They were finally spotted by local volunteer Captain Will Pauling and his two mates, Alex Jeffries and Russell Coon, about 14 miles southeast of Cedar Key near Turtle.
Pauling recounted how they discovered the two teens marooned atop a bed of sharp oysters, saying: “They were holding on to each other, shivering, their feet and hands were pretty cut up.
“The girls even said they had a few helicopters fly over with spotlights, and they got missed by just a few feet with those spotlights throughout the night.”
Jeffries compared walking on oysters to treading on razor blades, remarking, “You can look at an oyster prong and probably get cut.”
He said they “looked over and seen a spec on the shore, and I was like, I think that’s a paddle board, and then as soon as I turned the boat, they just started flailing.
I was the first one there, kind of in disbelief like there are people out here,” recounted Pauling. “I was asking if they’re alright. They said they were good and they were out there all night and saw all the spotlights like just a few feet from.”
A man from Ozello was in the same area and used his airboat to bring the girls back to the boat ramp.
“When we found them their feet were cut up, hands were cut up. I think they kind of got washed in with low tide which may have helped them stay in one spot,” said Pauling.
The girls were taken to the hospital to the evaluated for hypothermia, but are otherwise unharmed.
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