Parks Canada is concerned about the growing number of people being swept out to sea on pool inflatables around Prince Edward Island’s beaches.
The agency said the issue has been getting worse since 2019, and that it could be related to the increase in the number of tourists the Island sees every year. Additionally, strong winds, rip currents and changing tides can be a dangerous combination, especially for people who haven’t spent much time around open water.
Robyn Caissie, the visitor safety and fire operations co-ordinator with P.E.I. National Park, said inflatables have been a “hot topic.”
“This is a pretty big issue. We see quite a few rescues,” she said. “Over half of our rescues are actually due to inflatables.”
Caissie described the inflatables as the generic kind that people can buy at stores.
“We’ve seen anything from a giant unicorn to air mattresses that you would use camping to sleep on,” she said.
Items like paddle boards and knee boards are just as problematic, Caissie said.
‘These are meant for the pool’
Caissie strongly recommends beachgoers avoid using pool inflatables in open water. She said people misjudge how windy P.E.I. is and how quickly the weather can change, causing them to get swept out to sea very quickly.
