A woman who survived a terrifying shipwreck has revealed in chilling detail how she managed to escape the sharks that claimed the life of her close friend.

Tamara Ennis endured an ordeal that most people would only imagine in their darkest nightmares. Her story began in August 1981, when the 21-year-old set out to sea from Ormond Beach, Florida. Alongside her were friends Randy Cohen, Christy Wapniarski, and Daniel Perrin, who owned the small boat they were sailing.

The group had been enjoying a carefree day on the water when things took a sudden and devastating turn. They were aboard a modest 17-foot catamaran, and as Tamara recalled to A&E’s YouTube survivor series, she noticed dark clouds and flashes of lightning building on the horizon. A storm was rolling in fast, but by the time they considered heading back, it was already too late.

Hoping they could simply ride it out, the four friends decided to stay put. But within fifteen minutes, disaster struck. One of the pontoons filled with water, causing the boat to flip. The group was suddenly thrown into chaos.

Miraculously, they all managed to climb onto the overturned hull, pulling their knees tightly against their chests to stay as far from the shark-infested waters as possible. Clad only in bathing suits, they were exposed, frightened, and utterly vulnerable.

As the hours dragged on, the group realized the coast guard had failed to spot them drifting in the open sea. Their relief turned to silence and dread. Tamara remembered the haunting expression of her friend Christy: “She was very quiet, and I could tell she was making peace. I had this overwhelming sense that she knew she was going to die.”

When dawn broke, Tamara urged the group to try swimming toward safety. Christy was the only one who couldn’t swim, so Tamara reassured her, telling her the salt water would help keep her afloat. With courage that belied her fear, Tamara led the way.

But just an hour into their desperate attempt, tragedy struck. Christy began to scream. At first, Tamara thought she was drowning. But then she saw the horrifying truth. A shark had attacked.

Tamara described the scene as something straight out of Jaws: “I saw her thrashing about, and then she shot straight up out of the water and back down. That’s when I knew she’d been hit.” Christy cried out to Randy for help, her voice filled with desperation: “Come and get me now!” But within moments, her pale, lifeless body floated face-down in the water. She had bled out in the violent attack.

Tamara made a split-second decision—she would not turn back. The risk was too great. As much as it broke her heart, she kept swimming, convinced that returning would only mean her own death. But soon, something brushed against her. A shark.

“I just had a split second vision of Christy and thought, That’s not how I want to go. I cannot die like this.” To control her fear, Tamara tried to change her mindset. She told herself she was just another creature of the ocean, as entitled to be there as the shark was.

For the next five grueling hours, she swam, fighting exhaustion, dehydration, and fear. She lost sight of Randy and Daniel, while ahead she spotted more sharks in what she described as a “feeding frenzy.” Adding to her ordeal, a powerful rip tide dragged her away from the shoreline. Using sheer determination, she swam sideways, eventually breaking free from the current.

Finally, a lifeguard saw her struggling in the surf. Barely able to speak, she gasped out the horror she had endured: “I’ve just swam about nine miles. There’s a boat out there, one person’s dead. And there are two guys—I don’t know if they’re dead or alive.”

Tamara Ennis witnessed her friend die (YouTube/A&E)

Thankfully, both Randy and Daniel were later rescued. The three survivors were rushed to the hospital, suffering from dehydration, hypothermia, and severe exposure. Christy’s body, however, was never recovered.

Despite the trauma, Tamara did not turn her back on the ocean. In fact, she chose to continue working on boats in the Bahamas. Yet, the scars of that night remain. “I still won’t go into dark water,” she admitted. “But surviving that gave me a whole new outlook on life.”

Her resilience came from sheer mental strength. “Dying wasn’t an option,” she explained. “I kept telling myself: I made it another minute. I made it another five minutes. I made it another hour. Thinking of my family, thinking of the future, refusing to give in to negative thoughts—that’s how I survived.”

Tamara’s story remains one of unimaginable loss but also extraordinary survival, a testament to human willpower when faced with the merciless power of nature.