Chapter 5 #4
It was the sound that he noticed first and then the way his breath felt as if it were snatched from his lungs.
Eyes wide, he looked at the rear of the boat, and he had only a few seconds to stare in horror at the whirling column of wind and water that seemed to materialize out of nowhere, almost on top of them.
People screamed as the boat pitched violently, and he heard a horrifying snap right before the mast broke and was sucked away into the vortex.
Then the waterspout slammed into them, heeling the boat hard to starboard and causing Terry to lose his balance.
With nothing to hold on to, he was thrown over the side, landing hard in the water on his back with his breath knocked out of him.
He was dazed for several moments, sinking deeper into the water in shock that things had deteriorated so quickly. But survival instincts took over, and he kicked for the surface, coming up and sucking air into his starving lungs.
Flailing in the water, he turned to see that the catamaran was somehow still upright, but several of the passengers were missing from the deck.
He couldn’t see Mark, but he prayed that he was hunkered down, hanging onto the rope.
A scream sounded nearby, and Terry turned in that direction before swimming to help a young man who was barely keeping his head above the waves despite his life jacket.
“Hang on, I'm coming!” He crossed to the young man, grasping his life vest and hauling him toward the boat.
The transom was no longer down, since they had been trying to run for port, but there was a swimming ladder at the stern of each of the two hulls.
He got the young man to safety and didn't let him go until he grasped the ladder.
There was a lot of shouting, and Terry couldn’t see much from his position in the water, but at least the waterspout appeared to have moved on after hitting them.
He swam to the next person he could see, helping them to the ladder as well.
A passenger who was also a strong swimmer was helping guide people, and at last, it looked like everyone was out of the water.
After double-checking that no other orange life vests were visible, Terry climbed the ladder himself, and looked around for Mark. He didn’t see him, and his heart suddenly froze.
“Mark! Has anyone seen Mark?”
Blank looks of shock and shaking heads were all that he got in reply, and Terry rushed from the starboard side of the boat to the port.
He looked around frantically, scanning the water on that side, which had been where the other rescuer had been operating.
He saw nothing for a moment, and wondered if Mark had been sucked under the catamaran, into the void between the two hulls.
But he heard a faint cry, and he looked toward the bow of the dismasted catamaran, where he could see one orange life vest about twenty-five yards away.
How Mark had gotten pulled so far from the boat was a mystery, but Terry didn’t have time to wonder.
Without thinking, he snatched up a life ring that was mounted on the rear of the small cabin area, stepped up onto the seats, and dove back into the water.
Terry was too focused to be frightened, but he knew that currents during a storm could be unpredictable and violent.
While things had calmed down from the absolute fury of the waterspout, rain was still lashing the sea, and the winds were causing the waves to foam white before whipping the water into a stinging spray.
But he swam on with grim determination, knowing that Mark’s life was in danger and he was the only one who could do anything about it.
By the time he reached Mark, his arms were tiring, but he pushed the life ring closer. “Grab on! Are you okay?”
Mark grasped the life ring and clung to it, coughing and spitting out seawater. “Still above water, so I’m great,” he said, although his voice was shaking, and he couldn’t mask the fear in his eyes.
Despite the roughness of the water, Terry let go of the life ring with one hand long enough to put it over Mark’s and give a supportive squeeze. “I told you I’d protect you, right? And here I am. Now let’s get back to the boat. I bet the captain is on the radio now calling for rescue.”
Mark nodded and tightened his grip on the life ring. “Thanks,” he said, his voice suffused with gratitude.
Knowing that Mark was depending on him made Terry even more determined to get him to safety. “Hang on, and kick with your legs as you can, but don’t wear yourself out,” he said as he headed back toward the boat.
After several minutes, however, he stopped, frowning in dismay as the boat seemed to be receding from them faster than he was swimming. The wind was pushing them sideways, which he was accounting for, but when he rested for a few moments, he felt the water pulling them backward.
