‘Unbelievable’: Two drownings in one day in Chesapeake Bay shocks Virginia Beach community

On most days, small waves gently lap over the shore of the Chesapeake Bay beaches in Virginia Beach. Families with young children play at the water’s edge or stand a few yards out on a sandbar.

“We don’t have the same kind of waves that the ocean has,” said retired city public works director Phil Davenport, whose home overlooks the bay. “The slope going in, it is very, very gradual; you can walk seemingly for a day and not get over your head.”

So when Davenport and his neighbors heard about two drownings last Sunday in the Chesapeake Bay, a mile apart, they were flabbergasted.

“It was highly unusual,” agreed Ed Brazle, chief of the Virginia Beach Department of Emergency Services.

No unusual surf or tidal conditions were present last Sunday, according to Brazle.

It’s unclear what may have caused the drownings. Police are still investigating.

“Everybody’s talking about it, but nobody has any answers,” Davenport said.

The first reported drowning was a 12-year-old boy, Zamari Wilson, last seen swimming in the water Sunday morning near the Delta Marriott at 2800 Shore Drive. He was visiting Virginia Beach with his family and wasn’t a strong swimmer, according to the police.

Zamari was found in the water shortly before 1:30 p.m., according to Virginia Beach police. He was taken to an ambulance where he was pronounced dead.

Dispatchers were then called about a male struggling in the water in the 3400 block of Shore Drive around 4:10 p.m. Ryan Michael Neal, of Virginia Beach, 44, was found dead around 5 p.m., according to Virginia Beach police.

Unlike the Oceanfront resort area, Chesapeake Bay beaches do not have lifeguards.

Virginia Beach has 29 miles of public beach and currently contracts with a private company to station more than 60 lifeguards during peak season at the Oceanfront, Croatan and Sandbridge.

Priority is given to the beaches with the biggest crowds and the most calls for emergency services, according to Brazle. Cape Henry, Ocean Park and Chic’s Beach on the Chesapeake Bay are quiet for the most part.

“We had not seen a high number of incidences in this area,” Brazle said. “The bay does not see the same rip currents or action that the Oceanfront or Sandbridge sees.”

Virginia Beach is mirroring the nationwide lifeguard shortage, which also presents a challenge.

“There are only so many guards available to guard so many beaches,” he said.

Stacey Shiflet, whose family owned the hotel that was replaced by the Delta Marriott, was still letting the news of the drownings sink in this week.

“It’s just really sad,” she said. “Over on the bay, that’s really underheard of.”

Shiflet said it “never crossed our minds” to have a lifeguard for that section of the beach.

At the Oceanfront, water rescues were down over the holiday weekend compared to last year, said Tom Gill, chief of the Virginia Beach Lifesaving Service.

He recommends people swim near a lifeguard, know how to swim and never swim alone.

Gill can’t recall hearing about a drowning in the bay in years and especially not two in one day.

“Unbelievable,” he said.

Stacy Parker, 757-222-5125, stacy.parker@pilotonline.com