A San Diego woman spent 15 hours at sea clinging to a half-inflated raft off the coast of Central California overnight Tuesday.
The 45-year-old woman, who was visiting Pacific Grove, traveled a mile and a half into the Monterey Bay to watch Tuesday’s sunset from a dinghy, NBC affiliate KSBW reports.
However, her motor failed around 6:30 p.m., and her raft started losing air.
As darkness set in and the water temperature dropped to the low 50s, the woman was forced to lay partially submerged for hours in shorts and a sweatshirt.
A fisherman found her at 9:30 a.m. Wednesday and called the Coast Guard, who rescued her about ten minutes later.
According to KSBW, the Coast Guard said she was suffering from hypothermia, but was remarkably alert.
Officials credit the life jacket she was wearing for saving her life, but Coast Guard Monterey Division Chief Mike Aguilera said even with a jacket, people can usually only survive up to ten hours in 50-degree water.
