Watch: 2 Jet Skiers Saved From Clash With Cruise Ship

PORT CANAVERAL, FL — Two spring breakers out jet skiing in the Port Canaveral area on Saturday found themselves in danger when their path crossed with an oncoming cruise ship. A quick-acting Brevard County Sheriff’s deputy and a port captain are getting the credit for averting the potential disaster.

According to the sheriff’s office, the near tragedy began to unfold around 4:45 p.m. March 11 as SeaPort Security Marine Deputy Taner Primmer was escorting the Carnival Magic out to sea. As the ship moved through the water, Skylar Penpasuglia, 19, and Allison Garrett, 20, both of Princeton, West Virginia, were riding a jet ski in Port Canaveral.

One of the women fell from the jet ski, the sheriff’s office explained on Facebook. While she was trying to climb back onboard, the jet ski flipped over.

“As the two frantically tried to right the jet ski, the wind pushed them into the Port channel; directly into the path of the outgoing cruise ship,” the sheriff’s office wrote.

The channel, the sheriff’s office said, happens to be rather narrow. That means there is very little room for a cruise ship to maneuver.

Even so, Port Canaveral Harbor Pilot Capt. Doug Brown did his part to help save the women by slightly veering the ship while Primmer “steered his boat into the path of the ship and quickly pulled the two girls onboard the sheriff’s office safe boat.”

Once the two were out of the water, Primmer moved his boat and the spring breakers to safety. Primmer managed to get his boat out of the ship's path seconds before impact would have occurred. The jet ski, however, was run over, a video of the rescue shows.

“Were it not for the quick actions of both Deputy Primmer and Port Canaveral Harbor Pilot Capt. Doug Brown, the girls could have been pulled under the ship causing potentially serious if not fatal injuries,” the sheriff’s office explained.

Not surprisingly, Sheriff Wayne Ivey is just a little proud of his deputy.

Primmer, he said, “placed his life in peril without hesitation to rescue the Port visitors,” Ivey said. Brown’s quick actions also gave “Deputy Primmer the extra seconds he needed to save the young girls.”

The rescue was posted to YouTube by a passenger onboard the Carnival Magic.

Watch the harrowing rescue below:

Photo of Deputy Taner Primmer courtesy of the Brevard County Sheriff’s Office/Screenshot via YouTube