Shipwreck Survivor Who Watched Her Friend Get Eaten By A Shark Recalls The Terrifying Moment Everything Went Wrong

A woman who survived a shipwreck has shared the chilling story of how she escaped sharks that killed her friend right in front of her.

Her name is Tamara Ennis, and at just 21 years old, she endured something most people couldn’t even imagine outside of a nightmare.

The ordeal began in August 1981, when she set out on the water off Ormond Beach, Florida. She was with friends Randy Cohen, Christy Wapniarski, and boat owner Daniel Perrin, sailing about a mile from shore.

The four friends were aboard a 17-foot catamaran when Tamara noticed storm clouds building and lightning approaching. She later told A&E on its YouTube series that the danger seemed to come too quickly for them to safely head back to land.

Believing they had no choice, the group decided to stay put and wait out the storm. But within 15 minutes, disaster struck — one of the pontoons filled with water and the small boat flipped over, tossing them into the ocean.

Luckily, they managed to scramble onto the overturned hull. Huddling together, they pulled their knees up, trying to stay clear of the shark-filled waters below.

Tamara recalled how frightening it was when the coast guard failed to spot them adrift in the sea, leaving them stranded and helpless: "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."

Tamara Ennis witnessed her friend die YouTube/A&E

When daylight finally came, Tamara told the group their best shot at survival was to try swimming toward shore. Christy, who couldn’t swim, was reassured that the salt water would help keep her afloat if she grew tired.

So Tamara led everyone into the water. But barely an hour into their desperate swim, tragedy hit when Christy was suddenly attacked by a shark.

She told 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."

At first, Tamara thought her friend was drowning. But when she saw Christy hurled out of the water and then dragged back under, she realized the truth.

She recounted: "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 went on: "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."

Tamara made the heart-wrenching decision not to swim back, fearing she would become the shark’s next victim. Instead, she kept moving forward, determined to survive.

But not long after, she felt a bump against her body — and to her horror, realized a shark had brushed right against her.

She later shared: "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 fight back her fear, Tamara forced herself to think like a fish, reminding herself she had just as much right to be in the ocean as the shark did. She pushed forward for hours.

By the fifth hour, she had lost sight of Randy and Daniel. Alone, she faced strong currents while sharks swarmed in a feeding frenzy nearby.

As if that wasn’t enough, a powerful rip current dragged her away from the shoreline. But she managed to swim sideways and break free. It was then that a lifeguard spotted her in the distance.

She recalled: "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'."

In the end, Tamara was saved — and so were Randy and Daniel. All three were taken to the hospital to be treated for severe dehydration, hypothermia, and exhaustion.

Tragically, Christy’s body was never found.

Despite everything she endured, Tamara eventually returned to working on boats, spending much of her later life in the Bahamas on the water she once feared.

She admitted: "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."