UPDATED - Two missing teen paddleboarders found safe near Yankeetown, FL
Photos courtesy of LCSO.
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Levy County Sheriff's Office (LCSO)
Yankeetown, Florida - About 9:00 am on Tuesday morning, March 18, 2025, volunteer searchers found two missing 16 year-old girls who did not return from a paddleboarding trip in the Gulf of America near Cedar Key, Florida the previous day, Monday, March 17.
About 4:00 pm on Monday, the girls - Avery Bryan and Eva Aponte - began their adventure, paddling toward Cedar Key from Atsena Otie Key, a barrier island approximately one-half mile offshore from Cedar Key. However, the current changed the girls' course of travel, and on Tuesday morning, the girls were located near Yankeetown, Florida, about 14 nautical miles from the location where the girls started paddleboarding the previous day. The men located the girls near an island, waving and shouting, "‘We’re here! We’re here!"
The girls' rescuers are Captain Will Pauling of Inglis, Florida, Alex Jefferies of Yankeetown, Florida, and Russell Coon of Clermont, Florida, who, according to reports, were planning to fish for snook, but changed their plans to join the search.
The area where the girls were found is surrounded by oyster beds. The girls had cuts and scratches to their hands and feet due to the sharp oyster shells, and they were cold and thirsty, but otherwise appeared to be in good condition. They were treated at a local hospital. On Tuesday morning, when the girls were found, the water temperatures ranged between 65 and 70 degrees, and the air temperature was in the low forties.
According to the Levy County Sheriff’s Office (LCSO), their Marine Unit was joined in the water and air search for the girls by dozens of volunteers, and search and rescue teams from the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG), Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC), and Citrus County Sheriff’s Office (CCSO).