The U.S. Coast Guard assisted 11 people aboard a charter catamaran taking on water about 7 miles south of Dana Point Harbor on Saturday evening, the agency said.
Monitors from the Coast Guard’s Los Angeles/Long Beach sector received a distress call at approximately 6:20 p.m. on July 12 from the operator of the 50-foot catamaran Manute’a, making its way toward Dana Point Harbor.
The Dana Point Harbor Patrol and Orange County Sheriff’s Department were monitoring Channel 16 and immediately responded to assist, according to the USCG.
“Sector Los Angeles/Long Beach assumed command of the … mission, issued an urgent marine information broadcast, and launched a response boat from Station Los Angeles while diverting the Coast Guard Cutter David Duren,” a Coast Guard statement said.
“The cutter’s small boat crew, along with partner agency vessels, arrived on scene, and assisted with using dewatering pumps to remove water from the vessel. The 11 passengers were transferred to another charter vessel, operated by the same company,” the statement said.
Capt. Dave’s Dolphin and Whale Watching owner Dave Anderson said the boat’s Capt. Marie Clarke felt a bump on the boat, and the crew found a damaged area just behind an underwater viewing pod.
“It’s almost like, whatever it was, it kind of came at us at the side,” he said, noting his best speculation is that it was a swordfish, and a fishy smell lingered following the bump.
Out of an abundance of caution, the captain contacted Harbor Patrol, Anderson said. The damage wasn’t bad enough to need pumps, he said, describing a fist-size hole that wasn’t completely caved in but had wooden fiberglass coming through.
“We could have just brought the boat in and disembarked the passengers, but we decided to call the Harbor Patrol,” he said, adding that the Coast Guard came by to respond.
Anderson said the crew could have just stuffed the damaged area with rags and come back to shore, but since it was a calm day, they transferred passengers onto one of their inflatable vessels to get them back to shore quicker.
The Coast Guard sealed the damaged area with some wax and the captain drove the boat back to the harbor with its own power, he said.
Anderson said he was told there were no whales or dolphins nearby, so what the vessel hit — or what hit it — will remain a mystery.
“Something hit us hard enough to put a hole in the boat, but what it was, I don’t know,” he said. “It’s a weird thing.”
Staff Writer Laylan Connelly contributed to this report.
