James Michael Grimes lost consciousness aboard a cruise ship en route to the Mexican Caribbean and woke up alone, floating in the middle of the ocean and "with no ship in sight."
The story of his rescue is "one of those Thanksgiving miracles," according to the Coast Guard, which located him within seconds of collapsing from exhaustion.
"This case is unlike any other I've been involved in," said an officer with 17 years of service behind him, "it really shows that the desire to survive is something you have to take into account in a search and rescue operation. ".
When he was found floating in the sea after hours of searching, Grimes "had nothing left, he had no energy, he had nothing to give," said Richard Hoefle, one of the Coast Guard rescue team members.
"He had a minute left before we lost him," he explained to news station WWL-TV.
Grimes, 28, of Alabama, had spent about 20 hours fighting for her life at sea after falling from the nearly 3,000-passenger Carnival Valor cruise ship shortly after departing New Orleans, Louisiana on November 23. in the direction of Cozumel, in Mexico, together with several members of his family.
He was drinking in the ship's bar, and at one point he excused himself to go to the bathroom, according to his sister, but he says he doesn't remember how he ended up in the sea.
"The Lord was with me when I was out there," she told ABC News, "because something kept me going the whole time I was unconscious."
James Michael Grimes, 28, fell overboard in the Gulf of Mexico.AP
The next day at noon, her sister reported her missing, according to a statement CNN obtained from Carnival spokesman Matt Lupoli.
The vessel "retraced its route to assist in the search and rescue," Lupoli said, retracing its path to its home port with guidance from the Coast Guard, which took command of the rescue operation.
The search was conducted up to 200 miles off the US Gulf coast, with water at 70 degrees Fahrenheit overnight.
Grimes, meanwhile, was "absolutely determined to survive."
"My worst fear is drowning, and that was something I didn't want to face," he explained in his interview with ABC News.
But, in addition to the ocean currents, he had to deal with jellyfish and other creatures that brushed against his legs but he couldn't identify.
"It came at me really fast, I dove in and I could see it, it wasn't a shark I think," she explained, "it scared me, not knowing what it was, all I could see was a fin."
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When he began to lose strength, he found a stick "that looked like bamboo" and began to bite it, he said, to get the taste of the salty water out of his mouth.
By late afternoon, the water began to cool, and he wondered, "How much longer am I going to be here?"
"I felt like I had a chance," he explained, the fall could have killed him but he was still alive "for some reason," so he tried to stay "positive." "I've always thought there's a greater purpose in life," he said, now I'm sure I'm meant to do something on this Earth."
After spending almost a day in the water, he saw the lights of a freighter go by and used what was left of his energy to swim towards it, according to his account.
It was 8:25 at night.
The boat alerted the Coast Guard, and Grimes, seeing rescuers arrive, waved his socks, his only remaining piece of clothing, to warn them.
"The first thing I actually said to [the rescuer] was, 'I don't have any clothes,' because I had stripped," she recalls. "He said, 'OK.'
I was like, 'thank you, you're a guardian angel coming down for me.'
He was airlifted to New Orleans and hospitalized.
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Now back on his feet, he concludes, "I might not go within 10 feet of the railings, but I'm definitely open to going on another cruise, because I really couldn't go on this one."