Surviving couple of horrific Hilton Head boat crash find strength in one another
John Zentmeyer can’t remember exactly what happened in the seconds following the boat crash.
It was a whirlwind of noise, jostling and sudden darkness. He hit his head several times as he was plunged into the warm nighttime waters of a creek off Hilton Head Island, becoming trapped below the overturned fishing boat he had been a passenger on seconds before. He was able to breathe, but he’s still not sure if he was above the creek’s surface or in an air pocket inside the upside-down Grady-White.
But crystal clear in John’s memory is the moment he saw his wife alive, her head bobbing above the waters of Skull Creek. He had just emerged from the pitch-black water and into the open air after failing twice to dive and escape from under the overturned boat.
“I looked over my right shoulder — there’s my wife, treading water,” John said. “It was indescribable, how good that felt.”
John and Debra Zentmeyer, both 65, had been sitting near the stern of the boat prior to the crash that occurred around 9:15 p.m. on June 27. Further toward the bow was another couple, their longtime friends from North Carolina: Patsy Montgomery, 73, and her husband Rick, 76, in the captain’s seat.
The Montgomerys drowned after becoming trapped underneath the 23-foot Grady-White, just as John had been. The couple’s bodies, along with their two pet dogs that were killed in the collision, were located during a multi-hour search across the northern reaches of the creek.
Patsy was John’s first cousin once removed, he said, and he had known the woman “all my life.” Both couples lived for decades in the greater Charlotte area and saw each other intermittently at family events and weddings — but before Rick made a call inviting the Zentmeyers to stay with them in late June, the couples hadn’t seen each other for nearly a decade.
“It was kind of out of the blue, because it had been eight years since we had seen Rick and Patsy,” Debra said. The Montgomerys insisted on a weeklong visit to the Bluffton area, she added, but the couples compromised and planned for the weekend of June 27.
At the time of the fatal crash, Rick Montgomery had been driving the group back from dinner at Skull Creek Dockside. The next day, his Grady-White would be picked up for processing by state agents at the boat ramp near the popular Hilton Head restaurant.
All navigational lights on Rick’s boat had been operational and turned on, authorities later concluded, and the Grady-White had all necessary safety equipment aboard. Investigators with the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources attributed the crash to the night’s poor visibility and the captain’s “improper lookout” as he drove the group northeast along Skull Creek.
The Zentmeyers described the harrowing events of the crash and their nearly hour-long wait for rescue that followed. As they used the overturned boat for flotation in the black nighttime waters, they relied on each other to keep themselves safe.
“I think we were in such a state of shock and in survival mode,” John told The Island Packet and Beaufort Gazette. “When my wife saw me and I saw her, we didn’t hug or cry or anything, it was just like ...”
His wife finished his thought: “We’ve got to survive.”
Waiting in the water
The Zentmeyers placed the crash at exactly 9:17 p.m. on June 27. Before fishing his cellphone from his pocket and calling 911, John said, he swam a lap around the capsized boat to search for the Montgomerys.
“There was nobody else out of the boat, so I knew it was bad,” he said.
For the next 45 minutes, the couple said, they sat on the slippery stern of the capsized boat and waited. Much of that time was spent on hold with dispatchers as SCDNR attempted to pinpoint their location.
“I was absolutely terrified,” Debra told the newspapers. “Water’s not my favorite thing, and I was terrified — and at the same time, you’re just in disbelief that Rick and Patsy weren’t coming up. That was just adding to the fear of the whole situation.”
Shortly after 10 p.m., the Zentmeyers spotted what they would come to call their “good Samaritan boat” — an approximately 20-foot fishing boat heading south toward Skull Creek Dockside. Seeing the Grady-White’s navigational lights submerged underwater, the three occupants decided “something didn’t look right.” They used their boat’s spotlight to find the stranded couple and pulled the Zentmeyers on board, the couple said.
The good Samaritans then helped the Zentmeyers send their precise location to authorities via Rick’s cellphone. Rescue boats with SCDNR and the U.S. Coast Guard arrived a short time later, taking the couple to the Skull Creek Dockside ramp.
From there, the Zentmeyers were taken via ambulance to the Hilton Head Medical Center. They were treated for non-life-threatening injuries like scratches and head wounds.
Remembering the Montgomerys
Like any others who knew the Montgomerys, John and Debra remembered their old friends as endlessly kind and generous, never expecting anything in return.
John recalled one example from decades ago: Rick helping Debra secure a job when the Zentmeyers were new to the Charlotte area.
“We had a young family when we moved back here, and Rick gave her a really nice job when we really needed it,” John said.
Debra said that act of kindness reflected the generosity and thoughtfulness the Montgomerys showed toward everyone, even complete strangers.
“I feel like Rick looked after people like that,” she said. “He gave people opportunities ... and they were always welcoming people to come and visit.”
The Montgomerys married in 1970 and lived for decades in North Carolina. They retired about eight years ago to the Riverbend neighborhood, an extension of Sun City Hilton Head.
Rick and Patsy were active members and volunteers at the Beaufort campus of Community Bible Church, where their funeral services were held July 11.
More than 150 people attended the couple’s services, which ended with their burials at the Beaufort National Cemetery. As a veteran of the U.S. Navy, Rick received military honors.
Despite the horror they lived through the night of June 27, the Zentmeyers try to dwell on the positive, including their trove of good memories made with the Montgomerys over the years.
For James, that also means returning to the “indescribable” feeling of relief in the midst of the terror — when he surfaced from the waters of Skull Creek and saw his wife alive.
“I can’t tell you how it felt — just seeing my wife there in the water,” Rick said. “Even though it was a real bad situation, it made it tolerable to have her there.”
This story was originally published July 22, 2025 at 12:52 PM.
