A boat carrying five people capsized near Gull Island Tuesday afternoon. No one from the small skiff suffered serious injuries according to the Homer Volunteer Fire Department.
Three Good Samaritan boats rescued the five passengers from the water and brought them to the Homer Harbor, where they were treated by medics.
“We triaged everybody as they were coming off the three different boats that brought them to the harbor,” said Homer’s Fire Chief Mark Kirko. “I think everybody was very cold, wet and a little hypothermic. Other than that though, there was no major injuries.”
Kachemak Emergency Services and Anchor Point Emergency Services also responded to the incident. Medics transported four of the passengers to South Peninsula Hospital.
Scott Burbank was one of the first people to respond to the capsized boat, which he says was roughly 16 feet. He owns St. Augustine’s Kayak Tours, and says he was taking tourists to the Center for Alaskan Coastal Studies when he thought he saw an overturned kayak.
“So I decided to hurry over there and get a better look, and I was pretty amazed to find, instead of a kayak overturned, there's a red cooler and then a very small aluminum skiff with five people clinging to the overturned skiff,” he said. “Some of them on top and some of them in the water.”
With help from the guests on his boat and a special rescue net, Burbank was able to get two of the adults onboard his boat while other passengers alerted emergency services and the U.S. Coast Guard. Two other Good Samaritan boats came to pick up the rest of the passengers.
Alaska Wildlife Troopers arrived shortly afterwards and towed the capsized boat to shore.
Burbank says it was a difficult rescue:
“The day breeze wasn’t that strong, it was about 15 knots at that point, but right in that rip during maximum current, it was horrible,” he said. “I mean, it was really rough maneuvering around to conduct the rescue. Very rough seas there. So anybody going over to China Poot Bay to dip net red salmon or anything should be aware of the conditions at Moosehead Point—very changeable.”
This is the second time this month that the there’s been an accident near Kachemak Bay. A couple of weeks ago, emergency officials also responded to a plane crash in Tutka Bay.