After being washed miles out to sea on a paddleboard, two 16-year-old girls defied all chances to survive 16 hours of frigid, pounding waves in the gloomy Gulf of Mexico.
Lieutenant Scott Tummond of the Levy County Sheriff’s Office, who is still in shock at the adolescent duo’s incredible survival, stated, “Only an intervention from the Good Lord above could have saved those girls.”
On March 17, best friends Eva Aponte and Avery Bryan ventured out for what was supposed to be a quick half-mile paddleboarding journey from Atsena Otie Key to Cedar Key, but a ripping current and strong winds had other ideas.
“It was low-tide and the water looked pretty nice and we decided it was a great time to go to the sandbar because we could see it,” Avery told Inside Edition, recounting their near-death experience.
“We walked in like hip-deep and got in and started paddling,” Eva said, adding, “the current was very strong.”
The girls, who were not wearing life jackets, were torn from the shoreline in a matter of minutes and dragged over 14 nautical miles out to sea while clinging to a single inflatable paddleboard.
Tummond told Today.com, “It was rough, I mean rough out there.”
“We’re talking 6-foot seas with gusting winds. And really cold. Water temperatures got down to the high 30s overnight.”
The girls crowded together, attempting to keep afloat as the sun sank and the chill set in.
“One-hundred percent our lives were in danger,” Avery said.
“We were both out there in 40 degree weather with sweatshirts on and shorts on the water. Throughout the night, both of us had trouble keeping out hearts beating. I had [Eva] on top of me and at that point our breathing had synced up, it was very slow.”
The two kept themselves “sane” by playing an alphabet game where they had to name animals, singing songs from well-known children’s films, and cracking jokes.
“We had to keep laughing, or we were going to lose it,” Bryan said at a press conference 10 days after their heroic rescue.
During their time adrift at sea, the two girls told Inside Edition that they witnessed helicopters hovering overhead, but even as the best friends were calling for assistance, the aircraft “flew over four times.”
“We were yelling and we were trying to wave our arms out to the sides and we picked up the paddle and we just started waving it around,” Eva said.
A thorough search was conducted when their parents reported their missing children to the coast guard and police.
The clever and cunning girls washed ashore in a small marsh, which is full with razor-sharp oyster beds, and then clung to the paddleboard and wrung out their wet clothes to remain warm.
“That’s the reason they are alive,” Gary Bartell, the marina owner who rushed to the scene, said.
Just after 10 a.m. on March 18, local fishermen Will Pauling, Alex Jefferies, and Russell Coon—who were involved in the extensive search efforts—saw the girls desperately waving for assistance, and Bartell boarded his airboat.
The girls were ‘too feeble’ to stand, so the rescuers reportedly had to carry them from where they were in the shallow marsh to the rescue boat.
The females were silent at first when Bartell asked them what had happened, but then he began making jokes.
“That’s when they really started to relax,” he said.
Later, he took a sweet picture of the girls returning to shore with their arms wrapped around one another with a tired smile on their faces. A tearful reunion ensued.
“The emotions were just flooding that boat ramp from everyone,” Bartell said.
“There was one little girl in particular, who shot through the crowd and ran up…and she just gave me the biggest hug that I’ve ever gotten in my entire life. At that point, we both had tears in our eyes.”
“It was an emotional return,” he continued. “You could just feel the joy in every single person’s heart.”
After being transported to a nearby hospital, Avery and Eva received treatment for dehydration and hypothermia. They had returned home by March 20.
“These girls were smart,” Tummond said, noting that every decision the girls made while they were at sea “100 percent increased their chances at survival.”
“What Mom and Dad taught them stuck. Every decision they made saved their lives.”