Cruise Ship Just Misses Jet Skiers

"There's people on a Jet Ski … right in front of the boat, and now we're going to hit the Jet Ski." That's an observer's play-by-play in a YouTube video now making the rounds after a very close call in Florida waters over the weekend. The Orlando Sentinel reports the Carnival Magic was chugging along Saturday afternoon when Capt. Doug Brown saw a Jet Ski with two passengers in his vessel's path. He rushed to call Sheriff's Deputy Taner Primmer, who was manning the marine unit's patrol boat that day and who quickly made his way to the scene. As Primmer approached, one of the jet skiers fell off the recreational watercraft and tried to get back on, at which point the Jet Ski overturned and both jet skiers ended up in the water, with the Carnival Magic fast approaching.

"Oh my God. No. Get in—get in!" the video's narrator yells from the deck of the Magic, as other spectators can also be heard screaming. Brown tells Florida Today his task of steering clear of the jet skiers, identified as 19-year old Skylar Penpasuglia and 20-year-old Allison Garrett, was made more difficult because of the wind forcing the West Virginia women right in front of the ship, as well as a dredge close by that he needed to avoid. "I was limited in how far I could maneuver," he says. But Brown somehow managed to avoid disaster as Primmer yanked both women into the sheriff's boat. Both Brown and Primmer were lauded for their quick thinking and professional efforts, with Brevard County Sheriff Wayne Ivey noting the jet skiers came perilously close to being dragged under the ship. (A German man didn't bother to mention his wife had disappeared from a cruise ship.)