PUNTA GORDA, Florida (WFTX) — A routine tour of Charlotte Harbor turned into a rescue mission when the crew of a tiki tour boat spotted an injured man in the water near TT’s Tiki Bar in Punta Gorda.
Employees on “The Oasis” tiki tour boat quickly sprang into action to rescue the man from the water and get him to paramedics waiting on shore.
“It was really just an instinct to help him – I immediately threw him out a life preserver and we were able to get him safely on the boat,” said Cole Kelly, Charter Manager and Marketing Director for Punta Gorda Adventures, who operates the tiki boat tours.
According to a police report, the man had jumped over the railing at TT’s Tiki Bar and was cut by rocks on the shoreline in the process. A witness statement in the report states the man had “consu