Tragedy in Shinnecock Bay Leaves Two Kayakers Dead

A late-night search involving multiple agencies ends in heartbreak after two men fail to return from the waters off Hampton Bays.

The night had seen an extensive search effort across Shinnecock Bay. It began after two kayakers failed to return home Tuesday evening, and by early Wednesday morning, it had ended in tragedy: both men were discovered dead along the shoreline.

The call had first come in to the Southampton Town Police Department around 1:29 a.m. Officers received a report about two kayakers who were overdue, last thought to be in the waters west of the Ponquogue Bridge in Hampton Bays.

A substantial emergency response soon followed. It drew together Southampton Town police and their marine patrol officers, along with New York State Police troopers. The Southampton Village Police Department, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, the United States Coast Guard, and the Hampton Bays Volunteer Ambulance Corps also joined the wide-ranging effort.

Investigators later pieced together that the two men had set out from the old south Ponquogue pier at about 8 p.m. on Tuesday. They were in a single, two-person kayak, making their way west into Shinnecock Bay. But as the hours passed, and they didn’t return, worried family members eventually called the police.

Around 4 a.m., search crews made a grim discovery: the first victim had washed ashore near the northwest corner of the Ponquogue Bridge. Police identified him as Daniel Villa, twenty-five, from Southampton.

Not long after, responders found the second man. He lay along the bulkhead north of Amalfi Coastal Kitchen, on Lighthouse Road. This individual was identified as Juan Carlos Penaranda, forty-three, from Quogue.

Both men were pronounced dead right there at the scene.

Authorities mentioned that the investigation was continuing. The Suffolk County Medical Examiner’s Office, in particular, was looking into the details surrounding the drownings.