RUN OVER BY A SPEED BOAT

A gruesome accident nearly killed CARTER VISS. Healing from his injuries would be tough; forgiving the boat’s driver, even tougher.

- GARY STEPHEN ROSS

BENEATH THE OCEAN’S surface waits a different world—quiet, full of wonder, shimmering with life. Carter Viss loved that world. It’s why he left Colorado to study marine biology at Palm Beach Atlantic University. It’s why he got a job at the Loggerhead Marinelife Center, just up Highway 1 on Florida’s east coast. And it’s why he spent so much free time snorkeling in the reef system just a few hundred yards from the famous Breakers resort in Palm Beach.

This particular Thursday morning— November 28, 2019—was especially nice. It was Thanksgiving. Tourists and locals hit the beaches. The water was flat, the sky blue, and the underwater visibility spectacular. Carter, 25, and his coworker Andy Earl, 32, spent a couple of hours among the sharks, eels, turtles, octopuses, lionfish, and angelfish. They netted some small specimens for Carter’s personal collection. Finally, around noon, they began their journey back to shore.

To a diver underwater, outboard engines have a clear, unmistakable sound. Swimming on the surface, however, Carter didn’t hear the speedboat. It was just 50 feet away— and heading straight for him.

The Talley Girl was a white 36-footer with an aqua-colored hull. But the boat’s most striking feature was a trio of massive 400-horsepower Mercury outboard engines with five-blade propellers. All that power had it gliding over the water at 50 mph— much too fast with swimmers nearby.

Christine Raininger was sitting atop her paddleboard waving her hands, yelling, “Hey, slow down!” But the people on the boat—retired Goldman Sachs executive Daniel Stanton Sr.; his 30-year-old son, Daniel Jr.; his son-in-law; and two grandchildren—never heard her warnings over the roar of those engines.