Tourists got the ride of their lives on board the Wildcat on Monday when the vessel started taking on water as it neared St. George's and had to be taken to shallow water.

Police spokesman Dwayne Caines said Marine Police received a call at about 3.45 p.m. on Monday from Wildcat that she was taking on water.

This was confirmed by Harbour Radio who said the crew complained of water entering through the engine compartment.

Wildcat limped into the shallow waters of Castle Harbour where she remained until Marine Police arrived.

There were 12 passengers and two crew members on board at the time and no one was injured.

Mr. Caines said Marine Police helped ferry the visitors to Grotto Bay Resort and helped the crew pump excess water from the vessel before taking her to St. George's for repairs.

Co-owner Michele Lawrence said this was only Wildcat's second run for the season, but they hoped to have repairs done within the next two days.

She explained that a hose had come off the exhaust and instead of pumping water out of the boat, was pumping it into the engine compartment.

Luckily, she said, it was not the brand new engine they had just bought.

"We've had so much bad luck lately and this was just so unfortunate," she said.