Woman Who Survived Overnight Floating In Lower New York Bay Tells Her Story

LOWER NEW YORK BAY — The New Jersey woman who survived 12 hours floating in the Atlantic Ocean off Sandy Hook Sunday said she wants to share her story so other people don't experience the nightmare she lived through.

The woman is Carmen Plasencia, in her 40s, who recently moved to South Bound Brook. The man she was with on the Jet Ski was Diostenes Del Rosario Arnaud, 46, of Elizabeth.

Both survived.

"I just want to tell my story to make people aware of the dangers on the water," she said Friday. "I wish we had lights on our lifejackets,; I wish we had a whistle."

Plasencia and Arnaud fell off the JetSki at about 8 p.m. Sunday after the engine stalled out under the Verrazzano Bridge. This was just as the sun was starting to set. They were both wearing life jackets, but they drifted far apart from each other into Lower New York Bay. He drifted towards Staten Island, but the current carried her farther out.

Their friend, Jorge De Los Santos, also of Elizabeth, recalled how the day started:

"There is a group of about 40 of us and we always take the Jet Skis and boats out. We departed from the marina in Elizabeth at around 2 p.m. Sunday and we decided to go to Coney Island. The water was kind of choppy that day."

The Atlantic Ocean off New York/New Jersey has been very rough all week, as Tropical Storm Erin, currently forming in the Caribbean, is expected to turn into a Category-4 hurricane.

De Los Santos said it took them on Jet Skis about 25 minutes to get from Elizabeth to Coney Island. He said they hung out there for a while, and then a friend with a boat texted them to come to Keansburg, so they zipped back across Raritan Bay. At 7 p.m., they prepared to head back to the Elizabeth dock.

"I said it's going to get dark soon; let's all head back to Elizabeth," said De Los Santos. "I was the first to head out and I was going very fast. We waited at the dock, but he and Carmen never came back."

De Los Santos said he called Arnaud's phone, who told them he got lost and was now under the Verrazzano Bridge. He also said the Jet Ski had stalled out.

"We took the seat off the Jet Ski to try and fix the engine, but the seat got washed overboard by a wave," said Plasencia. "(Arnaud) jumped in the water to look for the seat and the waves just took him away. He was shouting, 'Listen, just call the police!'"

She took this video that shows Arnaud being carried away by the fast current:

Plasencia said she took his phone and saw it was on low battery. She did not have her phone on her. She made a series of quick phone calls: The first to De Los Santos and a few more to members of their WhatsApp group.

"I told them exactly where I was. I said I see a bridge, it's the Verrazzano," she said. "Then the phone died."

She never got a chance to call police. It was De Los Santos who called 911, and also took a boat out to look for them.

Plasencia said the Jet Ski then started taking on water and "started sinking from the back. The water was coming in more and more, and I saw a light to my right that I thought I could swim to. So I jumped in."

She said swimming almost immediately exhausted her, so she just let the current carry her into the mouth of Lower New York Bay.

"It was dark; there was nobody around. Time passed and I knew nobody was coming," she said. She fell asleep at one point, propped up in the water by her life jacket.

"But I was woken up by waves going into my mouth and nose. I heard voices, music playing and I thought someone is here! Then I woke up and realized I was all alone in the ocean, in the dark. I got very cold in the middle of the night. I couldn't even think about sharks; I would not let myself think about it because I knew I would have another anxiety attack."

She threw up three times over the night, and one point started choking on her own vomit. She could see lights from land, but they were "very, very far in the distance."

"I just kept thinking about my kids (she has three, ages 24, 20 and 11.) I just bought a house in South Bound Brook. I prayed, 'Please God, let me live. I don't want to leave my kids alone.' I was also praying for (Arnaud) to be alive, too."

"When I saw the sunrise, I was happy — I felt relief. I could not see land; well, I could see it but it was very, very far away. But I knew I could see boats or Jet Skis in the daylight. Then I saw a helicopter. I knew they were looking for us. I saw it going around and around, back in the area where I had been. But there were so many waves. I tried to wave to it, but it didn't see me."

More time passed in the morning, and then: "I saw this boat coming from far away towards me. I could see it was red and yellow; I started swimming. I said it's now or never, you have to swim to this boat. I started waving with my hands. When they saw me, oh my God, I was so relieved."

The New York City Fire Department said they found her using rescue boat FDNY Marine 8, and she was found in about 10 feet of water near Romer Shoal, an isolated lighthouse on a small rock outcropping about two and a half miles off Sandy Hook.

"My legs were numb; I could not feel them at that point. I had cramps all over my body. I was so thirsty. I kept telling the firefighters I had something in my tongue, but they said it was just swelled up because I was dehydrated."

Arnaud washed ashore on Great Kills Beach in Staten Island, where he was also found Monday morning, shortly after Plasencia was located.

Both were taken to Staten Island University Hospital. She was released that same day, but Arnaud was held for several days, both she and De Los Santos said. He was extremely dehydrated and hypothermic when rescue crews found him.

"Those life jackets saved their lives," said De Los Santos. "There are three big errors I think we made that night. 1. Stay together as a group on the water. Don't get separated from the group. 2. Have a whistle on your life jacket. And three, always have your cell phone fully charged."

But the U.S. Coast Guard stresses that cell phones should not be used as the primary communication method on the water. VHF radios and emergency position-indicating radio beacons (EPIRBs) should be used instead. Few people on Jet Skis use VHF radios, but they could have helped rescuers find Plasencia much earlier, when her Jet Ski first started taking on water.

Original story: Woman Survived 12 Hours Overnight Floating In Ocean Off Sandy Hook After Jet Ski Mishap (Aug. 12)