Three Cubans swim to U.S. coast

MIAMI, Florida (CNN) -- Three Cuban men have arrived on dry land in Florida after swimming for two miles off the northern coast of Key Largo. The men refused to go aboard a U.S. Coast Guard vessel out of an apparent fear of being sent back to Cuba.

A fourth man gave up and was taken aboard a Coast Guard boat and handcuffed.

A Coast Guard spokeswoman said the Coast Guard tried to rescue the men, two of whom were wearing a single flipper each. Their wooden raft was not far away when the Coast Guard arrived.

Once on shore the men can take advantage of the so-called "wet foot, dry foot" policy, which allows Cubans who reach U.S. soil to stay. Those who are caught in the water are returned to Cuba.

Video from local news stations showed the three men throwing back proffered life jackets. At one point they held on to a rope on the side of the Coast Guard boat.

Later, they accepted the life jackets and used them to keep themselves afloat as they swam to shore. The water became so shallow that the Coast Guard couldn't follow the men for the last several hundred yards to a rocky beach.

The men have disappeared in a swampy area not far from a road. Several men in golf cars are on a bridge over the swamp looking for the men.

Coast Guard Petty Officer Ryan Doss told CNN that the agency was alerted at 3:30 p.m. EDT. When the first Coast Guard ship arrived at the men's location, Doss said, they were still on their raft and began swinging their oars at the Coast Guard.