OVATION OF THE SEAS
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Piano player fell over board and was rescued nine hours later
A 37 year old male crew member of the 'Ovation of the Seas', a piano player, fell overboard on the night of Nov 5 in the Pacific Ocean, approximately 15-20 nautical miles off Newport Beach near Catalina Island at the Southern California coast. The man was discovered treading water about nine hours later by the sport fishermen Grant Garrett and Sean Norton, and pulled aboard their marlin fishing boat. Emergency maritime distress communications were relayed, prompting a coordinated response from Newport Beach lifeguards and the US Coast Guard (USCG). The man was transferred ashore and hospitalised. A formal USCG investigation into the incident was launched. The prolonged survival was viable due to anomalous Sea Surface Temperatures (SST) measuring approx. 24°C. This thermal anomaly was directly attributed to the current Super El Niño pattern, which mitigated the onset of fatal hypothermia during the extended exposure period. Report with video: https://abcnews.com/video/137968160/
Medevac off Tofino
A medevac from the 'Ovation of the Seas' was successfully coordinated by the JRCC Victoria, after a passenger fell ill and needed to be taken ashore on Aug 9, 2026. The cruise ship was located approximately 52 nautical miles northwest of Tofino. A CH-149 Cormorant helicopter with the callsign RSCU 915 and a CC-295 Kingfisher airplane were tasked to respond for the operation. First the plane arrived at the cruise ship in order to coordinate the medevac and to provide over-watch for the incoming helicopter. The RCC sent SAR technicians of the Royal Canadian Air Force trained to provide advanced medical care and rescue people in hard-to-reach areas, who were lowered from the helicopter onto the deck. There, they assumed care and began preparing the patient for transfer to the hovering helicopter. The rescue was completed when the patient and the SAR technicians were hoisted back up to the helicopter. The patient was then transported to a Victoria hospital by helicopter. Report with video: https://victoriabuzz.com/2026/08/rescue-helicopter-medevacs-ill-cruise-passenger-from-ship-off-vancouver-island-video/
Cruise ship reached Seward with dead whale on the bulbous bow
When the 'Ovation of the Seas' arrived in seqard, Alaska, on June 19, had a dead pregnant whale on its bow. US officials started investigating how the 18.6 metre long, adult female fin whale ended up on top of the bulbous bow of the ship. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Fisheries Alaska tasked a local company to tow the whale to a nearby beach to conduct a necropsy to determine the cause of death. It also warned people to stay off the beach to allow space for its team of experts to perform the examination and collect samples. It was not yet known if the cruise ship struck and killed the whale, or if the mammal was already dead when it was lodged on the bow. Report with photos: https://www.straitstimes.com/world/united-states/cruise-ship-arrives-in-alaska-with-dead-whale-on-its-bow
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