After being caught in six-foot waves and battling 25-knot winds, a visitor was rescued yesterday by water-safety specialists from two tour boats off Kalalau Beach on the Na Pali Coast. The man although, appearing near exhaustion, insisted on swimming back
After being caught in six-foot waves and battling 25-knot winds, a visitor was rescued yesterday by water-safety specialists from two tour boats off Kalalau Beach on the Na Pali Coast.
The man although, appearing near exhaustion, insisted on swimming back to shore. Instead, he was brought safely ashore, according to Rick Marvin, owner of the Northwind, one of the two boats involved in the rescue.
The man was in “okay” condition once he reached the beach, where a female companion helped him leave, Marvin said.
Had the visitor drowned, it would have been the fourth confirmed drowning this year on Kaua’i. On Monday, a 36-year-old police detective from Tempe, Ariz. drowned about a quarter mile off the beach in the Prince Kuhio Terrace area of Po’ipu.
“This guy would have been next, I guarantee it,” without a rescue, said Marvin, owner of Bluewater Express.
Marvin said his 42-foot aluminum boat and the 38-foot catamaran Hokua, which is owned by Na Pali Adventures, both based at Port Allen Harbor, arrived at Kalalau Beach at noon. Crew members saw the visitor struggling about 300 yards offshore.
Crew members aboard the Hokua were prepared to pick up the visitor, who said he had been in the water for two hours, Marvin reported. But the man waved off the help, saying he had the strength to swim to shore, Marvin said.
Because the situation seemed to be under control, Marvin ordered his boat to head back to Port Allen. But he had second thoughts.
“I looked back and I saw the Na Pali Adventure boat and we radioed them to see if they needed any help,” Marvin said.
Marvin radioed the other boat to say that he would bring Dane Smith, a water-safety specialist from the Northwind, to help escort the visitor back to shore.
Once near the man, Smith and Brian Doo, a water-safety specialist with the Hokua, dove into rough waters, placed a rescue buoy around the visitor and towed him toward the coastline, fighting rip currents and backwash from the surf. They reached the beach at 12:45 p.m., Marvin said.
Once on the beach, the visitor, who looked to be in his 40s, left without giving his name, Marvin said.
The man should thank Doo and Smith, both candidates for the Kaua’i County Fire Department, for saving his life, Marvin said.
Staff writer Lester Chang can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 225) and mailto:lchang@pulitzer.net
