Florida residents who need a coffee fix in the morning got more than they bargained for after hundreds of sealed Café Bustelo coffee cans washed up in Indialantic on Florida's Space Coast on Tuesday morning, according to ABC News. Bright yellow coffee cans and vacuum-packed coffee bricks covered the beach for at least a mile and began to be snapped up by people walking on the beach shortly afterwards, according to ABC News.
With each can retailing at $9.99, there are certainly some big savings to be made by enterprising beachcombers. The coffee cans are thought by authorities to have been among what was lost over the weekend after at least 25 shipping containers came off a ship headed toward Puerto Rico, according to Florida Today.
"We're checking to make sure it's nothing else but coffee," marine science technician Elvin Rodriguez told Florida Today while inspecting the beach with the coast guard, claiming that it was likely that the cargo ship owner may be deemed responsible for the mess. Batteries and other hazardous materials may also have been amongst the contents of the spill, with the U.S. Coast Guard issuing a safety warning on Monday telling beachgoers not to open wet containers and to exercise caution.
Florida residents, however, have not been daunted by this message and continued to come out in droves and collect the free coffee covering the beach.
"I was out there about a half hour ago," Indialantic resident Leon Stein told Florida Today, adding that there were thousands of the cans lining the beach and that "these containers all seem to be sealed. We live right on the ocean.... It looks usable."
While the debris has since been cleared from the beach, authorities have reminded boaters to be aware of loose items and containers that may still be in the ocean. Other prospective beach scavengers have been warned "to not approach or open any containers in the water on shore", according to WPTV.
