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Snorkeling trip ends in tragedy

A 14-year-old boy drowns after becoming entangled in a boat's anchor line.

By JANETTE NEUWAHL
Published July 6, 2004

	[Times photo: Douglas R. Clifford]
	Coast Guardsmen, above, secure the boat after responding to the drowning call Monday. Authorities say Wayne Hidalgo, right, and his teenage son were snorkeling off Sand Key Beach on Monday.

CLEARWATER - The three-day Fourth of July weekend was a perfect time for Wayne Hidalgo to catch up with his son.

Christopher Hidalgo, 14, who lived with his mother in Brooksville, came to Belleair Beach for a snorkeling trip with his father, a Belleair Beach resident. The two ventured out Monday morning on Wayne Hidalgo's boat for another dive in the gulf.

But their father-son bonding time ended in tragedy when Christopher became entangled in the boat's anchor line and drowned Monday morning about 150 yards off Sand Key Beach.

Christopher Hidalgo was caught underwater when the sport fishing boat's anchor line knotted around one of his legs. The father and son were ready to end their snorkeling trip, and the teen was trying to unhook the boat's anchor, which was caught in rocks near a jetty that separates Sand Key Beach from Clearwater Pass.

Three lifeguards from Clearwater, seven divers, a Coast Guard boat and two fire-rescue trucks responded to Wayne Hidalgo's 911 call about 10 a.m.

By the time the divers got there, Wayne Hidalgo and a passing boater had already tried to free the boy. The father had even cut the line from the boat to release the rope's tension.

Crews managed to disentangle the boy after about 20 minutes, but it was too late to save him. Rescuers performed CPR on the beach and transported the boy to the hospital, but Christopher Hidalgo was pronounced dead upon arrival at Largo Medical Center, said Wayne Shelor, a spokesman for the Clearwater police.

Rescue efforts were hampered by a strong 4- to 5-knot current that kept the boy under water that was 10 feet deep, said Clearwater police Sgt. Joe TenBieg.

"There's a bad current where they were because of the channel going into the open gulf," said Joel Gray, assistant fire chief for Clearwater. "That played a big part in the recovery efforts."

As a rule, Coast Guard officials do not recommend that boaters dive for anchors. Instead, they should use a buoy or a fender to move the anchor. A buoy can also help mark a boat's anchor so that other vessels don't run over it, said Officer John Dawson at the station in St. Petersburg.

"Especially with high currents, diving for an anchor is never the best thing to do," he said. "An anchor just isn't worth your life."

Clearwater police are calling Monday's incident an accidental drowning, TenBieg said.

"This is just a tragic event that happened when a father and son were snorkeling," he said.

Attempts by the Times to reach Christopher Hidalgo's mother, Tammy Hidalgo, or Wayne Hidalgo were unsuccessful Monday.

[Last modified July 5, 2004, 20:22:06]