To Infinity and beyond: lost at sea
I don't know how you can read this and not be affected by it. Great inspirational read.:clapping:
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Lost at sea, father and son shout lines from Disney films
Rachael Jackson | Sentinel Staff Writer September 11, 2008
When the Atlantic wrapped its currents around 12-year-old Christopher Marino and pulled him into the darkness of night, Walter Marino thought it was the last he would ever see of his son.
"He was gone," Marino recalled thinking. "He was gone."
The two had been sucked out to sea hours earlier during an evening trip to the beach.
Christopher, who is autistic and loves to swim, first thought it was a game.
"I knew we were in trouble, but he was laughing and that's what got me through it," Marino, 46, of Winter Park recalled Wednesday. Earlier that day, he and his family appeared on NBC's Today show to talk about the ordeal that set them adrift for more than 12 hours until they were rescued Sunday.
But miles from the shore at Ponce Inlet, things quickly started to fall apart.
They dog-paddled toward a buoy but couldn't make it.
Jellyfish make boy scream
Marino put his head underwater to conserve energy, but he got seasick and started vomiting. Christopher, who only speaks in isolated words, screamed and cried when he felt the electric shock of jellyfish stings.
As a distraction, Marino summoned a catchphrase from Buzz Lightyear, the star of the animated movie Toy Story.
"To infinity!" he called out.
"And beyond!" responded Christopher with a fist pump into the air as they treaded water.
He and Marino also called out phrases from other favorites: 101 Dalmatians, Pinocchio.
Search helicopters glowed blue above them as they called out "Blue light! Blue light!"
But Christopher's responses got farther and farther away until they faded into the black ocean.
"All of a sudden, I would yell a phrase at the top of my lungs and I didn't hear him anymore," Marino said. "I thought I had lost him."
Dad watches lighthouse
Stricken, he focused on his 14-year-old daughter, Angela, picturing her ballroom dancing, a new interest. He told himself he would survive for her. He kept an eye on the Ponce Inlet lighthouse, which he had toured about a month earlier.
And he counted.
Each revolution of the lighthouse's beam took 10 seconds.
He saw three shooting stars.
He tried to swim to shore for 15 minutes, then rest for 15 minutes.
Even as the lighthouse grew more distant, the birds that landed on the water comforted him. He thought about his family trip to the lighthouse's museum and recalled the displays of items that had been found on the beach.
"Everything washes ashore eventually," he told himself.
He felt his fingers and toes periodically, making sure his blood was still circulating.
He realized he stopped hearing the sounds of civilization -- helicopters, cars, children -- and became keenly aware of what lay beneath the surface of the water.
"You hear all these fish flutter by you," he said. "You actually feel it when they swash their tails."
Dawn, birds restore hope
When the sun started to rise, and still more birds appeared, his hope was renewed.
"They would land around me, fly all around me, and I just knew I had made it through the night and I was going to make it," he said.
Soon after, some fishermen found him and pulled him aboard. And soon after that he was on a Coast Guard vessel that continued the search for Christopher.
Marino couldn't look at the water. He was too afraid of seeing his son floating facedown.
When a Coast Guard officer summoned him, he assumed the worst.
Instead, he found himself telling the amazed crew: "My boy can swim! My boy can swim!"
A helicopter had found Christopher floating, faceup.
"I think he floated on his back all night and counted stars," Marino said.
They were reunited in the emergency room at Halifax Health Medical Center in Daytona Beach.
"He saw me and he smiled and he lifted his hand," Marino said. "My son knows no danger."
