A Jet ski renter who was recently knocked out by a jumping stingray was saved by ‘miracle’
A jet ski renter is lucky to be alive after being knocked unconscious by a jumping stingray in an incident only witnessed by two boaters after having just turned around to fetch a koozie that had blown out of their boat.
Levi Dixon, 18, an employee of Sea Monkeys Watersports on Hilton Head Island, was on his way to help some customers in Skull Creek on Saturday when he was struck in the face and knocked into the water, according to The Island Packet.
Thomas McDaniel and his girlfriend, Joanna Whipple, were at the right place at the right time to see what happened. McDaniel estimated the ray was about 4-feet wide and at least 30 pounds.
“If that koozie wouldn’t have flown out…” Thomas McDaniel told The Island Packet, referring to the neoprene can cooler. “It’s a miracle he’s alive.”
McDaniel instructed Whipple to call 911 and they motored to the scene. With the help of a nearby boater, they pulled Dixon from the water and transported him to the Hilton Head RV Harbor marina where EMTs were awaiting to take him to Hilton Head Hospital.
Dixon has no memory of the accident.
“I just remember going out on one of the skis to help with some customers that were falling behind,” Dixon told The Island Packet. “And that was the last thing I remember, and I woke up in Hilton Head Hospital.”
Dixon suffered two broken ribs, bruised lungs and swelling of his brain. After having been transferred to Memorial Health University Medical Center, he was discharged Monday.
Though identified as a stingray, it might also have been a manta or mobula ray. More rays are known to inhabit near-shore waters off Hilton Head in the spring and summer months and they frequently jump out of the water.
Whipple told WJCL 22 News that she had seen one jump out of the water just moments before the accident, adding, “then, three minutes later, I see one, but this one [that hit Dixon] came out like a rocket.”
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“I guess it’s just very long odds that one would jump at the exact right time to impact a boater,” David Lucas of the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources told The Island Packet.
Lee Levesque, with Bluffton Fire Department, told WJCL 22 News that it was critical help arrived quickly. Dixon could have drowned.
“With any medical emergency, time makes a big difference between life and death, too long without oxygen to the brain or bleeding too much, the fact that somebody was able to get him quickly and bring him to the dock absolutely made a difference,” Levesque said.
Dixon told The Island Packet he hopes to recover within a few weeks.
“It was definitely a miracle,” he added.
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