WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Two boaters were rescued by a catamaran sunset cruise after being thrown from their vessel Saturday on the Intracoastal Waterway near downtown West Palm Beach.
"We were going north, doing our normal sunset cruise that we do all the time," Kristen Marozzi, a crew member of Visit Palm Beach's Hakuna Matata, told WPTV NewsChannel 5.
That's when Marozzi noticed something odd in the water -- a boat spinning in circles with nobody on board.
"We were trying to see what was going on and then we saw heads in the water," she said.
Marozzi and the rest of the crew were able to bring the two boaters on board safely before the U.S. Coast Guard could arrive.
"They said that they were having issues with the steering and the steering may have locked up and then tossed them into the water," Marozzi said.
Bob Meehan was fishing from afar on Flagler Drive and witnessed the rescue.
He said the response from the Coast Guard was one like he's never seen.
"It's the most I've seen in years and I fish here all the time," Meehan said. "They've got to say their prayers tonight, I guess."
Marozzi said after bringing the boaters aboard the Hakuna Matata catamaran, the crew was able to safely get the boaters onto a Coast Guard vessel.
"When they got on board, we gave them some water, had them sit down and take a breath and make sure everybody was OK," Marozzi said.
Marozzi said she's glad she and the crew just happened to be in the right place at the right time.
"This is not something we normally see on our sunset cruises," she said. "Maybe some dolphins or manatees, but this isn't something we normally see."
Neither of the boaters was injured.
