A 50-year-old man spent nearly two days stranded on the largely uninhabited western shore of Catalina Island before a Coast Guard helicopter rescued him last Friday.
Early Wednesday morning on Dec. 21, the man headed out on his 38-foot boat and anchored it off the island’s coastline to go diving, according to a release from the Coast Guard. When he resurfaced from his dive, however, the vessel had drifted out to sea.
A 50-year-old man spent nearly two days stranded on the largely uninhabited western shore of Catalina Island before a Coast Guard helicopter rescued him last Friday.
Early Wednesday morning on Dec. 21, the man headed out on his 38-foot boat and anchored it off the island’s coastline to go diving, according to a release from the Coast Guard. When he resurfaced from his dive, however, the vessel had drifted out to sea.
He tried to swim for the boat, but soon realized it was too far off and decided to make his way back to shore instead. He made it there at about 2 p.m., Wednesday and spent the next 40 hours alone on the backside of the island.
Just before 11 p.m. Thursday, the Los Angeles-Long Beach Coast Guard Command Center received a call reporting that the man had not returned home. The Coast Guard then sent out a helicopter and rescue boat to search for him at 6 a.m., Friday.
The helicopter crew found him, still wearing his wetsuit and waving an orange life jacket, at about 7 a.m. The diver was hoisted into the chopper and transported to Hoag Hospital in Irvine, where he was treated for hypothermia and dehydration.
