Mill Bay Rescue Video

Today we witnessed a Coast Guard rescue mission right here in Mill Bay. The Coast Guard rescue swimmers and people on the shore helping are heros in every definition of the word.

The winds were gusting 50, blowing snow and temperatures hovering around 30. This afternoon a helicopter made a sudden appearance and we could see the figure of a rescue swimmer in the open door. Coast Guard helicopters are not an uncommon appearance, but today they did a large circle around the bay, lower than usual and then we saw the capsized boat.

The boat was on the other side of the bay, fully capsized--bottom up. People were racing down to the beach to assist and there were people on the cliffs above. Many people were trying to get chainsaws operating, and they moved quickly-trying to gain access inside the vessel. Winds howled and every second counted. The boat kept getting hammered on the shore by gigantic waves and within 20 minutes or so, action was taken to anchor it to the shore with ropes. This made the hull a bit more stable for the rescue workers to try to saw open the bottom and rescue the people inside.

People came and went-it was hard to tell if people were coming out of the boat or what exactly was going on. Towards the end of the mission, the rescue swimmer was hoisted up into the helicopter holding a body in a survival suit.

The nature of this rescue gave Patrick and I a true appreciation of how amazing the Coast Gaurd is. The rescue swimmer worked so efficiently and almost effortlessly in the horrible weather to save lives of those inside the boat.

We don't yet know the outcome of the people on the boat. We hope everyone is OK.

Zoya