An 18-year-old Central High School student drowned Friday during a field trip at Cane Bay.
John Vidal Jr., of Estate Glynn, was on a class trip to the popular north shore beach on Friday with nine other marine biology classmates and a teacher, said St. Croix Deputy Police Chief Novelle Francis. At approximately 1:45 p.m., police received a call that one of the students, Vidal, was having trouble in the water.
Divers from the adjacent Cane Bay Dive Shop went out to rescue Vidal, who was about 80 to 100 yards offshore and just west of the boat ramp located on the beach. One diver said the teen had been under the surface for several minutes when the first rescuer arrived.
"By the time the Cane Bay Dive Shop individuals reached him it was too late," Francis said.
Nonetheless, the four divers on the scene placed Vidal an a boogie board, which is like a small surfboard, and tried to resuscitate the teen while paddling toward the shore against a strong rip tide. Once on shore Vidal was turned over to a waiting ambulance where resuscitation efforts continued while on the trip to Gov. Juan F. Luis Hospital.
Francis said Vidal was pronounced dead at the hospital at 3:10 p.m.
The water at Cane Bay on Friday was somewhat rough, with larger-than-normal waves rolling on shore. A strong rip tide almost directly in front of the boat ramp was present most of the day.
"It seemed like it could have been a contributing factor," Francis said of the current.
Cane Bay is a public beach without a life guard. A rip tide is a strong, usually narrow surface current that flows rapidly away from the shore, returning the water carried landward by waves. There is reef under the water on both sides of the Cane Bay boat ramp, which causes the water retreating away from the shore to funnel strongly outward in that area.
Rip tides, also called rip currents, can be between 50 feet and 50 yards and can flow up to hundred of yards past the surfline. They can be identified by foamy and choppy surface waters.
If a person gets caught in a rip tide, the most important thing to remember is not to panic, which will result in tiredness and drowning. The rip tide will not pull a person under the water.
To get out of a rip tide, swim parallel to shore with the long shore current until the rip has been cleared, then swim directly towards the shore.
