Inland Bay Blow Out Tide Mud Rescue

Yesterday there was a water rescue near Beach Cove.  A hunter and his dog were stuck in the mud.  The inland bays experienced a serious blow out tide the last couple of days due to high to gale force westerly winds.   Areas that usually have at least a foot of water at low tide were dry.  The flats turned into mud bars, and you could see structure normally never seen.  The water in oak orchard was blown out a good bit to the end of piers that normally have water at low tide.

A hunter and his dog were stranded when the tide went out, and left them in the mud.  Millville and Bethany Beach Volunteer Firefighters responded and then called the Indian River Coast Guard.  The rescue boat couldn’t get to the man, and neither could the modified jet ski Bethany uses for water rescues. First responders Ty Webb, Steve Maneri, and Patrick Kraushaar walked the boat to the grassy marsh and used a back board just to get to the man and his dog.  He was buried up to his waist in mud holding his dog.  Patrick Kraushaar rode the back board out to the man kinda like a surf board .  They tied a rope on the back board to pull Patrick and the man back in, but once out there he discovered the man was stuck from the suction of the mud.  After pulling for a while they finally broke the suction and he was out with his dog. They were put on the back board and pulled to safety by all the first responders on the marsh edge.  According to witnesses living near the scene.

The Coast Guard determined the best way to get everyone out of the marsh at that point was to call in the birds from Coast Guard Air Station Atlantic City.

It was a simple call, boats couldn’t reach them, so you call in  the MH-65 Dolphin.   The hunter and his dog were hoisted out of the marsh first, and then the first responders and  AST 1 Mike Gerent on scene were hoisted to safety.  Much better to get everyone out of the marsh than have them walk in unknown territory.  Marshes are no joke to walk across either.  I once crossed a marsh and went off the path and wound up almost under a floating marsh in water over my head.  Good thing my friends were there to pull me out of a small hole I fell through.  Great job done by all yesterday.  The hunter and his black lab were just fine.

The blow out tides yesterday and the day before left a lot of boats sitting in the mud or sand.  If you have a boat that is at a marina with low water at low tide normally, you might want to check on your craft.  Some of the boats I saw made a good argument for needing a boat lift.  The inland bays are getting more and more silted in each year.   Make sure you are careful especially this time of year in low water areas during high winds.  The same goes for extreme tides from full moons.  Those two combined will really empty a bay to the point you can see only the channel of Indian River Bay in front of Oak Orchard.

Fish On!

Rich King