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Boy, 12, Makes Coast Guard Rescue 'Easy'
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Published: September 9, 2008
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CLEARWATER - A strong outgoing tide at Ponce Inlet on Florida's east coast turned Saturday evening's swim into a Coast Guard rescue mission.
A helicopter from the Clearwater Coast Guard station pulled 12-year-old Chris Marino out of the water Sunday morning after he and his father, Walter, spent all night separated and drifting offshore.
"We were just out there doing our jobs, and the boy, he made it easy on us," Lt. j.g. David Birky, a pilot on the flight, said during an interview Monday in Clearwater.
At the Halifax Medical Center in Daytona Beach, Walter Marino of Oviedo tried to find words Sunday to thank the rescuers.
"Just thank you," Marino said. "I just have to cut this short right now. God bless all of you."
Saturday evening, Marino took Chris, who is autistic, to the beach at Ponce Inlet south of Daytona Beach. Chris floated away and Marino tried to bring him back, but a strong outgoing current carried them about 10 miles from land and separated them by miles.
Their family reported them missing, and Coast Guard crews from the Ponce Inlet station, in a boat and helicopter, spent all night searching for them. After daylight, a private boat found Marino adrift and handed him over to the Coast Guard.
Then a Coast Guard helicopter from Clearwater took over the search. Petty Officer 1st Class David Dunstan, a flight mechanic, spotted Chris about an hour later and a mile farther out to sea.
"It took me by surprise at first because normally when we see people in the water it's a head bobbing up and down, but he was lying on his back treading water. It looked like he was in a swimming pool," Dunstan said.
The rescuers found it remarkable that the boy remained in control.
"He was doing everything right. He was staying calm. He wasn't panicking," said Petty Officer 1st Class Tom Emerick, a rescue swimmer.
Birky, the pilot, said he was amazed at the boy's willpower, considering he treaded water all night. "I think I'd be done in 30 minutes," Birky said.
Marino and his son are recovering. Doctors say they are doing well.
As rescuers were taking the elder Marino to the hospital, he yelled from a stretcher: "The Coast Guard rocks!"
Information from "The Today Show" was used in this story.
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