Here is the horrifying story of a man who endured nearly 20 hours in shark-infested waters after falling off of a cruise in the Gulf of Mexico.
Back in 2022, US man James Michael Grimes embarked on what should of been a luxury trip from New Orleans to Mexico with his family in order to celebrate Thanksgiving.
The family set out onboard the Carnival Valor cruise liner and were enjoying their first night together, with Grimes even winning a free drink in an air guitar competition.
However, things would soon go dreadfully wrong.
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The exact sequence of events which took place on the night in question are unclear, however, it is understood that Grimes had informed his sister that he was going to the bathroom at around 11pm.
It is around this point in time in which he would fall overboard from the cruise and into the Gulf of Mexico.
Grimes, who was 28-years-old at the time, doesn't remember telling his sister about going to the bathroom or how he ended up in the water, only regaining consciousness to find himself alone at sea.
Over the next 20 hours, Grimes would find himself fighting to stay alive as he kept himself afloat by treading water before being airlifted to safety by the US Coast Guard.
"When I regained consciousness, I was in the water with no boat in sight," the Alabama native later recalled in an interview with ABC News.
"I can't float myself, even if I'm trying to so the Lord was with me when I was out there because something was holding me up the whole time while I was passed out.
"My worst fear is drowning and it was something I did not want to have to face."
Back onboard, it would take the rest of the family 12 hours to realise that Grimes was missing - after he failed to materialise from his cabin - and raise the alarm.
As the Coast Guard began scouring the waters for Grimes, staying afloat wasn't his only concern during the 20 hours.
The Gulf of Mexico is known to be home to various different types of sharks as well as stingrays and jellyfish.
Exhausted from his attempts to stay afloat, Grimes ate a 'stick floating by' to give his mouth a flavour which wasn't 'salt water'. He later spotted the lights from a tanker ship and swam towards it to signal for help.
The Coast Guard would arrive moments later, with his rescue subsequently captured on camera.
"I was just thinking, 'Thank you. You are like a guardian angel coming down for me,'" he recalled of the moment.
He would later admit that it was thoughts of his daughter which kept him going, telling PEOPLE: "I kept thinking about how badly I wanted to see my nine-year-old daughter Annabeth while making up songs that I sang to myself."
Topics: Travel, Sharks, Cruise Ship, US News
Brenna Cooper