Myrtle Waves waterpark...watch your kids!

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After four days of the beach, my SIL/BIL suggested we drive down from Holden to Myrtle Beach and go to a water park (Myrtle Waves).

This place is fairly well staffed with life guards (late teens/early twenties with sunglasses and a red floatie), but I found out they’re not as prepared for action as they should be.

There is a lazy river and a “fast” one called the Racing River where you can get a kick board and it sort of zooms you around a curved oval track. The water is 3 feet deep but the waves produced make it deeper than that, and once you’re on the bottom steps leading into it, the current has you. A young mom found this out the hard way, and her 4-5 year old son got snatched out of her hands by the current while heading into the river. The lifeguard tossed part of his floatie thing out, and the kid grabbed it with one hand, but it stretched out and snapped loose from the kid’s wet grasp. The lifeguard reeled his floatie back in and did a shrug like *welp whaddya gonna do* and let the kid go. The current kept pushing him around the river and he kept going under water, coming up gasping. This all happened in a matter of moments, as my son wanted to check this thing out, so I was witnessing this from the top of the steps. As soon as I saw the floatie pop out of the kid’s hand, I jumped the river to the concrete “island” in the middle and jumped in the water near the kid and scooped him up. A few smacks on the back to clear some water and he was fine, and I delivered him to his mom who was otherwise too shocked to move at that point. I did look for a manager but no one seemed to know where one was.

Bottom line: don’t trust your kids to these lifeguards. Clearly they’re more concerned about dunking the iPhone in their pocket or getting their T-shirts wet than saving your kids
 
He was probably just following procedure. :rolleyes:
 
Good on you my friend. It just takes seconds for a drowning to occur. I don't care how good of a swimmer my 7 year old is (and he is awesome) my eyes do not leave him for a second while at a pool or water park.

Nicely done.
 
First and foremost, great job!

I have never been to this waterpark, but in the last 2 months I have been to 3 others (Emerald Pointe in Greensboro, Castaway Bay in Sandusky, Ohio and Cedar Point Shores in Sandusky). In each one the lifeguards had a reason to act, and jumped in without hesitation. Two of the 3 times I didn't think they actually needed to as I was fairly close by and the kids seemed to be goofing rather than in distress...but I am not a lifeguard and it ultimately wasn't my call.

Cedar Point Shores even has a dummy dressed as a kid ('Timmy") that randomly gets put in an attraction to see if the lifeguards react. I felt like my kids were as safe as a waterpark allows them to be while there.

It sounds like a hand-written letter to management is in order. Be sure to share dates and times that you were on that attraction.
 
First and foremost, great job!

I have never been to this waterpark, but in the last 2 months I have been to 3 others (Emerald Pointe in Greensboro, Castaway Bay in Sandusky, Ohio and Cedar Point Shores in Sandusky). In each one the lifeguards had a reason to act, and jumped in without hesitation. Two of the 3 times I didn't think they actually needed to as I was fairly close by and the kids seemed to be goofing rather than in distress...but I am not a lifeguard and it ultimately wasn't my call.

Cedar Point Shores even has a dummy dressed as a kid ('Timmy") that randomly gets put in an attraction to see if the lifeguards react. I felt like my kids were as safe as a waterpark allows them to be while there.

It sounds like a hand-written letter to management is in order. Be sure to share dates and times that you were on that attraction.

I worked one summer back in the early 90's as an EMT at emerald pointe. They tested their lifeguards then by having an off duty lifeguard wear a bright colored swimmers cap and testing their reaction time. I was asked if I would come in one day and wear the cap. I said sure get paid and get to be saved by a number of good looking lifeguards. After being saved 4-5 times I was walking away with the life guard supervisor to go to the next test when I heard 2 ladies say. That boy should leave the park he has already almost drowned 2-3 times. We both busted out laughing as we walked away. There was, back then a big difference between the ride attendants and lifeguards. Great job, to jump and help out.
 
Every water park I have been to (I love water parks, I have been to maybe a dozen, including Great Wolf Lodge) have for-real, highly-trained lifeguards. I have zero problem trusting my kids' lives to them.
 
You'll notice on the beaches along the grand strand that there are a ton of foreign life guards. Well, not only do they not care that they are getting paid crappy wages (took years for me to get a stand that paid well), there is a shortage of certified lifeguards. For whatever reason, kids don't want to take the time to become certified these days. Not sure what the deal is. Lazy? When I was a teen, being a beach life guard was a flippin dream. The chicks. I mean holy cow. I was actually given fifty bucks to take a a couples daughter out so they could go out on a date night. Needless to say, the daughter had no interest in "going out."
 
Great job with helping the kid out!

Now to veer off topic........ I'm in a line of work that frequently allows me access to areas of a building/business that are normally restricted access; water parks having been one of them. Having been in the bowels of a water park and seen the filtration and anti-bacteriological systems (and what comes out of them), let's just say I ain't ever going in a public pool ever again.
 
You'll notice on the beaches along the grand strand that there are a ton of foreign life guards. Well, not only do they not care that they are getting paid crappy wages (took years for me to get a stand that paid well), there is a shortage of certified lifeguards. For whatever reason, kids don't want to take the time to become certified these days. Not sure what the deal is. Lazy? When I was a teen, being a beach life guard was a flippin dream. The chicks. I mean holy cow. I was actually given fifty bucks to take a a couples daughter out so they could go out on a date night. Needless to say, the daughter had no interest in "going out."

I am a good swimmer. I am a strong swimmer. But it takes something different to be an open water lifeguard. But you are right, they pay squat. Carolina Beach is $10 and change. Hell, San Diego starts at only $18.
 
The money in Murder Beach is in the chair and umbrella rentals. The Guards get part of that. At the end of the season the Beach Service owners [been the same ones for 30+ years. Can you say "kick back"] take the biggest part of the guards accrued money for "house rent", uniforms, and stipend money. Being a Life Guard in MB up 'til about the turn of the century was big dooins. It was a great lifestyle for 18-20 somethings. Not so much now. But what is?
 
The money in Murder Beach is in the chair and umbrella rentals. The Guards get part of that. At the end of the season the Beach Service owners [been the same ones for 30+ years. Can you say "kick back"] take the biggest part of the guards accrued money for "house rent", uniforms, and stipend money. Being a Life Guard in MB up 'til about the turn of the century was big dooins. It was a great lifestyle for 18-20 somethings. Not so much now. But what is?

The Army paid me, fed me, housed me, patched my boo boos and let me shoot guns and kick doors and hang with my best buds. That was a great lifestyle for me at 19
 
I guess it's a cultural thing as there wasn't really any supervision around water stuff when I grew up and I had never seen a posted lifeguard until I came to the US..... But where are the kid's parents?

If you just turn your kid loose and quit supervising them, you can't really squawk when someone else doesn't do a great job of it.
 
We were at Emerald Pointe last year and they had this little baby doll they were sneaking around. They would slip it onto a slide or toss it over the fence onto a slide and let it come out into the pool at the end. They even let it go in the wave pool. Was neat to see the lifeguard jump into action.
 
I guess it's a cultural thing as there wasn't really any supervision around water stuff when I grew up and I had never seen a posted lifeguard until I came to the US..... But where are the kid's parents?

If you just turn your kid loose and quit supervising them, you can't really squawk when someone else doesn't do a great job of it.

The Nanny state is too busy monitoring everything else :p
 
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