Crews from four Coast Guard vessels and one aircraft intercepted crude watercraft that were carrying 26 migrants who were bound for Florida Dec. 25, in three separate incidents. The St. Petersburg, Fla.-based cutter Ocracoke encountered a Cuban vessel carrying eight migrants Dec. 24, north of the Cuban town of Mariel. Ocracoke crewmembers boarded the vessel, safely took the passengers into custody, and transferred them to the cutter Key Biscayne. Ocracoke later intercepted six more Cuban migrants on a vessel south of Marathon, Fla., after the crew of a Coast Guard HC-144 maritime patrol aircraft had spotted it. Ocracoke also transported the six Cubans to the Key Biscayne. And on Dec. 25, the crew of the Key West, Fla.-based cutter Pea Island interdicted a crude vessel carrying 12 Cuban migrants south of Key West, and transferred them to the Key Biscayne. Key Biscayne repatriated them Dec. 25.