By Dagmar Reinhard
Lifeguard Álvaro Cedeño Obando from Dominical, started his first ocean watches when he was 14 years old. He was already a good surfer in great shape when he was discovered by Matt Halley, a young surfer from New Jersey who founded the first lifeguard station in Dominical, a beautiful beach where several people have drowned. Immediately, Alvaro and other Dominical locals started training with Matt to become lifeguards.
Álvaro obtained his first lifeguard certification when he was 15 years old, and worked for a number of years with the Dominical Lifeguards.
The young father of two was thrilled when he was offered the job at the Playa Hermosa lifeguard tower. Five days after he started, he and his cousin, Andrés Vargas Obando performed their first rescue. Since the creation of the tower in January 2014, they have saved several lives, in March; they rescued three people on the same day.
Responsible swimmers are aware of the currents; however, those who get distracted letting the inviting waves carry them, might sooner or later lose control, and find themselves in trouble. They would be lucky if they were near a lifeguard tower. There was a young man near the Achiote rocks at the far end of the beach who was struggling and suffered a panic attack until they arrived. “A quad would help reduce the rescue time,” Álvaro says.
Marlón Mora Gamboa, from San Isidro, wrote a thank-you note saying: “Thank you for saving my life, angels of the sea!”
Every Tuesday and Thursday at 8 am, Álvaro and Andrés perform rescue exercises to stay in shape.
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