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Carmen Markham thinks she and her family might have knocked heads, which caused them to fall off their watercraft Sunday.
By CHRIS TISCH, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times, published June 4, 2002
LARGO -- Carmen Markham likens it to being summoned from a dream.
A child's voice beckoned. It was her 6-year-old niece, Laura Licata. Markham opened her eyes and realized she was floating in the Intracoastal Waterway.
Laura was yelling for help. She was about 30 feet away, also floating. The girl's father lay unconscious, his face in the water. The girl's mother -- Markham's sister -- also lay face-down, unconscious.
Markham, 38, swam to her sister, Lourdes Licata, and turned her over. Water and foam fizzed from her mouth and nose. Meanwhile, Lourdes' husband, Chris Licata, woke up. He coughed up saltwater.
They were at least 50 feet from shore. The personal watercraft they had been riding had drifted about 25 feet away. But they wore life vests that kept them afloat.
Minutes later, at about noon Sunday, a boater picked them up and took them to shore, where paramedics treated them for injuries.
Chris and Lourdes Licata were taken to Bayfront Medical Center, where they both were in fair condition Monday. Markham and Laura Licata were treated at Suncoast Hospital and released Sunday afternoon.
What remains a mystery is what caused the family to be ejected from their personal watercraft, which seats four, as they skimmed across the Intracoastal Waterway about a mile south of the Belleair Causeway.
Neither Markham nor other family members can remember what happened. Pinellas sheriff's deputies think it may have been a sandbar, though none has been found in the area.
The last thing Markham remembers is looking at waterfront homes. Lourdes Licata was pointing out the houses she liked. The Yamaha 1200, which Chris Licata had bought about a week before, was going about 30 mph.
"Then I remember the water was kind of choppy and there were a lot of waves or something, and then I don't remember," Markham said. "My mind is blank. I've been trying to remember, but I can't. We're seeing houses, and then I'm in the water waking up.
"It was like I was in a dream," she said. "I remember hearing the laughs and then everything got quiet, like in a dream."
Markham said she thinks they may have been hit by some sort of wave that knocked the adults' heads together.
Chris Licata was driving, Laura Licata was behind him, followed by Lourdes Licata and Markham. She thinks all three adults bumped heads and knocked themselves cold, then were tossed into the water.
Laura, her head tucked lower to the watercraft, wasn't head-butted. Though ejected into the water, she remained conscious. Her screams lured Markham from her unconscious state, essentially saving her mother and father's lives.
"If it wasn't for her, I would probably still be sleeping," Markham said. "I heard her screaming for help."
Markham, whose husband works for the U.S. Coast Guard, also credited the life vests they wore. And the boater who picked them up, Fred Pollack, also played a vital part, she said.
When Pollack and his friends got everyone aboard his 21-foot boat, Lourdes Licata started throwing up water. Her husband had been knocked silly.
"Chris had his eyes open, but he was not there," Markham said.
Lourdes Licata, 39, who is a court interpreter, was on a breathing tube until Monday morning and could only speak in a whisper because of all the saltwater she swallowed, said Donna Bryan-Hastings, Chris Licata's sister.
Chris Licata, 42, a financial planner, suffered a skull fracture. He and his wife were expected to be moved from intensive care to a regular room either Monday or today, Bryan-Hastings said.
-- Chris Tisch can be reached at 445-4156 or tisch@sptimes.com.