I can’t imagine the horrors of spending just a couple hours lost at sea, much less more than a whole day.
From the fear of getting eaten by sharks, to the helpless thought that nobody will find you, and you’ll die of starvation, dehydration, heat exhaustion, or freezing to death… this has to be an absolute nightmare.
And for one 25-year-old, he experienced these horrors first hand.
According to CNN, Charles Gregory set out on a fishing trip on Friday morning off the coast of St. Augustine, Florida, which he has done several times before.
However, things took a turn for the worse when a massive wave hit his 12-foot boat, sending him straight into the water.
He was able to get back on the boat, but was taken out to sea and was completely lost. He spent a whole 35-hours out there by himself as his boat was partially submerged.
Gregory’s dad, Raymond, said his son suffered jellyfish stings, and saw a number of sharks.
Raymond told the outlet:
“He was scared to death. He said he’s had more conversations with God in that 30 hours than he’s had his whole life.”
Funny how that works…
“At night being sunburnt, and the wind would be blowing, he said it was freezing cold out there in the water.”
Luckily, the U.S. Coast Guard was able to track him down 12 miles offshore, and boat crews saved Gregory from the shark and jellyfish infested waters.
Raymond also said that Charles is at home resting, as he’s suffering from exhaustion, dehydration, and Rhabdomyolosis, which causes the breakdown of damaged muscle and leads to muscle cell contents into the bloodstream.
After some rest and healing, Charles is expected to be fine.
