While many Whidbey Island residents were busy unwrapping gifts on Christmas Eve or winding down for the night in anticipation of the holiday, a Port Hadlock man was literally pulling himself out of the mire.

Dag Leed, 60, arrived on the island via ferry on Dec. 24 to visit his sister and her family. Nearing the Highway 20 spur by Keystone Avenue around 7 p.m., his 1988 Pontiac Firebird hydroplaned, sending his vehicle straight into an inadvertently manmade estuary.

The large hole was created by the U.S. military decades ago when it quarried the rock to mix with cement for construction of Fort Casey. Over the years, the deep crater has filled with water from nearby Puget Sound.

Leed was not aware of the history behind the body of water, but he knew he was in it up to his chest. As he approached the hairpin turn, standing water on the roadway caused his car to hydroplane. He attempted to turn as he glided, but the Firebird was unresponsive. He knew of a dirt road to his left. He also sensed a nearby obstruction, possibly a light pole. Once he realized his predicament, Leed said he split the difference and braced himself for a water landing, positioning the vehicle to go into the drink straight on.

“I was slowing down and it hydroplaned,” he said. “I tried to turn. I had three seconds to make a decision. I sailed one way, I corrected the other way, and I split the difference. I went in like that old ‘shoot the chute’ ride.”

As the car began to sink and the water level rose, Leed quickly grabbed his keys and hearing aids. With adrenaline pumping, the spry 60-year-old slithered out the window and bid adieu to his Firebird.

“Once I got out, it was like standing in mud flats,” he said. “I sunk down and grabbed for the windshield wiper to steady myself. I spun around and then swam. I went into instant adrenaline mode. It was like Vietnam all over again.”

Uninjured and resembling what he described as “the creature from the Black Lagoon,” Leed attempted to flag down a passing vehicle, which slowed down and then sped away, the driver apparently agreeing with Leed’s description of his appearance.

“I was getting hypothermic and I’m out there waving my hands,” he recounted. “I don’t blame them for driving off.”

The slimy figure made his way to the row of beach houses lining Keystone Avenue. Many of the homes were dark, the owners presumably gone for the holidays. Leed finally met a man he remembered introducing himself as Claire, who suddenly materialized from behind a house.

“He seemed like an angel to me,” Leed said. “He came out of nowhere. But how many angels do you know named Claire? Whoever he was, I would like to thank him.”

An ambulance and a state trooper arrived almost simultaneously. Cold and shaky, Leed’s sobriety was confirmed and he was transported to Whidbey General Hospital, where he was released shortly after. He was issued a $153 ticket for driving at a speed too great for the conditions.

“I thought that was a cheap shot after all I’d been through,” he said of the citation.

The trooper told Leed that other drivers in the past had involuntarily visited his car’s temporary resting place.

“He told me I wasn’t the first one, but he said they usually go in the other way,” he said.

Coupeville Marshal Lenny Marlborough is also no stranger to the “pond.” A former member of the Oak Harbor dive team, he estimated the depth of the hole at 40 to 45 feet.

“I’ve been diving in that thing more times than I can count,” Marlborough said.

The marshal personally helped recover three fully submerged vehicles. In other instances, logs laid parallel to the road were successful in stopping automobiles before they entered the water.

“I’ve been out there a lot,” Marlborough said.

Safely at his sister’s home, she hand-washed Leed’s Norwegian sweater and put him to bed. In stark contrast to the previous evening, Christmas morning was glorious. A nice family breakfast filled his stomach, he relaxed and he went home.

“All’s well that end’s well,” he said. “I think that Marine training did come in handy.”

Zane and Francis Malloy of Waterworx, a well-known Oak Harbor boat repair and salvage business, donned scuba diving gear on Friday and attached tow cables to the submerged vehicle.

“We found it pretty fast,” Zane said. “We saw it and we followed the trail down to it. It was about 25 feet down.”

The vehicle had come to rest precariously on the edge of a drop-off. Had the Firebird slipped further down, the divers’ job would have been much more technically difficult.

“It was slippery trying to get the cable around the tire,” Francis said after the successful dive, which was observed by personnel from Central Whidbey Fire and Rescue. “I wrapped it around the front axle. It was hard to access the bumper.”

The brothers are local heroes who saved a baby in May of last year after a strong wind blew the baby’s stroller down the F-dock at Oak Harbor Marina and into the water. The two young men quickly fished out the stroller and the baby was unharmed.

When the two divers saw the car, they were surprised at its condition in more ways than one.

“It looked nice,” Zane said. “There was a school of fish inside and you could see the Christmas presents floating in the window.”

Marty Malloy, the boys’ father and business partner, promised to send the presents and other personal effects back to Leed after Eric Rudd and Aaron Schweer of Scotty’s Towing from Freeland pulled the car from the water.

“I’m going to mail all of this stuff back to him,” Marty said.