NEWS

Sea Screamer helps rescue distressed swimmers in Panama City Beach

ERYN DION
edion@pcnh.com

PANAMA CITY BEACH — When most people book a voyage on the tour boat the Sea Screamer, they expect emerald green waters, spectacular views and schools of dolphins playing in the wake.

What they don’t expect is to be a part of a rescue, but that’s what they got on Monday afternoon when eagle-eyed Sea Screamer Captain Cody Redmond spotted two heads just barely above water in the Pass — the busy channel boats use to travel from the St. Andrew Bay to the Gulf of Mexico and back. The strong current, heavy boat traffic and high waves make the Pass off-limits to swimmers unless they are diving along the jetties, so Redmond called out over the loudspeaker to see if the two people needed help.

Both people in the water — a man and a woman — screamed in response.

Redmond pulled the Sea Screamer up to the man, who was closer to them, and backed the boat up to him. Joseph Mandeville, a passenger on the Sea Screamer, recalled the rescue.

“The man was drowning right in front of us,” he said. The boat’s first mate, Greg Gladden, threw the man a life jacket so he could stay afloat, Mandeville said.

“The man quickly grabbed it as he was going under again,” Mandeville said. “The waves continued to hit him right in the face.”

One of the passengers and a crew member pulled the man aboard. Redmond said he hadn’t taken on water, but was clearly exhausted from the ordeal. He told the crew that the woman in the water had been swimming off the back of a motor yacht called the Relax near Shell Island when the turning tide started to take her out into the pass and out to sea. The recent full moon made the current exceptionally strong, Redmond said. Noticing the distressed woman in the water, the man jumped in after her but soon found himself in trouble too — something Redmond said happens all too often.

“I’ve grown up surfing here my entire life,” Redmond said. “We surf the channel during hurricanes. We’re very aware of what can happen in the Pass, but if you’re not from here you don’t.”

The woman, Mandeville said, was picked up by another pontoon boat and together, they met up with the Relax on the quieter side of Shell Island and returned the pair to their vessel. Redmond said he didn’t get their names, but both were extremely grateful.

As for the captain, he was characteristically humble about the affair, saying they have to pick up swimmers a few times every summer.

“It’s just another day at work,” he said.

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