I'm Will's mother. It's taken me almost six years to respond to this article. I spoke to Will's shipmates after my son lost his life to this horrific and tragic drowning. One of those friends told us that Will ventured into the water to cool himself off. He was in the water barely up to mid calf, bent down to throw water up up to his face and hair. His friend was watching him when he noticed Will looked like he was in trouble. He yelled to Will asking him him if he was ok, Will yelled back that he needed help. At this point he seemed to be getting pulled out. His friend yelled for him to swim to the buoy and hold on until they could get someone to help. Since resorts have lifeguards, they were able to get the RIU lifeguards to help.
After days of their transatlantic crossing, Nassau was their first stop before heading to Miami, after which they would be cruising down through the Panama Canal. I can tell you, Will was very excited to be doing so. They would then be heading to San Diego and heading home for a couple of weeks before returning to his job. His job? A jazz musician, who had 3 years earlier received his Master Degree in Music. One commenter referred to my son as a "smart ass foreigner". One only needs to talk to hundreds of his friends to know he was anything but.
Thank you for expressing kind words.