By Steve Plunkett
A third person has drowned in the ocean off South County in a deadly week of rough seas, and another person drowned on the same day in the ocean further to the north.
A teenager ventured into the water early Sunday with his mother and a sibling at Gulfstream Park, according to Gulf Stream Police Chief Richard Jones, whose officers were the first responders on the scene.
The teen’s family was at the park, which is just north of the Gulf Stream town limits, shortly after sunrise and before lifeguards started their day. A 911 call was placed around 7 a.m., Jones said.
One of the siblings was able to make it back to shore. Gulf Stream police Sgt. Bernard O’Donnell rescued the mother but could not save the other child.
Rescuers recovered the teen's body and officials closed the park about midday, a Palm Beach County sheriff's deputy said. Lifeguards had been warning about rip currents and high surf.
“Always swim near a lifeguard, heed all lifeguard warnings. Have a safe beach day!” they urge on their website.
The Sheriff’s Office, which took over the case, had not identified the child.
At least one PBSO boat and helicopter were involved. At least a dozen sheriff’s deputies, as well as officers from Gulf Stream and Ocean Ridge, ultimately responded.
The drowning in the third in seven days to have occurred in a 2-mile stretch from just north of the Boynton Inlet south to Gulf Stream.
“It’s crazy all this unfolded in what — one week?” Chief Jones said.
Farther up the barrier island, in Palm Beach just north of Lake Worth Road, yet another person drowned Sunday after going into the Atlantic while his fiancee sunbathed on a lounge chair about 150 feet away.
Palm Beach police said the victim was a 57-year-old New Yorker on vacation at the Tideline Palm Beach Ocean Resort and Spa, 2842 S. Ocean Blvd. The Tideline is part of an unguarded beach and did not have any flags flying, police said.
However, "The Four Seasons (2800 S. Ocean Blvd.) did have red flags up indicating that swimming conditions were hazardous," Officer Joseph Palladino wrote in his report.
Earlier last week, on Wednesday, a man who had just arrived in Ocean Ridge from Niagara Falls, Canada, drowned near Colonial Ridge Club at 5500 Old Ocean Blvd.
A 911 call alerted Ocean Ridge police shortly after noon, and Sgt. Gary Roy responded to the scene. The drowning victim was identified as Gerald W. Julian, 50.
Roy said seas were 4 to 6 feet and that Julian was 100 to 150 yards offshore. Police Chief Scott McClure said the coast was under rip current warnings that day.
McClure, who spent 10 years on the town of Palm Beach's police marine unit, called it tragic.
"If you lived here your whole life, you know (what to do). You don't fight it, you swim parallel (to the rip current) till you get out of it," McClure said.
Four days before that drowning, a Lake Worth Beach man drowned after being pulled from the water near the Boynton Inlet about 1/4 mile north of the non-lifeguard-protected area.
"Security officers and medics from a nearby estate rescued the male from rough surf and rip currents, administering CPR until Palm Beach County Fire Rescue arrived," according to the county sheriff's office.
That victim was identified as Maximilian Sdowski, 34.
John Pacenti contributed to this report.
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