How two men crossed the Atlantic in floating CARS: Italian adventurers spent more than 100 days traversing 3,000 miles of ocean between Canary Islands and Caribbean… as man making trip in giant hamster wheel is arrested

Athlete-turned-adventurer Reza Baluchi hit the headlines this week when he was arrested after trying to cross the Atlantic in a giant home-made hamster wheel.

Baluchi, 51, was detained 70 nautical miles into his journey off Tybee Island, Georgia, after a three-day standoff with US coastguards.

But his failed attempt comes nearly 25 years after two Italian men successfully made it across the 3,000-mile stretch of ocean – in two floating cars. 

In 1999 Marco Amoretti, his two brothers and his friend Marcolino De Candia set sail from the Canary Islands in a Volkswagen Passat and a Ford Taunus, bound for the Caribbean. 

Although Marco’s brothers had to abandon the trip due to severe sea sickness, he and his friend battled life-threatening setbacks to make it to their destination in 119 days. 

In 1999 Marco Amoretti, his two brothers and his friend Marcolino De Candia set sail from the Canary Islands in a Volkswagen Passat and a Ford Taunus, bound for the Caribbean. Marco’s brothers abandoned the trip after just ten days, but Marco and Marcolino continued

The two men enjoy a meal on one of the two cars during their trip across the Atlantic

The journey had been the lifetime goal of Marco’s father, Giorgio. 

When he was diagnosed with cancer and just six months to live, his sons started planning the trip for him.

Although he helped his sons get two cars to the Canary Islands for the start of the trip, he became too ill to join them on the actual journey and so Marcolino replaced him. 

‘We started without my father. But by the time I was in the middle, he was dead. So, he never got to see us to the end. But, he could imagine it,’, Marco previously said. 

The pair’s cars were filled with buoyant polyurethane to keep them afloat.

Marco previously told the National Enquirer: ‘The driver and passenger compartment was arranged as a shelter. 

‘On top of the car, we had a rubber boat with a hole in the middle that allowed us to climb in and out of the car.’ 

Ten days into the journey, the two cars hit a patch of bad weather, prompting Marco’s brothers – one of whom was a skilled engineer – to decide to return home. 

They were rescued by helicopter and Marco and Marcolino continued alone, their cars tied together by a length of rope.

Athlete-turned-adventurer Reza Baluchi hit the headlines this week when he was arrested after trying to cross the Atlantic in a giant home-made hamster wheel (pictured above in 2021 

The pair’s cars were filled with buoyant polyurethane to keep them afloat

The two men are seen inside one of their floating cars during their daring trip

Marco previously told the National Enquirer: ‘The driver and passenger compartment was arranged as a shelter. ‘On top of the car, we had a rubber boat with a hole in the middle that allowed us to climb in and out of the car.’

‘In the evening, we [wrote] a little bit in a diary and the rest of the time was just to survive. We also fished,’ Marco said in the South China Morning Post. 

He added: ‘But sometimes, the rope between the two cars snapped, so we’d have to swim out and fix it. It was a busy time.’

When their satellite phone broke, the two men lost all contact with their family back home. Without his brother’s skills, it took Marco months to fix it.

It also meant that Marco did not know that his father’s health was deteriorating.

By the time the phone had been fixed, his father had passed away. His mother opted not to tell him until the last week of the trip, to avoid him becoming overwhelmed with emotion.  

After 119 days at sea, he and Marcolino finally made it to their destination, the French-controlled island of La Martinique.

Although they had originally planned to continue on to Cuba and then the United States, their funds were so low that they opted to return to Italy. 

‘Now I’m proud because I showed the world that my father’s dream was not an impossible dream,’ Marco added. 

Baluchi’s contraption consists of a metal drum, with paddle wheels on either side which are buoyant, theoretically allowing him to run across the waves.

On August 26 a US Coast Guard cutter intercepted him at sea before he allegedly threatened anyone attempting to arrest him that he would take his own life with a 12-inch knife and that he had a bomb onboard his vessel, according to Flagler County Sheriff’s Office. 

One of the adventurers’ is seen on top of their Volkswagen Passatt shortly after arriving on the French-controlled island of La Martinique in the Caribbean

When their satellite phone broke, the two men lost all contact with their family back home. Without his brother’s skills, it took Marco months to fix it

After two days Baluchi finally admitted that there was no bomb on his hamster wheel.

The day after that, he joined officers on their boat. 

H e was brought ashore on September 1 and faces federal charges of obstruction of a boarding and violation of a Captain of the Port order. 

It is not the first time Baluchi, who also takes part in charity endurance runs, has attempted to use the hamster wheel to travel across the ocean. He has made attempts in 2014, 2016 and 2021. Each of them were intercepted by a Coast Guard.

In 2014 he embarked for the first time on the ‘hydro pod’. He hoped to travel from Pompano Beach in Florida to Bermuda and then back to Miami.

In 2016 he was given a written warning by the Coast Guard not to attempt the five month trip, which they deemed too dangerous.

But Baluchi ignored this and launched his homemade hydro pod bubble from Pompano Beach, Florida on Saturday, bound for Bermuda via the Caribbean.

In 2021 he tried to travel from Miami to New York City for charity but was washed ashore on a Florida beach not far from where he set off.