foam noodles instead of hollow ones, I&#8217;d be in Nassau right now.&#8221;</p> <p>Authorities charged Callahan with operating an unregistered vessel, creating a navigational hazard, and what the Coast Guard is calling &#8220;aggressive maritime incompetence.&#8221; His pool noodle raft was seized and later donated to a local YMCA swim program.</p> <p>When asked if he learned anything from the experience, Callahan replied: &#8220;Yeah, next time I&#8217;m using inflatable mattresses.&#8221;</p>