{"id":301305,"date":"2026-06-09T13:52:07","date_gmt":"2026-06-09T13:52:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/301305\/"},"modified":"2026-06-09T13:52:07","modified_gmt":"2026-06-09T13:52:07","slug":"trying-to-hold-on-florida-passenger-recalls-items-falling-as-6-1-quake-jolted-ship","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/301305\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Trying to hold on’: Florida passenger recalls items falling as 6.1 quake jolted ship"},"content":{"rendered":"

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (CBS12) \u2014 A Tallahassee-area cruise passenger is describing the unsettling moment an earthquake struck while his ship was sailing near Cuba<\/a>, the same quake that was felt across parts of South Florida Monday afternoon.<\/p>\n

The 6.1-magnitude earthquake<\/a> hit on June 9 at around 2 p.m. about 65 miles northwest of Mantua, Cuba, at a depth of over six miles. Officials say there was no tsunami threat and no reported damage, though people across South Florida did report feeling the shaking.<\/p>\n

Joe Millender was on board the Margaritaville Islander<\/a> when it happened, traveling on a cruise that included a stop in Cozumel. He told WCTV the day had been calm until the ship suddenly began to shake.<\/p>\n

The 6.1-magnitude earthquake hit on June 9 at around 2 p.m. about 65 miles northwest of Mantua, Cuba, at a depth of over six miles. Officials say there was no tsunami threat and no reported damage, though people across South Florida did report feeling the shaking. (CNN Newsource) <\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was right around 2 o\u2019clock and everything was going well,\u201d Millender said. \u201cAll of a sudden the ship started shaking and things falling off the shelves and people kind of grabbing hold of things, trying to hold on.\u201d<\/p>\n

Millender said the shaking lasted about 20 seconds, leaving passengers confused and searching for an explanation. At first, many believed the ship may have hit something in the water.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe thought we had ran aground or wrapped something in a propeller,\u201d Millender said. \u201cThe ship was just shaking so bad.\u201d<\/p>\n

See also: County, City and Town of Palm Beach to challenge FAA over Mar-a-Lago flight restrictions<\/a><\/p>\n

Millender said the feeling was unlike anything he had experienced before at sea. While earthquakes are not uncommon in the Caribbean<\/a>, being on a vessel in open water made it harder to understand what was happening in real time.<\/p>\n

Back on land, officials across South Florida<\/a> monitored the situation and reported no injuries or significant damage tied to the tremors.<\/p>\n

For Millender, the brief moment turned into a lasting memory and a reminder that even a routine cruise can take an unexpected turn.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (CBS12) \u2014 A Tallahassee-area cruise passenger is describing the unsettling moment an earthquake struck while his…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":301306,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[28,30,29],"class_list":["post-301305","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-florida","tag-florida","tag-florida-headlines","tag-florida-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/301305","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=301305"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/301305\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/301306"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=301305"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=301305"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=301305"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}