Tyler Smith and Heather Brown, 17, decided to celebrate Senior Skip Day by going for a swim at the beach on April 18, reports CBS News.
Tyler and Heather went with some of their classmates to Vilano Beach. While swimming away from shore, the two saw an island and decided to swim towards it.
As they swam towards the island, they went into a red buoy a few dozen meters away.
Unfortunately, it was only then that the teenagers realized that the distance seemed to be greater than they thought.
Next, Tyler suggested Heather target a nearby lighthouse, St. Augustine Lighthouse, as it seemed closer to shore than their original plan to swim to the island.
However, the lighthouse also seemed further away than they thought. By then, both of them were starting to get tired.
“We’re starting to realize that we’re moving away from the lighthouse rather than getting closer to it,” Tyler told CBS News. “That’s when we started to panic.”
“That current pushed us so far, and we couldn’t do it,” added Heather. “At that time, we knew we were in trouble.
Heather started worrying that they couldn’t make it to the beach. “If we had kept swimming, we would have drowned,” she said.
It was then that they began to fervently pray for someone to save them.
Tyler said: “When we tied up the arms, we honestly cried out to God, ‘If you’re out there, please send something to save us. “”
Fortunately, it appeared that their prayers were answered immediately. Just half an hour later, a boat en route from Florida to New Jersey saw them in the middle of the sea.
“He came out of nowhere,” Heather said. “When I saw that, I knew we were going to get out of here.”
The boat crew quickly rescued the two friends and gave them blankets to keep warm.
A moment later, the captain, Capt. Eric Wagner, told them the boat’s name was “Amen.”
For them, they really felt that the boat and the crew were a godsend. “There’s no other reason, there’s no other explanation in the world but God,” Tyler said. Credit: CBS News
