A close call at Melmerby Beach
Colchester County woman warns others about the dangers of rip currents
Michaela Maclachlan could hear the waves crashing on Melmerby Beach when she got out of her car in the parking lot.
e Truro woman, her 13-yearold daughter Lily, and Lily’s friend Alyssa, were looking forward to a beach day and enjoying some fun in the water.
ey decided to go to an area where there were a few people nearby and the lifeguard station was visible, but farther down the shoreline.
As far as they were concerned, it was just a perfect way to spend a summer day.
“We are fairly new to this beach,” she said. “We only started going the last couple of years, but I grew up swimming in the Bay of Fundy. We were told about water safety our whole lives and the bay is very di erent from Melmerby because at the beach you walk into the water and are lulled into a sense of safety.”
She said the girls ran into the water immediately to play in the waves and after a while she decided to join them.
ey were all in the water for about an hour, jumping and playing in the waves only a few feet from land when they started to get tired and decided to head to shore.
“My daughter said, ‘I can’t touch here’ and when I put my feet down, I said, ‘I can’t touch either.’ I thought it was weird because we were only in the water up to my waist, but when I put my feet down it was at my neck.”
Maclachlan said past experience taught her not to panic or worry the children, so she told the girls to start swimming to shore where a few people were in knee-deep water and others were playing on the beach.
Soon after, Lily told her mother she didn’t feel like she was making much headway and when Maclachlan looked, she realized Alyssa was behind them.
“I thought, ‘I have to get her now.’ She wasn’t panicking yet and I got to her no problem, but when I went to pull her in by the hand, I couldn’t anchor myself because every time I put my foot down, the sand was gone from beneath my feet.”
Maclachlan told the girls to just keep swimming and to stay focused on a woman standing close to the shore.
Eventually, Lily made it to safety and she yelled for help for her mother and friend.
“ e waves were coming over my head and I felt this could be it. I never thought anything like this could happen to me.”
A woman, who was only standing about hip deep, grabbed Alyssa and pulled her in as Maclachlan followed.
“I remember at one point thinking we were going to drown with people standing right there. Luckily, they were standing there. I didn’t get her name and I don’t think she realized how serious it was, but we were panicking at the end.”
The trio remained at Melmerby Beach for the rest of the afternoon and on the way back to the parking lot, Lily noticed signs near the bathroom that warned people of the undertow.
e Nova Scotia Lifeguard Service recommends people swim in supervised swimming areas marked by red and yellow ags on the beach and by two red buoys in the water.
Maclachlan said in the interest of safety, the signage could be more visible so people know about the dangers of getting caught in a rip current.