Two girls found a day after they vanished paddling off Florida’s Gulf Coast, cops say

Two 16-year-old girls have been found alive a day after they vanished while paddling off northwest Florida’s Gulf Coast, searchers say.

They were discovered about 14 miles southeast of their intended destination, Cedar Key, deputies told WOFL.

“At approximately 8:20 a.m., a good Samaritan spotted the missing girls on an island south of Waccasassa near Lowes Bay and called 911,” the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission reported in a news release.

“An air boat operator from Ozello Keys Marina reached the girls and transported them to the Waccasassa boat ramp, where they were reunited with their family before being evaluated at a nearby hospital.”

The girls were “cold but otherwise healthy,” the Levy County Sheriff’s Office said in a release.

Charter boat Captain Will Pauling has been credited with locating the girls, after he set out with friends Alex Jeffries and Russ Coon to join the search, WESH reports.

The men had to carry the girls off the island, after discovering they suffered cuts to their feet from walking on oyster shells, the station said.

“They were stuck on their board, they couldn’t get off their board because every which way was oysters, and if you are around here, oysters are very sharp,” Jeffries told the station.

Searchers reported the girls vanished Monday, March 17, during “a paddle board excursion” between Atsena Otie Key to Cedar Key. The islands are about a half-mile apart and such a trip typically takes about 20 minutes, experts say.

“They were last seen around 4:00 p.m (Monday).,” the Levy County Sheriff’s Office said in a release. “The girls were sharing a black and white paddle board.”

The search, which continued through the night, included FWC boats, the U.S. Coast Guard, the Cedar Key Police Department and deputies from Levy County, Citrus County and Marion County, officials said. Many private boats also joined the search, officials said.

Identities of the teens have not been released, and officials have not said what caused them to drift so far off course.

Cedar Key sits off a part of Florida that is home to large swaths of mangrove wilderness, including Cedar Key Scrub State Reserve and Waccasassa Bay Preserve State Park.

Cedar Key is about a 135-mile drive northwest from Tampa.

This story was originally published March 18, 2025 at 9:30 AM with the headline "Two girls found a day after they vanished paddling off Florida’s Gulf Coast, cops say."