A man high on methamphetamine was rescued from the frigid waters of Penn Cove Monday afternoon, according to Coupeville Marshal Rick Norrie.

The man, 51, stripped down to shorts and socks at the beach below Coupeville Town Park and waded into the water, Norrie said.

He swam about three-quarters of a mile from Coupeville Wharf when he stopped swimming and starting yelling and waving his hands in the water. This caught the attention of employees from the Port of Coupeville, who called 9-1-1.

Norrie, with the help of a Penn Cove Shellfish boat, and fire department responders rode out to pluck the flailing man from the surf.

“It was at that point I recognized the man,” Norrie said.

Earlier that day at 8:45 a.m., Norrie responded to a threat complaint involving the man.

“He admitted to having taken meth,” Norrie said. “He was having drug hallucinations.”

The man was voluntarily taken to Whidbey General Hospital where he later left on his own, eventually ending up in the cove.

“He was so paranoid and hallucinating,” Norrie said.

The man was taken back to Whidbey General Hospital, this time without a choice.

Norrie estimates the man was in the water in minimal clothing without a life jacket for about 45 minutes.

“I’ve never seen anyone survive in the water that long,” Norrie said. “He was pretty cold. We had to thaw him out.”

Norrie said the man eventually came back to reality and was later released from the hospital.

He said the man’s strange behavior “was very characteristic of someone on meth,” he said.