Lifeguards on orange-level rough seas alert – STAY OUT OF THE WATER

WHILE scores of people, including young children, had fun battling rough and choppy waters at Maracas Bay on Friday, lifeguards were both annoyed and concerned that the Met office's orange-level rough seas bulletin, issued from Friday and for the extended Christmas weekend, was being ignored.

The alert which was issued Thursday and went into effect at 2 pm on Friday, is scheduled to expire on Wednesday at noon.

Beaches which are facing north are expected to be particularly hazardous during this period.

The Meteorological Service projected "dangerous conditions for swimming and small craft operations; very high surf and dangerous rip currents near affected coastlines."

Sea bathers, fishermen, small craft operators, and other coastal interests, it said, should make preparations to secure lives, livelihoods and coastal property. Exercise extreme caution along the coast. Prepare for dangerous breaking waves and currents. In other words, as one lifeguards at Maracas Bay put it: "Stay out of the water!"

The lifeguard and several fishermen who spoke with Newsday said conditions were hazardous on the North Coast beach long before 2 pm.

The seas were so choppy, one of the lifeguards, Anthony Paul, said the authorities should have considered closing beaches completely for the duration of the alert. He said it was not too late to still do so.

"It is that dangerous. Do not come to the beach," Paul said, noting that drowning was only one of the several risks.

"You see them logs and thing? That is driftwood that does come with the rough water. If you notice, higher up the beach there, there's another big log up on the sand. That was rolling around in the water right here earlier on.

"Normally when the sea is rough like this, you see a lot of driftwood."

Driftwood – wood that has been washed onto a shore by winds, tides or waves – recently put someone's life in danger, Paul said.

The lifeguard's booth Paul stood next to appeared battered from the waves, with the foundation crumbling.

He pointed to the incline at the front of the booth where he said a woman became stuck after being pinned by a piece of driftwood, during a high tide last weekend. Several lifeguards were needed to free her.

Tyrico Beach, a short distance from Maracas Bay, was inaccessible to vehicles after powerful swells carried driftwood and rocks up to the road near the entrance to the beach.

There was indeed a worryingly high number of people in the water when Newsday arrived at Maracas Bay, even though red flags lined the entire beach.

Unlike at Maracas Bay, few beach-goers ventured further up North Coast Road. Las Cuevas' waters were also violent and the beach was practically deserted.

There are lifeguards rostered to work at Las Cuevas and Maracas Bay for the weekend.

However, only nine are scheduled for duty at Maracas this weekend, hardly enough for the regular weekend.

"Nine (lifeguards) could never be enough to man Maracas Bay," Paul said, especially over a long-weekend, with particularly hazardous seas.

And conditions could get worse, he said.

"Normally (the Met Service) starts with a yellow level (alert). For them to start off with an orange level, which means the rough water is more intense, and it done reaching quite here, most likely it will get worse.

"Don't come to the beach," he reiterated. "If you have to come to the beach, don't go in the water at all."

Paul and one of the fishermen who spoke with Newsday thanked the Met Service for issuing its alert.

"Long time you wouldn't know what was going on. We were able to prepare today for what (we encountered)," said a boatman named Andre.

The fishermen all looked despondent.

One boat braved the trip out to see from the fishing village at Maracas Bay but reeled in a meagre catch.

"Salt for Christmas," a fisherman said.

There have been a number of drownings reported over the past several months, some of which occurred while lower level rough-seas bulletins were in effect.

On Monday, an 18-year-old woman, Jada Wilson of Tunapuna, drowned at Tyrico. Her body was found floating in Maracas Bay waters on Friday morning.

Another woman, a Chaguanas mother of seven, Sandy Mohammed, died on Wednesday after going for a swim with her boyfriend at Quinam Beach, Siparia. Those incidents are being investigated by police.