Dec. 28, 2001 — A woman vacationer apparently drowned Thursday while snorkeling off of Hotel on the Cay in Christiansted Harbor.
At 1:38 p.m., crew members aboard St. Croix Ultimate Bluewater Adventures’ dive boat pulled the unidentified woman out the water while heading out for an afternoon dive. SCUBA co-owner Ed Buckley told police that as he was taking the shop’s dive boat through the WAPA ship channel near the Hotel on the Cay, he saw what he thought was a snorkeler. As the boat got closer, however, it was apparent the person in the water was not moving or wearing a mask and snorkel.
Crew members jumped into the water to retrieve the woman, who was clad in a black Lycra skinsuit and dive fins. Efforts to revive the woman began on the boat as Buckley called his wife at SCUBA's downtown shop, who in turn called 911. Buckley turned the boat back and was tied up at the Christiansted Boardwalk within minutes, where resuscitation efforts continued until an ambulance arrived.
A passenger on the dive boat said that the woman’s face was blue when she was pulled from the water and was unresponsive to the rescue efforts.
Hotel on the Cay staff members were on the scene at the boardwalk trying to determine if the victim, a caucasian woman who appeared to be in her late thirties to early fifties, was a guest.
