The waters near Horn Island, south of the Labrot House, have claimed another life. It definitely isn't the first nor will it be the last. Most of those that die are some one line, one moment mention on a local news station. This particular one has garnered more attention because of the history of this place, and because of many factors. Many of them particularly ugly to us that have lived together for a very long time.
However, I'm not one to debate w/w/w/w, but I will make mention of that place off our shore. It's a beautiful place, 8 miles out. Cell coverage can get really spotty there, and there are no facilities. You're on your own out there. The sand is pristine white and the waters clear and clean, different from the turbid waters of the Sound. One one side there is the Mississippi Sound and on the other the Gulf. There are all sorts of wildlife present and about. Including predators. Without a supply of liquid, you'll die very soon in the summer. The currents can be vicious. Especially on each end of the island, where the Horn Island and Dog Keys passes between the open Gulf and the Mississippi Sound are located.
I can count myself lucky to have never witnessed the conditions in those passes when they were at their worst. With a wind against a moving tide, I know they become a total nightmare. I can see them sometime from the porch of the Labrot House, through the glass, when the conditions are right. I've watched the pilot boat to go out and bring a ship in and am not envious of that otherwise gravy job AT ALL during those times. And I always say a thanks that I am not there when I do see that.
And sudden storms are the norm. Many times you simply cannot SEE the approaching storm through the haze of an atmosphere loaded to the breaking point with water vapor. If you have ever seen a South Mississippi lightning storm sweep out of the north toward those islands, blackening the sky, you have witnessed an awesome display of the power of nature. I have lived here so long that most of the time I can sense it. If it gets unbearably hot and humid all of a sudden, something is fixin' to happen.
There are miles and miles of water here. There are bars and wrecks. Other islands, shoals, and currents. And things. No telling what you might see out on that water. And almost every bit of it is dangerous to the uninformed, unprepared, and nieve. I don't know what the results of that man's investigation is going to find. From what I can gather through unnamed official sources, grief takes strange avenues. What I do know is that thousands have prayed for him. Including me.
I've experienced all of the barrier islands at their best and worst. As you mention, the passes can be brutal. I remember one foolish trip in a seventeen foot wooden sailboat coming back from the Chandeleur chain with a broken mast and a jury-rigged main due to a standing rigging failure (the obvious question is why were we out that far in a 17' sailboat), in one of those black squalls intending to duck to the lee of Ship and wait it out. Coming through the pass was as scared as I've ever been, and turning to the lee was impossible rigged as we were, we could go only downwind so next stop Gulfport harbor.
But with Horn a lot of my trips were in my more athletic sailing days racing Hobie Cats. Starting from the Ocean Springs Yacht club sailing out to the west tip, eating lunch then sailing back as the second leg of the race. I've been there other times at other places, there are a couple of fairly deep anchor areas on the sound side not far off the island, but it is completely wild out there.
With regard to what triggered your post, as you, I'll pass choosing not to join the speculation regarding a tragedy, but with knowledge that all kinds of things can go wrong out there.