A man in his 20s is under arrest after police say he jumped off a BC Ferries vessel on the way from Vancouver to Vancouver Island and then broke into a home – naked -- on Galiano Island.

The incident occurred around 9:30 p.m. Wednesday night when the man untied one of the boat’s 100-person life rafts, launched it into the water and then jumped overboard.

Passenger Lorenzo Garcia said he overheard some of the man’s friends egging him on to do it.

"His friend… who was standing with him by the staircase was yelling, ‘Jump, jump, jump!’," Garcia told CTV Vancouver. "And I’m like, really? You’re going to be that stupid?"

Another passenger William Shulda said it appeared the man did a somersault into the water. The crew quickly brought the ferry to a halt in Active Pass in the Southern Gulf Islands and jumped into action.

"All of a sudden, the captain came on and said -- and he sounded distraught or in a way annoyed -- saying, 'This is not a drill. We have a man overboard, overboard. We are going to launch a boat to try to get him’,” Shulda said.

As the crew attempted a search in the darkness, fellow passengers said they could hear the man yelling “Yahoo!” as he swam through the chilly waters to Galiano Island, leaving behind the raft that he had launched.

Another BC Ferries vessel moving through the pass also was forced to stop while its crew aided in the search. Members of the Canadian Coast Guard joined the search as well.

While they were still searching, police on Galiano Island got a call from a distressed resident who said that a naked, dripping wet, and incoherent man had broken into her home. The man, who matched the description of the man who jumped overboard, was throwing around furniture, she said.

The man left and wandered off to a nearby resort, where he was promptly arrested.

Ferry passengers are commending the actions of the ferry crew – while also shaking their heads at the man’s actions.

"I think it was very stupid,” said Garcia.

“I’m glad the guy's all right and he's alive, I mean it was an inconvenience to everyone and then we're stuck in the water for an hour."

BC Ferries’ Deborah Marshall says the company incurred huge costs in the rescue effort, which required the work of nearly 100 crew members searching the waters and recovering the life raft that had drifted to one of the nearby bays.

The man involved in the incident is currently in a Victoria hospital; his condition is unknown.

RCMP say they're recommending charges of break and enter and mischief, while BC Ferries may request charges of its own.

With a report from CTV Vancouver’s Julie Nolin