The Damon Point rescue that wasn’t

Published 1:30 am Wednesday, May 20, 2026

Around midday on Tuesday, Grays Harbor Scanner reported, “Ocean Shores, officers and fire department being dispatched to a rescue request. Subject with their dog stranded out on Damon Point unable to get back due to the water.”

According to Ocean Shores City Administrator Scott Andersen, Ocean Shores police and fire were dispatched and the United States Coast Guard was notified, however, the stranded individual had made provisions to be picked up by private boat before any kind of official effort was undertaken.

Although the city of Ocean Shores removed the concrete barriers blocking the beach approach to the former entrance to Damon Point, Damon Point is and will remain closed to public access for the conceivable future.

“The landing that’s currently there, that you can walk to the beach approach, should not really be called Damon Point, because Damon Point, as we knew it, no longer technically exists,” Andersen told The Daily World in April. “According to the Department of Natural Resources, Damon Point, meaning past that beach, remains closed. They have jurisdiction over it. We do not. They’ve told people not to go out there. If they walk out there, and you can do that by trespassing along tribal property at the right time if the tide is low, you could get out there and get stuck out there. … Attempting to [go out to] the former Damon Point could easily get you killed.”

Anyone caught trespassing on tribal land or wandering out to Damon Point, gets stranded and requires rescue could be subject to prosecution and/or fines, and could be required to pay for their own retrieval.