Midday Rescue on Harbour Island Beach

Kent MacDonald, of Runaway Hill Inn.

A dramatic rescue occurred on Harbour Island on Monday, April 21, 2008 when a female tourist, in danger of drowning, had to be pulled from the water by a fellow tourist and a resort chef.

It was at this time that a guest of the Runaway Hill Inn, Wayne Johnson, M.D., was alerted by his daughter Chloe to the lady’s calls for help and immediately headed into the into the water.  Kent MacDonald, the resort’s international chef, a former lifeguard himself, also heard the lady in distress and ran down the stairs from where he was, across the beach and into the water. Both men met each other about 80 yards out and together pulled the fatigued snorkeler to safety with the assistance of a boogie board.  

According to eyewitnesses, Johnson from Hilton Head, South Carolina and MacDonald of New Brunswick, Canada, “plunged into the ocean without hesitation” to her aid. MacDonald, a managing chef at the resort owned by retired Canadian Hockey Star Mark Messier, has only been on the island since October.  He said he was thankful and humbled to be able to assist in the way that he did.

Once safe on shore, the rescued lady thanked both men for their heroic efforts in saving her life, saying, “I can’t even thank them enough.  Thank God, it’s great to be alive”.   A cancer survivor, and having just had surgery a few weeks before, she was very touched to have been a survivor yet again.  She was on vacation by recommendation of her Doctor and had chosen Harbour Island, having taught for a time on mainland Eleuthera 17 years ago.