“Oh, shit,” he muttered. He glanced over at Mark. “We have a problem. The wind is still pushing on the boat, since it’s higher up out of the water and has enough rudder to resist. But we’re at the mercy of the current, and it’s pulling us away.”
Mark stopped kicking and began treading water, his breathing labored. “Is there anything we can do?”
“We can’t exhaust ourselves, so we’re going to float,” he said.
“Even if the radio on the boat was damaged in the storm, they have an EPIRB, which is a locator beacon that transmits a distress signal via a satellite link. Let’s conserve our energy for now.
We might get out of the current, or maybe the captain can somehow slow the boat so they keep us in sight.
” He kept his tone light, but he was worried.
If the radio worked, the captain could request a faster pickup, since people in the water were a bigger emergency than those on a boat.
But if there were enough boats in distress from the weather, it might be awhile before they were rescued.
“Okay, sounds good.” Mark loosened his death grip on the life ring, seeming much more reassured now that he knew the boat had a backup emergency system. “I don’t feel tired right now, but that could be the adrenaline.”
“It’s definitely the adrenaline,” Terry said, giving him a smile before looking at the boat again.
It was still pulling away from them, but he saw the crew on deck, trying to deploy a small outboard, and he felt a sudden rush of relief.
“Oh, thank heavens, they have an emergency engine. It’s little, but as long as they can move the boat, they can fight against the wind to pick us up. ”
Mark followed Terry’s gaze, and he let out a gusty sigh of relief. “I never understood why anyone would want to kiss the ground before, but the first solid ground I step on is getting a big wet one.”
Terry laughed. “Yeah, I know the feeling. As much as I love the water, I’m ready to be out of it for a while.”
They watched as the crew worked for several minutes on mounting the engine, trying to get it running.
Terry was so focused on their potential rescue being at hand that he hadn’t been paying much attention to the weather.
It wasn’t until a huge clap of thunder sounded overhead that he winced, before glancing back behind them, where another wall of water was coming straight for them with the speed of an onrushing train.
“Shit!” He grabbed one strap on Mark’s life vest. “Hold on as tight as you can!”
The rain hit them, pelting them with water and turning the waves into a boiling mass that tossed them around like so much flotsam. Terry held on to Mark with grim determination; if they were to get separated now, there was no telling if one or both of them might not drown.
For some endless time they clung together to the life ring and each other, and Terry, who wasn’t really a religious person, prayed to whoever or whatever might be listening to keep them from dying.
He kept shouting to Mark to hang on, that they were going to get through this, though he knew it might be a vain hope.
The sea was vast and merciless, and for all its beauty, it swallowed entire boats whole and never let them go.
From the lines of strain visible on Mark’s face, he wasn’t sure Mark believed they were going to be okay any more than Terry did.
He couldn’t see the boat, and he wasn’t sure which direction it was in anymore, not with the way the rain and wind and sea were tossing them around like so much flotsam.
They weren't done for yet, but Terry started to worry about how they were going to get out of the situation.
There was little they could do themselves, so he just had to hope that the excursion boat had managed to contact search and rescue to alert them to passengers overboard.
Or that they got the outboard motor running and would come back themselves to search.
Not wanting to upset Mark, he kept his thoughts to himself, doing his best to keep them afloat while scanning the sea and sky for any sign of rescue.
Endless minutes passed with no sign of anyone, as though there were alone in the vastness of the ocean.
Terry had always loved the sea, but as time dragged on without a sign of anyone coming for them, he felt smaller and more insignificant than he ever had in his life.
He tried to keep positive for Mark's sake.
Mark deserved better than to drown on the first vacation he'd taken in years, especially after the joy he'd shown at the interaction with the dolphins.
Terry suspected it was probably the first time Mark had been happy and carefree in a long time.
It would just compound the tragedy for it to be the last happiness he would ever know.
Suddenly, he felt something brush against his legs, and he let out a yelp. Looking around, he was shocked to see a vertical fin a moment before a dolphin surfaced only three feet away and squealed at them in what sounded like encouragement.