NAPLES, Fla. (WSVN) — It was quite the sight for a Florida towboat operator when he spotted a strange sailor onboard a sailboat: a black bear. Now the man who captured the video of the wild encounter is speaking out.
The outlandish sight on Wednesday evening was a first for Todd Dillman, owner of Tow BoatU.S. Naples-Marco Island.
“We get the saltwater crocs, the alligators, the sharks, stuff like that, but I can’t say I’ve seen anything like this before,” he said.
Dillman sees way more than most boaters, because when they break down, they call him for help.
That’s what he was doing at the time — pushing a barge back into Naples Bay — when something else caught his eye.
“We were kind of blown away that there was a bear, you know, in Royal Harbor,” he said.
A big old black bear, just hanging out in this ritzy community, just a walk away from downtown Naples.
“It was pretty incredible,” said Dillman.
Dillman said the sighting was about to become even more surreal.
“When I looked over, he was on a sailboat,” he said.
A bear on a boat, right in Naples Bay.
“No one’s gonna believe me if I tell him,” said Dillman.
That’s why he pulled out his phone and started recording — video after video after video.
“I sat here for like an hour, and he was just going from front to back on the boat,” said Dillman.
Now, he wasn’t the only one with his jaw on the deck, either.
“The word started spreading around the club that there was a bear on the docks, and I said, ‘No, no, there can’t be a bear on the docks,” said Manny Blanco, general manager of Naples Sailing & Yacht Club. “Walked out to the docks. Sure enough, there was a bear on a boat. I’ve seen alligators in the marina. I’ve seen dolphins, manatees. I’ve never seen a bear.”
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission is tracking the bear’s every move. Their experts said the big guy is likely just looking for food.
Fall tends to be a more active time for bears, and the last place they want to be is in a crowded area.
However, that savory smell of something good will pull them right on board.
“I don’t know if that boat, they had used it for fishing and it smelled like fish, or if they just had some snacks stashed,” said Chad Evers, a professor with Florida Gulf Coast University’s The Water School.
The best way to keep Smokey the Bear off a boat? Do exactly as your mother taught you: clean up and toss out your trash.
“It’s maybe something for everybody to think about,” said Dillman.
The bear is now off the boat and said to be running around downtown Naples.
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