Two Women, Two Dogs Adrift In The Pacific For Nearly Five Months
WHITFIELD: Welcome back. An amazing story of survival, two women and their dogs have been rescued after spending nearly five months adrift in the Pacific Ocean. CNN's Dan Simon has their incredible story.</s>DAN SIMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Fredricka, it was supposed to be an amazing adventure between friends and their dogs, but about a month into it, they hit turbulence and when their boat was badly mangled, they thought they would never be found.</s>SIMON (voice-over): Two friends and their dogs rescued at sea. Jennifer Appel and Tasha Fuiava along with their dogs, Suz and Valentine, had been stranded for nearly five months.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: When I saw the gray boat on the edge of the horizon, my heart leapt because I knew that we were about to be saved, because I honestly believed we were going to die within the next 24 hours.</s>SIMON: It all began on May 3rd, a planned voyage from Hawaii to Tahiti, but a few weeks in they would run into bad weather, crippling the boat, the mast and the engine broken. Veering badly off course, daily distress calls were useless. They were too far away for anyone to hear. But at one point, they did have some company, sharks.</s>JENNIFER APPEL, RESCUED AT SEA: I went downstairs with the boys and we basically laid, huddled on the floor and I told them not to bark, because the sharks could hear us breathing. They could smell us.</s>SIMON: But even in despair and a hopeless feeling of never being found, there were some bright spots.</s>TASHA FUIAVA, RESCUED AT SEA: There's different sun rises and sunsets every day. Your alive, you're fed, you have water, your boys are happy and there is love.</s>SIMON: And then a miraculous sudden break, a Taiwanese fishing vessel spotted their boat and contacted the U.S. Coast Guard. The pair discovered 900 miles southeast of Japan. Thousands of miles away from Tahiti. The "USS Ashland" reaching them on Wednesday morning. They'll stay aboard until the vessel's next port of call.</s>SIMON: Thanks to a year's worth of dry goods, including oatmeal and pasta they were able to survive. Thankfully, they also had a water purifier. But the bottom line is the forethought to bring more supplies than they thought they needed is how they were able to live -- Fredricka.</s>WHITFIELD: Amazing lesson. All right. Thank you so much, Dan Simon. All right, we'll be right back.