When Addison Bethea felt the tug on her leg, she thought it was her brother, Rhett, playing a prank. It was a hot Saturday afternoon and they were snorkelling off the Florida coast, scouring the seabed for scallops with a couple of Rhett’s friends. The shallow waters were familiar territory for the Betheas, born and raised in the state, but this was a novel experience for one of Rhett’s friends. “They were making jokes about sharks just to scare him,” Addison recalls.
The four had been swimming for 20 minutes or so when Addison felt something pulling at her right leg, strong enough to drag her beneath the surface. She and her brother had been passing the scallop bag back and forth all afternoon as they swam near Rhett’s new boat, jostling each other as they went. But when she surfaced, she saw that Rhett was in front of her.
