Two Days on the Water

Capt. Dave Mullis has been making his living on the water for some four decades.

The local charter boat captain has been working the waters off Gulf County and Mexico Beach for much of his life and has gotten pretty used to dealing with changes in latitude and attitude.

And he is not, friends say, one to toot his own horn.

So, in the case of two recent events, the Coast Guard and Parsons, one of the companies contracted by BP through the Vessels of Opportunity program, sounded the horn loud and clear on the character of one Dave Mullis.

The first incident dates to the first week of August when a vicious storm came through the area while Mullis and fellow captain Pat McFarland were on patrol looking for any evidence of oil.

Coming around the tip of St. Joseph’s Bay the two captains ran into a fierce storm, with lightning, high winds and waves rocking their vessels.

As detailed by Coast Guard ME2 Willie Almagro, Mullis and McFarland were escorted by three smaller vessels while conducting offshore operations.

Rounding the tip of the peninsula they ran into trouble, encountering, as Almagro described it, “extreme foul weather.”

Mullis noted that by the time they saw the storm as they came around the tip of the peninsula, there were few choices.

He sent the smaller vessels back to safe harbor and he and McFarland settled in to ride out the storm.

Mullis said, “Now I don’t like lightning storms at all, but we go through that all the time when you go out fishing. I’m not sure some of the guys out there had been through anything like that.”

As those who know Mullis would attest, a typical downplay of events by Capt. Dave.

So let Almagro take it from there as he detailed in a report he sent up the chain of command.

Thanks to Nate Odum at Marquardt’s Marina for assisting in bringing these events to light.

On to Almagro’s report:

“I would like to take this opportunity to recognize Capt. Dave Mullis of the vessel Dew Point for his courage, knowledge and unselfish conduct while we battled the above-mentioned storm. He did not hesitate to send his crewmember and daughter to the small cabin towards the bow of his vessel as well as myself (ME2 Almagro) and BM3 Gilheeney while battling the storm, operating the vessel as safely as possible, and maintaining communication with all the vessels under his command simultaneously. He positioned the vessel within a safe distance from the beach with the intention of "beaching it" if the situation became more peril and instructed the other vessel to improvise a lightning rod in order to prepare for the storm.

“Several times lightning struck within feet from our position; winds and seas increased continuously in speed and intensity and intense rain reduced our visibility to a handful of feet. However, (Mullis) always maintained his cool, professional demeanor and continuously asked us if we where safe in the cabin. This unselfish, courageous behavior is proof that this community is truly committed to restore/maintain its natural beauty to its former pristine condition, and I venture to say, at no matter the cost.”

Mullis suggested that maybe Almagro went a bit too far in his description of events.

“They went overboard I thought, but they sent that report up the chain of command and coming from the Coast Guard, my daughter was in the Coast Guard and I know what they go through and have to do, that makes me feel pretty good,” Mullis said. “We were trapped at the tip of the cape by the storm. We just did what we had to do.”

Several days later, on Aug. 10, Mullis was out again on the water off Mexico Beach when they noticed what at first appeared to be a red flotation device bobbing among the waves.

With another daughter, Tara, aboard, Mullis came closer and noticed that what they thought was a flotation device was actually a small kayak with two women aboard.

The women, Mullis said, were spent.

“They were paddling and the wind kept pushing them out to where they were so tired they could no longer paddle and had just enough to wave for help,” Mullis recounted.

From here, let Michael O'Donoghue, the Site Lead for Parsons in Gulf County, tell the tale in an e-mail he blasted out.

“(The women) were approximately two miles off shore and were upset and scared for their lives. Dave Mullis pulled over to them where they told him that they were unable to paddle back to shore, and were being blown out into the Gulf.

“Dave brought them aboard the Dew Point, together with the kayak and returned them to Windmark Beach. He stood by and watched them get safely on shore, to the immense relief of their families who were waiting for them, and who were grateful for Dave’s efforts in saving their family members’ lives. The families are on vacation in the area.

“Dave Mullis is a quiet, humble man and is the picture of the stolid character who encapsulates all that’s best about the type of person who makes his daily bread from the sea.  Fortunately or not, Dave, not being the bragging type, did not ask for names of the rescued individuals.”

Mullis has been rotated out of the VOO program and may or may not get another call as the program, he said, has been greatly scaled back in Gulf County.

But for him, the two days on the water detailed in these reports represent nothing more than that – two days on the water.

“We get busy when we get out there,” Mullis said.

Typical understatement, his friends would add.