Travis Valenti, Massapequa, NY man drowns while kayaking at Washington state’s Lake Crescent. The man’s fiancee, who he had proposed to just two days ago managed to make it to shore.
A Long Island man drowned in a Washington state park two days after proposing to his fiancee.
Travis Valenti, 37, of Massapequa, New York, died after his kayak overturned on Lake Crescent in Olympic National Park around 2pm on Friday. Just two days earlier the man had proposed to his bride to be, Marlene, at the very same lake.
Valenti’s kayak had begun filling with 50-degree water and he had to abandon it and tread water. Marlene, had tried to rescue Valenti, only to overturn her own kayak in the process. She managed to swim to shore but Valenti was unable to save himself.
‘Travis gave her the extra little push that she needed to get safe,’ his brother Austin told News 12 Long Island.
‘It was suppose to be the best trip of their lives’
Adding, ‘It started out as the best trip of their lives and took just a tragic turn that nobody could really see coming’.
The part of the lake Valenti and his fiancée were in was around 400 to 500 feet deep and roughly a quarter-mile offshore, the National Park Service said.
Efforts are underway to retrieve Valenti’s remains.
‘He was just everybody’s favorite guy, including Marlene’s and all of ours, they were just a beautiful couple, and they had this beautiful life planned out and it just gets cut so short out of nowhere,’ Valenti’s brother said.
Valenti grew up in Baldwin and worked for the financial services company Two Sigma at the time of his death according to social media posts.
Lake Crescent particular qualities to be weary of
The National Park Service looked for his body near the Log Cabin Resort, but were unable to find the remains. Valenti and Marlene were not wearing life jackets at the time of the drowning, according to officials.
Lake Crescent in the second-deepest lake in Washington, with depths of up to 624 feet and ten miles long and volatile currents, according to the Department of Natural Resources.
The National Park Service warns park-goers about ‘sudden immersion’ in Lake Crescent, as the cold water could ‘impact a person’s breathing and over time, their ability to move extremities.’
They advise all swimmers to use the buddy system and to always wear a life jacket. It remained unclear if warning signs were placed around the lake.
