Fiesta cruiser shipwrecked, tourist dies

El Gato

El Gato

Guest
Thank you for the update and we are very sorry about your friend.

tortuga said:
I was on the boat last night with a large group from the singles club here in Penasco. As we leaving the harbor at very low tide we became stuck on a sandbar in the exit channel before leaving the harbor. It took almost an hour to get off and then when we came out on the open sea it was obvious the Captain could not steer the boat. We drifted around and then went broadside to the waves. Chairs and tables went flying on the upper deck and many people fell, but no one seemed injured. The crew gave everyone life jackets and made sure they were on correctly. Everyone moved down to the lower deck and a Navy boat came along side and unloaded about half the passengers. When it returned for more people the wind and waves had picked up and it was too dangerous to offload people. We were pushed in sideways towards Sandy Beach and when we hit the sand the boat listed towards the beach. We were about a 100 yards from the water line on the beach in about 3 feet of water. We all then jumped off the rear of the boat one by one and walked in the surf to the beach. The waves were 2-3 feet high and would lift you off the bottom for a few seconds, but it was a pretty easy walk to the beach. We did have a lot of people in there 70s and 80s on the boat and although numerous people were very frightened, at no time did I feel my life was in danger as we were always in shallow water close to shore. Navy personnel and paramedics met everyone on the beach to make sure they were OK. Except for my friend who had a heart attack and passed away as far as I know the only other injuries were a few bruises. The Navy took everyone in buses back to our vehicles on the other side of the harbor. The crew did a reasonably good job especially considering they are probably not well trained for this type of situation. I hope this helps everyone to know what happened.
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GringoZona

Guest
Probably in poor taste to speculate so early on, but a person who knew someone on the boat had mentioned a drowning on Russ's Facebook wall around 10am. Combine that with the article posted above, and how sad to think that she may have collapsed on the walk back to the beach from the boat and could not be revived later on. Must have been easy to lose sight of someone for a minute or so, with all the waves in the darkness. Very sad, and my condolences to you, Dick, and whomever is reading this that knew your friend Evelyn.
 
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PitiquitoRosy

Guest
moore_rb said:
Dick- sorry to hear about your friend...RIP

Looking at the pictures- if the rudder hadn't broken it looks like it only would have been a matter of time before the bottom rusted through.

Agree with Mark- tow that sucker out to 65 feet of water and send it down for good...
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The press release said that the call for help came at around 7pm and help was dispatched immediately. The rescue operation reportedly took 4 hours.
 
Mexico Joe

Mexico Joe

Cholla Bay 4 Life
I want to publicly apologize to Rosie. Im sorry Rosie, now that Ive seen the pictures, yes I would call that a shipwreck. Once again Im sorry.
 
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DeeDee

Guest
Sorry for your loss, glad your doing fine. Hope to meet you mid January when we come down for a month. Will be staying at PDO.
 
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flagjay

Guest
Dick, Jim and I are so glad you are safe, but our friend Marian lost her best friend in this terrible event. I'll let Tom and M.Alice know you are okay. alice in Flagstaff/previously PdeO.
 
AZ ROB

AZ ROB

Guest
Strip it down of all contaminates cut some large holes in the bottom, place some blow off patches over the holes, drag out to 80' deep water and blow the patches. Be even better if you could get the pirate ship with some fireworks to shoot a cannon ball as it sinks. Then set up a 5 square mile non-fishing zone and start attracting divers to Puerto Penasco to come see the new dive park....That would make it the closest dive park to AZ. It would be far enough off shore so the visibility would be great as well. You could place a plaque on the wreck in honor of Evelyn
 
moore_rb

moore_rb

Stay Thirsty My Friends
You had me right up until the 5 square mile no-fishing zone...:har:


I must now declare you to be a scuba snob.
 
rockyptjoe

rockyptjoe

Guest
I haven't done any diving in too many years...but I sure wouldn't want someone drifting over a dive spot and hooking into me....maybe the "sports" fishermen would respect an area around a known dive spot...but I'm not that sure the locals would....
 
AZ ROB

AZ ROB

Guest
moore_rb said:
You had me right up until the 5 square mile no-fishing zone...:har:


I must now declare you to be a scuba snob.
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Just think how big the fish would be that would venture outside the protected area... Maybe we could get one of those sinking shrimp boats out there as well.. The Fiesta Cruiser would make a great wreck dive you could swim right thru it between the floors.
 
L

lagrimas85

AKA Carnac
playaperro said:
Betcha they'll fix it?
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When the triple decker Carnival crashed into the shrimp boat last year, they fixed it, but it hasn't gone out since. It was also full of passengers, when it pulled into the marina, the captain couldn't get it out of forward gear and wrecked. There were a few hurt passenger's.
 
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