Conn. ‘castaways’ saved by Orient family’s kindness

A tranquil outing on the water took a turbulent turn July 3, when fierce winds, strong waves and a downpour turned boaters into ‘castaways.’ Luckily, the kindness of strangers broke those storm clouds, allowing the light to shine through.

Scott Zabka took his 25-foot Yamaha jet boat out from Safe Harbor Pilots Point Marina in Westbrook, Conn., for an early holiday weekend cruise with eight of his family members the day before Independence Day. They stopped in Orient for a few hours, setting anchor and relaxing by the shore, before heading over to Greenport and docking at a marina there. They ate dinner, and returned to the boat to head home, all the while seeing the sky turn from blue, which it had been all day, to gray. 

“When we got back to the marina, we looked at the weather and it showed a storm was coming in,” said Mr. Zabka. “And, honestly, we probably should have just stayed there. When we left Greenport, you could kind of tell it was going to get bad.”

The forecast indicated they had about an hour before the weather was due to pick up, and Mr. Zabka said the trip could be cut to about 45 minutes if he went faster. On the journey back, the rain was already falling hard by the time they came up on Plum Gut, near the Orient Point Lighthouse, where nearly a half-hour of open water run was ahead of them.

Not wanting to push it, they headed back a little up the shoreline, anchoring down about 20 feet from land. 

Meanwhile, Marko and Betty Nichols, and their daughter Lina, who were getting ready for a dinner out at Waypoint in Southold, saw the boat out there, and ran out to say that help was available to the boaters at their house nearby. The waves and wind grew so strong the anchor kept dislodging, so after about 20 minutes, they gave up, jumped off the boat and went to go find the house. 

“It was just getting worse; the boat was not staying where it was supposed to,” said Mr. Zabka. “We just let the waves take us to shore, and at that time, the tide was higher, so the boat was just basically resting against the shore. We grabbed a few things, we found their house, and they let us in.”

They weren’t just let in, though. They were given towels, new clothes, food and, much to everyone’s appreciation, some homemade rum punch. With nine strangers now in their home and nowhere for them to go, they started calling each and every place in the general area to find a hotel, AirBNB, anywhere they could stay.

The problem was, it was the night before July 4, and basically nothing was available. 

Finally, they connected with The Coffey House, a bed and breakfast in East Marion. The house had two rooms that weren’t technically available due to another reservation the next day.

After Ms. Nichols explained the situation with these “castaways,” as she jokingly refers to them as, it was decided that if the family of nine could be out by 8 a.m., then they could spend the night. The B&B even offered a pull out couch in the basement to said “castaways.” In multiple trips there and back, the Zabkas and their family made their way to their home for the evening. 

“When we came back home, it was pretty late, and I saw all their towels were there,” said Ms. Nichols. “I said, ‘I’m going to do all their laundry for them, so when they come back in the morning, everything will be nice and clean and dry, and they can put it on the boat with them.’ So that’s what I did. I was up to two in the morning doing their laundry.”

The kindness didn’t stop with laundry, though. Ms. Nichols received a text just after 6 a.m. the next morning letting her know the “castaways” were ready to be picked up. So, just before driving to get them, she ordered them all 12 bacon and egg sandwiches from the nearby Angel’s Country Store, also in East Marion.

When they all returned to Orient to check on the boat, they saw that it had actually washed up onto the land. Sea Tow dragged the Yamaha back into the water, and around 10:30 a.m., the crew was underway on their journey back to Connecticut. 

“They were amazing, just amazing people,” said Mr. Zabka. “They just made us feel so welcome based on the experience we were having. To let nine strangers into your house, who are soaking wet and in the middle of the night, I don’t know how many people would do that.”

That following Monday, on July 7, Ms. Nichols received another text, this time from Mr. Zabka’s brother-in-law, Jimmy Gaudette. He and his daughter Mila were fellow “castaways,” and thanks to the kindness they received, they were able to get back and celebrate Mila’s eighth birthday on July 5. He told her he honestly didn’t know if they would’ve had the birthday celebration if it wasn’t for their hospitality. 

Ms. Nichols and her family have had the house in Orient for 11 years, but have never seen something like this happen. For her, though, it all goes back to something her mother would tell her. “My mom would always say, ‘As long as there’s love, the walls stretch.’”