By JADE RUSSELL

jrussell@tribunemedia.net

A NORMAL family day out at sea ended with a twist after a group of cousins rescued a man who was stranded on Atholl Island.

The man turned out to be the private chef of one of the owner of a multi-billion company.

On Saturday, Julia Raine and her cousins took their family’s boat out to explore Rose Island.

Ms Raine was excited to show her cousins Haley Braunstein, Daniel Villoresi, Aiden Narcise, Anna Narcise and Mackenzie McDowall around the island since they were visiting from New Jersey.

They had planned a normal summer day out, which would include shell collecting, observing sea turtles and enjoying the treasures of island life.

However, things took an unexpected turn on the group’s return home to Paradise Island.

Mr Narcise said on the way back he noticed a man in a kayak waving his hands anxiously signalling for help.

“At first, I thought he was just waving at me, but then I looked back and I was like ‘oh no he has two hands up he’s waving us down’. We decided to go back to see what was wrong,” Mr Narcise said.

The group changed course and headed down to Athol Island where the man was stranded.

The man said he had been stranded alone for over two hours with no water or help.

“His kayak was busted and he couldn’t float in it anymore. He said he was hailing down people, like five boats had gone by and no one really stopped. So, he was really thankful we did, “ Ms Raine said.

The unknown man had taken the day off to go for a kayak ride but unfortunately the ride became a nightmare when his boat hit some rocks.

The damage from the rocks had made the kayak unable to float or to paddle back to Paradise Island where he was staying.

Ms Raine and her cousins decided to give the man a ride back to Paradise Island. On the way back home, the he revealed his identity of his employer.

“I couldn’t believe as we were taking him back, he was pointing to one of the biggest houses right on the shore,” Mr Narcise said.