The Rescurers

We took our dinghy about 2 miles to the north of Cayo Luis Pena for a snorkeling adventure, after seeing a dive boat stop there earlier in the morning. We were rewarded with a great reef - very long - with some great formations and several fish including a 3 foot hog fish. The kids did great and have really become very good at snorkeling.

Just after we started our trip back, two people who were snorkeling just to the east of us, on a rocky point were waving. We went over to them and they frantically hailed us to get in our dinghy. We obliged. They were in Puerto Rico for their first wedding anniversary and had taken a plane to Culebra for a day in the sun and water. They had snorkeled off a beach just to the south and east of the point. They got caught in the north flowing current and could not get back. They had then panicked, trying to get up on the rocks they had scraped themselves up pretty bad and lost one of their snorkels. We gave them a ride back to the beach for which the were very grateful. I tried some good natured advice, like "do not fight the current, just ride the current then head towards the nearest beach and walk". Needless to say they were shaken enough to suggest that I was wasting my breath as they were never going in the ocean again. The asked what we were doing in the Spanish Virgins, so we very briefly explained our cruise, which given that they did not ever want to see the ocean again, really did not register as even possibly true.

Anyway, it was good to be in the right place at the right time to lend a hand. The kids were clearly impacted by the panic of the rescued couple but recovered quickly.

----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com