We are seeing more and more warnings and instructions about rip currents when we are in St. Augustine Beach. Rip currents are so scary! There have been a few deaths from folks getting caught in them while we've been there over the years. We can often see them from the shore and definitely from the balcony at our timeshare.
In the fall of '22 I was sitting on our 4th floor balcony at The Beach Club in St Augustine Beach and could see several rip currents along the shore. The yellow flags were up (rip current warning) at the entrance to the beach. I saw a family walk down to the beach with all their beach paraphernalia. There were 3 kids, all probably 8 to maybe 12 or 14 years old. The kids immediately ran into the ocean right beside a rip current while the parents were setting up the blanket, umbrella and stuff. I knew they wouldn't hear me if I yelled, so I ran down all 4 flights of stairs (the elevator is slow there) then across the laneway to the beach. By the time I got down to them the kids were thankfully all out of the water and sitting in the sand. I told the dad about the rip currents and showed him how to spot them -he had no idea! They were from the northern interior of the USA, this was their first time on the Atlantic side of Florida and they didn't really know much about rip currents. They also didn't know what the different colours of flags meant. Both parents thanked me and again a couple of days later when DH and I saw them as we were walking on the beach. They had bought life jackets for all the kids to wear when they were more than ankle deep in the ocean which I thought was a great idea.
~Diane
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