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Lake Keowee & Me
by:
DeDe
Norungolo
Some dates die hard when water is low
 He
favors Bruce Willis, according to a dear friend of mine. In fact,
with the O’Brien shades he passes easily for a rugged boater type
who would be on Lake Keowee.
So, you can imagine how excited I was when I learned
via e-mail from my neighbor, Kanette, that her husband was out in
their boat to “save” someone who had run aground on the island
across the cove.
On a Saturday evening I sent Kanette a link to my
Flickr site where she was to view photos from an outing earlier in
the day. Her husband – I will just call him “Die Hard” – had
borrowed our knee board and took his sons out to explore this sport.
I’d ridden with Kanette, Die Hard and their sons to
serve as a spotter and personal photographer. After a couple of
attempts by one son, Die Hard decided to give the knee board a shot.
He did really well, but realized that men in their 40s should
probably not sit for long periods of time on the knees.
At any rate, Die Hard got back on board and took us
to the Keowee Haven cove. He tried to maneuver us to the Tiki Hut,
but his boys were ready to go inside their home. I, too, was ready
to venture inside my house where I could view the photographs I’d
taken from our boat ride. Once the photos were edited, I sent
Kanette the link.
Again, it was getting late in the day so I did not
expect to receive a message from Kanette as soon as I did. Her 11:10
p.m. response, however, caught me off guard and went something like
this: “I’ll look at the photos soon. Die Hard is out in the boat
trying to rescue someone on the point.”
As you can imagine, I was so intrigued by this
message I stepped back into my Crocs and walked next door. I tapped
on the storm door. Kanette stepped outside and we began to watch for
Die Hard to return. She reached over to a table near the carport for
a large spotlight, which she had given to her husband as a birthday
present.
She explained that the light was actually how Die
Hard managed to locate a stranded boater on a sand bar at the tip of
the island across from Keowee Haven. Mind you, the boat was
apparently traveling at a fairly good pace when Kanette and Die Hard
actually heard it hit the sandy island point.
After hearing the impact between boat and land, Die
Hard flipped on his spotlight. He apparently called out and not
hearing anyone respond, he headed out in his boat. Kanette and I
continued to wait and listen for any sign of action on the island.
We talked about how weird it was that someone would
be out in the dark. However, we’d seen this before … just last year,
in fact, when a fancy ski boat ran aground on the point. Kanette
turned the spotlight on and revealed to me that Die Hard really
should not have been out on this mission. Fairly soon we heard Die
Hard call out for us to help him dock.
When Die Hard returns, he tells us that a man on a
date is now stranded on the point. The date, he says, was driving. I
wonder aloud if there will be a second date. We consider how we
might help the couple. My idea is to take my mom’s pontoon out,
cross the cove and bring the pair to safer shores.
Die Hard and I launch the pontoon for another rescue
mission. I crank the boat. It sputters. I check the tank. It’s empty
so I switch to the full one and I turn the key. It does not crank.
It sputters. Die Hard and I continue to drift away from the dock,
but not really toward the stranded boaters.
Soon enough Die Hard and I are spotlighted.
Discouraged that we won’t be of any real assistance to the pair on
the sand bar, Die Hard does what other heroes would do – he jumps
into the lake and begins pulling the pontoon back to the dock.
So, you are probably waiting for some amazing ending
to this dramatic tale. I’m sure I could write one, but it would be
fiction. The reality is that Die Hard and I made it back to my mom’s
dock, tied up the pontoon and I said goodnight to him and his wife.
We tried to call the marina and a boat tow service, but no one was
working and the Department of Natural Resources did not have a boat
to send.
On Sunday, Die Hard, Kanette and I watched as a tow
service reached the stranded boat and set it free. We assume that at
least one of the men with the service provider was the owner of the
boat who had been on a date.
One thing I noticed immediately was that the female
companion from the night before was nowhere to be seen. I guess some
dates die hard in a drought.
Dede Norungolo lives, and sometimes comes to the
rescue, on Lake Keowee.
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