Rescue goes viral via social media
It’s the story that has gone viral across social media for almost two weeks now — a Grand Traverse man, Mitchell O’Brien, found himself caught in quicksand on April 12 while rock hunting along Van’s Beach in Leland with his friend, Breanne Sika.
“This has been a whole different level of a lot,” Sika said.
It wasn’t the first time O’Brien and Sika had gone rock hunting together, but this time around, the two came across an unstable spot along the shore near recent dredging that proved to be more perilous than either of them expected or could have imagined.
Sika said they had been to Van’s Beach the weekend before when the weather wasn’t great, so they decided to walk on a different part of the shore when they got there the second time. She said although they noticed the dredging area and thought “it looked bizarre,” the sand still seemed firm, so they continued on until they reached a spot on the shore that “looked really dangerous.”
By the time Sika noticed and pointed out the specific area that appeared unstable, O’Brien had already turned around, taking a few steps until he ended up stuck with one leg going straight down into the sand. In a matter of seconds, Sika said O’Brien was up to his waist in sand and his left leg was cemented in place.
“It wasn’t even 30 seconds by the time it had gotten up to his waist,” Sika recalled. “It happened so fast, there was no wiggle and jiggle, it was a step and down.”
Further down from the dredging area, Sika said she noticed a family also enjoying the shoreline, but seeing the kids nearby also added fear to the already urgent situation.
“Mitch is almost 6-feet tall, so the sand was to his waist,” she said. “If any of those little kids had been running through that, they would have been gone, you wouldn’t have even seen their heads.”
O’Brien remained calm throughout the emergency, with Sika explaining that he had actually been in a couple of quicksand situations in the past, albeit not as dire. For about 15 minutes or so, O’Brien struggled to get out of the sand but kept reassuring Sika that he’d be able to manage it himself. The waves coming in were huge though, Sika said, and the more he tried to dig himself out, the more it seemed like he was going to need help.
“I wanted to call right away, but he waited for 15-20 minutes, and then got this look on his face like ‘I’m stuck bad,’” Sika said. “That’s when he was like ‘I think it’s time that we call for help now.’” Sika tried calling 911 first, but her calls would not go through because of the lack of reception at the beach. Frantic and in the moment, Sika managed to hand O’Brien his phone to try calling 911 as well. They both got through to dispatch around the same time and referred to each other as “boyfriend and girlfriend,” another unexpected but pleasant surprise amid the emergency situation. The two first met over two years ago during a recovery coach training that worked with people in the Traverse City community with substance abuse disorder, with Sika adding that they both liked each other for the longest time, but never had the opportunity to say it.
“I remember looking at him and smiling, and I had goosebumps, but it was also like ‘oh crap, you’re still stuck,’” she said. “So we’ve really been each other’s cheerleaders when anything goes wrong with us personally. He’s my best friend and has been for two years now.”
Within 3-5 minutes, personnel from the Leland Township Fire department were on the scene, including Brandon Morse, who helped get a lasso and eventually a life jacket on O’Brien. Morse assisted in wrangling a missing pony just last fall in Leelanau County, and seeing him gave Sika the first moment of relief during the incident.
Another five or so minutes later, the firefighters managed to pull and dig out O’Brien from the sand, with everyone involved remaining safe and in good spirits. Captain Chase Schelling with Leland Township Fire said in his six years with the department, they’ve never received a call for help with quicksand, but they’re trained to adapt and respond to all sorts of emergencies. Schelling said it’s always a good idea to have someone else with you when out walking, and if you can’t find someone to go with, make sure to inform someone of where you’re going.
“If you find yourself in a situation where you need help, call 911 right away,” Schelling said. “Sometimes people hesitate to call 911 whether they’re afraid it’s going to be an inconvenience or they’re afraid it may not be that serious, but we would much rather get called than not have somebody call us and then need us… We are trained to respond and find a solution, so we will always do everything we can regardless of the situation, and they responded in the right fashion and our crews did a great job.”
Sika said she and O’Brien plan to continue rock hunting despite running into quicksand, noting that while the experience was a scary one at the time, she doesn’t want people to be afraid to get outside and do what they love.
“It won’t stop us, that’s one of our passions. I’m sure we’ll be back towards Vans in the next couple of weeks,” she said. “Rocks are such a small beautiful thing on this earth and we don’t want people to be afraid, we want people to get out and adventure, but just be aware.”
Besides walking away from the experience unharmed, Sika said they also managed to find a Leland Blue stone that same day. She said O’Brien is now looking into having the small stone made into a ring, a memory from the momentous experience that brought them closer together.
“We found one of the prettiest Leland Blues that either of us have seen. It’s just a really pretty combination of a Leland Blue,” she said. “I’m just wondering what other adventures we have in store for us if this is how it’s starting.”
