Will Isern

wisern@pnj.com

The two men stood side by side on the Coast Guard dock, peering through binoculars over the dark waters of Pensacola Bay.

A specialized search plane circled overheard.

On the left was Lt. Doug Berryman of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. On the right, John Provo with Escambia Search and Rescue.

They scanned the water for any sign of the little boy with the blond hair and gap-tooth smile no one had seen in almost a day.

Logan Torrance Fontana, 4, fell from his grandfather's boat into Pensacola Bay just before 4 p.m. Saturday.

He and his grandfather George "Steve" Maye had spent the day fishing and playing on the beach near Fort Pickens.

Logan liked boating, and Maye always made sure the boy wore his life jacket while they were on the water.

But Logan wasn't wearing a shirt and sand had gotten in his life jacket and was bothering him. He asked his grandfather to wash it off for him.

They were idling about 300 yards offshore in the 20-foot boat, stationary and in no danger of falling overboard.

So Logan's life jacket was removed, and Maye washed it out with a bottle of water.

Maye handed the life jacket back to his grandson and told him to put it on.

Logan took the life jacket and went to the back of the boat, directly behind his grandfather, who had just noticed the other boats headed his way.

To navigate the oncoming traffic, Maye pulled on the throttle. Not by much, just enough to get the boat moving at about 10 mph.

Safely out of the way of the passing boats, Maye turned back to talk to Logan. But the boy was gone, and his life jacket lay on the floor of the boat.

Distraught, Maye called for help and the frantic search for the boy with no life jacket began.

The Coast Guard responded with a helicopter and several boats. More boats from FWC, Escambia Search and Rescue and the Escambia County Sheriff's Office — even civilian vessels — responded to aid in the search.

But night soon fell and Logan was still missing. Crews searched into the night with still no sign of the boy.

The search resumed on Sunday, but strong currents and the hundreds of boaters zipping back and forth across the bay made for less-than-ideal search conditions.

"When this occurred yesterday, the tide was slack, not really doing anything," Berryman said near the shore behind the Coast Guard station on Pensacola Naval Air Station. "But shortly thereafter, the tide started going out, and the tide is very strong through this area. Our hope is he didn't go out the pass."

NAS Fire Rescue and Gulf Islands National Seashore park rangers joined in the search Sunday.

Sarah Moak, a friend of Logan's father, Caleb Maye, used social media to organize a civilian search effort.

"We're not going to stop looking until we find him," she said.

The search area was a 3-mile stretch of the bay east of Pensacola Pass. Crews scanned the water with advanced radar, and two dive teams were on standby to investigate any promising readings.

"We're scanning the water column out to the side of the vessel for 30 to 50 feet, and down also to identify targets that we may want to investigate as we try to find the little boy," said Clint Retherford with Escambia Search and Rescue.

But the day passed and Logan still had not been found.

The search will resume Monday morning and run through the day again. If still no sign of Logan is found, the search will transition from a search and rescue effort to a search and recovery, Berryman said.

"We will have a presence out here for at least seven days," he said. "After that we have to scratch our heads and ask how much more money and how much more time we can spend."