When we were there in December there was a day of high waves, we decided to visit Happy Bay that day and since at the time the waves at Friars were not bad we made the hike. The waves at Happy Bay first were not bad but continued to get worse and worse.

A gentleman in the range of say 65 years old was there and he decided he was going in. He was putting on his gear to go into the water as he was walking towards the surf. Note that in most places there were pretty big rocks where the waves were crashing and some that looked pretty lethal if you were to be pulled back across. I watched as he walked right directly into a wave that I could see towering well over his head and note I had a vantage point from above on the beach. It was like he thought he would slice through it. The wave nails him and he gets tossed up the beach. I go to rescue him and he is focused on finding is items he was wearing and putting back on his lost water sock while sitting in the sand as the next wave is coming with his back to the wave. He does not speak English so my yelling had little impact but I was able to get him moving up the beach just as the next wave hit and I barely stayed upright, he tumbled a bit but was not pulled back into the rocks. The man lived, at least until we left the beach shortly after this event.

I figure I was about 5 seconds from watching this man getting killed right in front of us. He was almost worthy of a Darwin Award. Just another ho hum relaxing day on the beach for me. Note that no beer was spilled during this crisis.

Cheers,
T