Trouble in drunken paradise: a 39-foot boat with four 300-horsepower engines caused quite the kerfuffle at the Sunset Grille in Little Harbor, Florida when it blew right through the beach, hydroplaning across the sand and plowed right into the side of the popular beach bar.
The incident took place yesterday amidst a region-wide ‘fog advisory’, which potentially led to the boat’s driver being unable to see the beach.
Beachgoers and tiki bar drinkers alike were stunned when the 39-foot SeaVee sporting quad 300’s smashed into the side of the bar, leaving serious damage:
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As fog shrouded the coastline Monday, a 39-foot boat crashed onto the shore in front of the Sunset Grille in Little Harbor, sliding across a broad beach and splintering part of the restaurant.
The crash happened about 5 p.m. Minor injuries were reported, a Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission spokesman said. Seven people were on the boat and one was taken to a hospital.
The person driving the boat “just kept going straight and never turned,” said witness Bob Schafer, 50, an ironworker visiting from Pennsylvania with his wife, Jackie Schafer. The couple were fishing on the pier behind the restaurant when they saw the boat approach. Then it disappeared in the fog and they could only hear the crash.
Jessica Haedrich, 12, described it as “something shattering, like plastic crunching.” She and her sister, Alyssa Haedrich, 15, had just arrived from Duluth, Minn., with their family and were walking through the parking lot, exploring. One minute, there was a blank wall of fog. The next, there was a boat mowing through the sand and slicing into the building.
The sisters ran onto the beach and saw kayaks smashed and chairs flipped. There were dark scrapes in the sand and a hole in the roof line where the boat’s antennae had punched through.
I can only imagine how shocked Coconut Pete was when a rousing rendition of ‘PiñaColadaBerg’ was interrupted by a massive boat smashing into the side of his tiki bar. For those of you that don’t remember Coconut Pete(r), he’s the king of the islands:
[MyFOXTampaBay via Tampa Bay Times]