A photographer on Vancouver Island needed to be rescued Saturday evening after he was trapped on a sandbar by rising tide waters.
The incident happened in the Courtenay Estuary just after 6 p.m. The RCMP and local fire department responded to the scene along with Comox Valley Search and Rescue, which eventually reached the man using inflatable kayaks.
Courtenay Fire Department Captain Greg Lamb told CTV News the man was in a sandbar area, which meant the water was too shallow to reach by boat.
“He was just unable to walk back to shore,” Lamb said.
Complicating matters were several thousand dollars worth of photography equipment, which the man didn’t want to risk damaging in the salt water.
Comox Valley Search and Rescue manager Paul Berry said the rescue was routine and low-risk.
“The fellow was on a log,” Berry said. “He wasn’t in any danger. It was just a matter of getting to him and getting him and his expensive camera gear dry to shore.”
Crews did that by using inflatable kayaks, which could navigate the shallow waters more easily than other rescue boats.
“I think he did attempt to walk, but he had quite a few thousand dollars worth of camera gear that he was more concerned about than himself,” Berry said. “There is a bit of a drop between where he was and the shoreline, so you could get pretty wet pretty quick.”
The takeaway, Berry said, is to always be aware of conditions when spending time near the water.
“Whenever you’re near the water, you need to be aware of the time and the tides and get yourself back to shore before those tides come in,” he said.
