ANACORTES — Family, friends and volunteers, hoping that Dean Harvey of Bremerton is still alive, continued the search Monday for the boater who has been missing since he left Anacortes on Nov. 25.
The search for Harvey, 48, who is a member of the Port Gamble S’Klallam tribe, was suspended late last Wednesday.
A Port Angeles-based Coast Guard helicopter crew had found his 18-foot boat overturned and grounded on rocks near Lopez Island.
Because Harvey’s body has not been found, the family is holding out hope that he was able to get to shore on one of the small islands, said Tanya Christenson, a long-time friend of Harvey and spokeswoman for the family, Monday.
He may be alive but unable to reach help or may be confused or otherwise unable to communicate, she said.
“He could be on land. He could be in a hospital. No one knows what happened,” she said.
The family is looking for witnesses who may have seen Harvey on his boat the day he disappeared.
When he disappeared, he was wearing yellow bib overalls, a green raincoat, black hoodie and a knit cap.
The Adelie, an 87-foot patrol boat, and a MH-65 Dolphin helicopter, both from the Port Angeles Coast Guard station, along with helicopters from Naval Air Station Whidbey Island and the San Juan Sheriff’s Office fireboat and teams from the Border Patrol, participated in the initial search.
The Coast Guard will not resume searching unless it gets more information, said Petty Officer Katelyn Shearer, a Coast Guard spokeswoman in Seattle.
Christenson said family members searched for Harvey on Sunday, and on Monday they gathered family, friends and members of the Port Gamble S’Klallam tribe for a larger search.
Five boats and several divers took part in Monday’s search, with about 20 people in total, Christenson said.
Because of a lack of boats available to searchers, about 15 people had to remain behind at the dock, she said.
She said they began the search in locations they knew Harvey planned to go, and expanded the search to areas ranging from Port Townsend to Boundary Bay near Delta, B.C., including the small islands between.
Robert Romero, Harvey’s brother, reported that they both left Anacortes at about 8:30 a.m. Nov. 25 in separate 18-foot fishing boats to go crabbing and agreed to meet at Anacortes at 3:30 p.m.
Harvey was expected to recover 60 crab pots near Lopez Island.
Romero returned to Anacortes at 3:30 p.m. and waited for his brother to return until 4:30 p.m., when he called Skagit County 9-1-1 emergency dispatchers to report him overdue.
Divers found nine crab pots in the wreckage near where the Coast Guard found Harvey’s boat, a few hundred yards southwest of Lopez Island, but little else, Christenson said.
Most of his remaining crab pots were still in place where they had been set, she said.
She said searchers also reported finding a 44-gallon trash can Harvey used to hold crab, washed up near Lopez Pass.
The boat had been towed to shore by the Adelie where it was confirmed that it was Harvey’s boat, and the family planned to bring the boat home Monday evening, she said.
Anyone who may have seen Harvey is asked to call Christenson at 425-583-7273 or email Catzdelite@hotmail.com.
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Reporter Arwyn Rice can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5070, or at arice@peninsuladailynews.com.
