The Black Pearl went out on a snorkeling and dive trip Wednesday morning and discovered something more than marine life.
The captain spotted packages of marijuana about a mile east of the Hillsboro Inlet.
The boat's captain, who didn't want to be identified, took pictures and called the U.S. Coast Guard.
By the afternoon, seven bricks of marijuana, each weighing about two to three pounds, were in the back of a Broward Sheriff's Office boat.
"Somebody, maybe possibly, got scared while they were offshore. It could have fallen off a boat," said Deputy Jim Fahy. "The packages seem to be fresh, so its current they haven't been out there for a long time."
Fahy has worked with the BSO's marine unit since the 1980s, when larger square groupers were the catch of the day.
"I remember large bales floating in several of them much larger than this," Fahy said.
He said these discoveries have become quite uncommon. He can't remember the last time he went out on a call for drugs found floating at sea.