CEDAR KEY, Fla. (WFLA) — Two young girls are lucky to be alive after being stranded on their paddleboard overnight in the waters off Cedar Key, Florida. The Levy County Sheriff's office reported the girls, both 16, missing Monday evening after they tried to paddleboard to Cedar Key. Instead, strong winds and currents blew them well south of their intended destination. Will Pauling, a charter fishing captain, convinced two friends to go searching for the girls early Tuesday morning. "We have kids ourselves, and we wanted to get out there and, obviously, try finding them, and with the cold temps last night, figured it would be pretty difficult," Pauling said. Man ends up in ICU after getting chlamydia from bird-feeding The men knew a general area where they would start searching, but they said something guided them directly to a small island where the girls were. It only took them about 30 minutes to find the teens, they said. "We almost, in a weird way, drove straight to them," said Alex Jeffries. The men had to carry the girls to their boat because their feet had been cut up by sharp oyster shells. "They were stuck on their board, they couldn't get off their board because every which way was oysters, and if you are around here, oysters are very sharp," Jeffries said. They said the girls were cold, thirsty and hungry but were in good spirits. "They were still on the raft, frozen," Jeffries said. "They were really lighthearted about the situation. For what it was, nice to have a good attitude in a bad situation." "If we have the ability to find them, let's give it a shot," said Russ Coon, who was also part of the search effort. "What have we got to lose, and there was so much more to gain because when we did find them, there was literally nobody around us." The rescuers had towels to help the teens warm, as well as snacks and water on board. The girls were returned to family. ...read more read less