The boat belonging to a Calgary man who set sail on a trip off the coast of Florida on Friday has been recovered and a search for him has been called off by the coast guard.

Fraser Horne and his wife, Michele, bought a place in Florida in 2015 to spend the winters.

Horne is an avid boater and he and the family dog, Toula, when out on the water and were reported missing after they failed to return on Friday.

Horne’s boat was found near Cortez just hours after he was reported missing.

The boat was still running in neutral and Horne’s wallet, keys and shoes were found on board.

A massive search effort was launched but it failed to turn up any sign of the 64 year old.

“We searched over 2000 square miles for more than 46 hours to look for Mr. Horne and unfortunately we were unable to locate him,” said Ashley Johnson, Petty Officer U.S. Coast Guard.

Horne’s wife, Michele says it is believed that Toula fell into the water and that Horne went in after her.

“What is clear from the search patterns in the data gathered is that Toula, the retriever, fell into the water and that Fraser went to get her, to rescue her,” said Michele. “In rescuing her, there was a strong current that was shifting against him and the boat, from what the data shows, he probably was not able to go back to the boat.”

The dog was discovered by a Good Samaritan on a nearby island later that evening.

Michele says Toula is a strong swimmer and that the golden retriever was in the water for about two hours.

“The waters are fairly warm here, around 70 to 75°, she was shivering, she had been there for a while, but they put blankets on her. The biggest issue she had was taking in a lot of salt water and exhaustion,” said Michele. “I can't believe that this dog did what she did, swim as hard as she did, at this age, and you know Fraser loved, we don't have kids, we love our dogs, they're our kids and he would've done anything for her so I am so happy she's back with us.”

Michele says Toula is in good health and is now at home.

“She's on antibiotics, she's good. We had her on two, 30 minute walks today. She's eating, she's drinking,” she said. “There's something she knows and we wish dogs could talk.”

Michele’s sister Leisa flew down to Florida from Edmonton when she heard the news.

“We are hoping we will find Fraser and we haven't really made plans of what we’re going to do. The plan initially was that we’d like to stay here until he's found and we can bring him home,” said Leisa.

Michele expressed her gratitude to those who have spent time searching for her husband.

“They’ve been amazing in updating us with the presentations,” said Michele. “I don’t think there’s anything else they could have done. We’re so thankful for all the man-hours, all the time they’ve put in, all the machinery.”

Conservation officers and the county sheriff’s office will continue to do daily, active searches.