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© Lynn Burton
Angela Tate and her son Terry were hanging out with family friend Lynn Burton and her daughter Cassie on their sailboat when they were overcome by bees.

"We were anchored out about a mile south of the 192 causeway," explained Tate. "We were all just hanging out having fun and everything then all of a sudden the three of us were on the boat he was on a kayak on the back of the boat and a swarm of bees started coming at us."

Tate says they bailed jumping into the water.

"They just kept coming and coming. We figured, 'oh they'll just keep going.' They never left. They just kept coming and coming on the boat and made this huge nest looking thing on the boat," she said.

Luckily, they all had on life jackets. Tate credits her friend with making a bold move to get them to safety.

"Brave Lynn went up and got her phone ... and they called the squad in to get us. We were just a bit more scared that we were all gonna get stung than anything," she said.

The crew was on the water for about a half an hour before they were rescued by the U.S. Coast Guard.

"It was so surreal but then once they kept coming we really didn't understand what was happening we just jumped in the water and watched this all going on we couldn't figure out what attracted them to our boat," said Lynn Burton.

The crew only had two or three bites between them.

Malabar Beekeeper Lyndon Jones says these were regular honey bees. He says they were swarming or mating over the ocean and needed to rest. He believes the wild bees are dying out so they're trying to reproduce for survival.