A cruise ship passenger survived approximately 20 hours in the ocean after falling off a cruise ship.
However, James Michael Grimes, 28, says that he has no idea how fell overboard. Grimes denies being drunk before the accident despite the fact that he was drinking while he was celebrating his win in an air guitar competition.
Grimes says he survived the 20-hour ordeal by treading water and eating bamboo.
Grimes had been in a bar on the ship with his sister celebrating his win in an air guitar contest when he visited the bathroom and never returned. His sister reported him missing 12 hours later.
Though Grimes says his drinking didn’t play a factor in his fall overboard, skeptics are buying it.
Grimes, in an interview with GMA, said he believes the fall knocked him unconscious. When he came to, there was no sign of the ship.
In the interview with GMA, he said, “The next thing I know I regained consciousness. I was in the water with no boat in sight. I felt like I was given a chance right then… you’re alive for a reason… that fall could’ve killed me, but I felt like from that moment on, I was trying to stay positive.”
He continued to say, “And, you know when you’re here, you’re still alive for a reason. So, all you got to do now is swim and survive. I was hoping… they will start looking for me… they will find me eventually.”
At one point Grimes said he felt something brush up against him and added, “I thought it was a shark. I mean, I was swimming in one direction and looked around I seen it out the corner of my eye and it came up on me really quick and went under and I could see it and it wasn’t a shark.”
He continued to describe the incident saying, “But it had more like a flat mouth and came up and bumped one of my legs and I kicked it with the other leg. It scared me not knowing what it was or, at the time, how big it was. All I could see was a fin.”
In another moment described by Grimes, he said, “A stick come floating by. Looked like bamboo so I started eating on it and it actually — I won’t say it tasted good but it gave some type of flavor in my mouth other than salt water.”
“When it started getting back towards nighttime again the water started getting colder, at that time I thought, you know, how much longer am I going to have to be out here? You know, the fall didn’t kill me, you know, sea creatures didn’t eat me, I felt like I was meant to get out of there,” he said.
Shortly after and almost out of energy, Grimes was rescued by the Coast Guard. A statement by the Coast Guard read, “We greatly appreciate the efforts of all, most especially the U.S. Coast Guard and the mariner who spotted the guest in the water.”
EXCLUSIVE: James Michael Grimes said he treaded water for nearly 20 hours after falling overboard overboard on a Carnival cruise ship on Thanksgiving Eve — battling jelly fish, rip currents and shark-infested waters before being airlifted by the U.S. Coast Guard.
@evapilgrim pic.twitter.com/DE4n6vdLhA
— Good Morning America (@GMA) December 2, 2022
