A woman who endured a shipwreck recounted her harrowing escape from sharks that claimed her friend’s life.
Tamara Ennis survived an ordeal that many would consider a living nightmare.
The incident began in August 1981 when the 21-year-old set sail from Ormond Beach, Florida, with friends Randy Cohen, Christy Wapniarski, and Daniel Perrin, the owner of the boat.
The four friends were aboard a 17-foot catamaran when Tamara noticed ominous dark clouds and lightning approaching, as she shared on A&E’s YouTube survivor series.
Realizing they couldn’t escape in time, the group decided to stay put and wait for the storm to pass.
However, within fifteen minutes, their pontoon took on water, and the boat capsized.
Fortunately, they managed to climb onto the hull and pull their knees up, avoiding the shark-infested waters below.
Tamara recounted how the coast guard failed to spot them and left them stranded: “The reality hit us, and we were just quiet. And Christy who was sitting in front of me, she was very quiet, and I could tell also that she was just making peace, and I had a sense that she knew she was gonna die.”
By dawn, Tamara suggested that their best chance was to swim for it. Since Christy was the only one who couldn’t swim, Tamara reassured her that the saltwater would help her float if necessary.
Leading the group into the water, Tamara witnessed a horrifying moment an hour into the swim when Christy was attacked by a shark.
She recalled to A&E: “I was up in front and it was only probably about an hour into the swim that I looked back and I heard, um, Christy screaming and yelling for Randy to come get her.”
What she initially thought was drowning turned out to be a shark attack, as the predator repeatedly pulled Christy underwater.
She continued: “I realised I saw her thrashing about in the water. And then she went straight up, just like in the movie, in the Jaws movie, when she went straight up and straight back into the water. And I knew she’d been hit by a shark.
“So I yelled to Randy that it was a shark, and he thought she was drowning. So he was yelling back to her, and you know, calling her name, and she was just screaming ‘come and get me now’ and she went up again and down.
She continued: “And he was swimming while this happened and he didn’t see that it was a shark. He just thought she was drowning. So the last time I saw her go up and down she just went face down into the water. I knew that, you know, I knew she was dead. She was completely pale, completely white, I knew she’d lost all her blood.”
Fearing for her own life, Tamara chose not to turn back and continued swimming.
Shortly thereafter, she felt something bump against her and realized, to her horror, that it was a shark.
She said: “I just had a split second vision of Christy and me saying, ‘That’s not how I wanna go. There is no way I can die like this’.”
To calm her fear, she focused on the belief that she had as much right to be in the water as the shark.
After five hours of swimming, Tamara lost sight of Randy and Daniel and had to navigate around sharks she saw in a ‘feeding frenzy’ ahead.
She also battled a strong rip current that pulled her away from the shore.
Fortunately, swimming sideways helped her break free, and that’s when a lifeguard spotted her.
She said: “I just told him instinctively – ‘I’ve just swam about nine miles, there’s a boat out there, one person’s dead. And there are a couple of guys and I don’t know if they are dead or alive’.”
Thankfully, both men were rescued, and all three were taken to the hospital for treatment, as they suffered from dehydration, exposure, and hypothermia.
Christy’s body was never recovered.
Despite the terrifying experience at sea, Tamara later chose to work on boats in the Bahamas.
She said: “I still to this day won’t go in dark water but surviving that also gives you a whole new outlook on life.
“Dying wasn’t an option for me during that time so I just had to keep good thoughts and say, ‘Ok, I’ve made it another minute, I made it another five minutes, I made it another hour.’ And just keep going and thinking about, you know, your family, or your future, and not giving in to the negative thoughts is how I survived.”