Ships put out to sea by the Carnival Cruise Line, referred to lovingly by some as “Carnivore” cruises, have a repute for being floating bacchanals. “Choose fun,” the corporate tells its cruisers.
James Michael Grimes took the corporate’s recommendation because the Carnival Valor floated all the way down to Cozumel, Mexico. The 28-year-old Alabama native was having the time of his life. But then he went just a little overboard. Actually, rather a lot overboard.
Around 11 p.m. on November 23, Grimes informed his sister he was going to make use of the lavatory and can be again shortly. He by no means got here again.
Grimes says he has no reminiscence of what occurred subsequent. “When I came to, regained consciousness, I was in the water,” he informed Good Morning America. In truth, the very last thing he remembers is profitable an air guitar contest. But he didn’t fret. He simply saved swimming.
By the time his household reported him lacking the next afternoon, Grimes had been within the Gulf of Mexico treading water for greater than 12 hours. And one thing caught his eye: “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.” (He refers to it as a sea creature.)
As for sustenance, Grimes informed GMA, “A stick come floatin’ by. It looked like bamboo. So I started eatin’ on it, and it actually—I’m not gonna say it tasted good but it gave some type of flavor in my mouth other than saltwater.”
It took the Coast Guard one other six hours to search out their lacking man, who was swimming towards a tanker—the search radius was 7,000 sq. miles. “The Lord was with me,” mentioned Grimes, who was in a position to climb aboard the rescue litter with the final ounce of power he had. Also, he was bare.
Grimes admits he drank throughout the day—he earned a free drink for his victory within the air guitar competitors. When GMA pressed him on precisely what number of drinks he had, Grimes replied: “I couldn’t really say.”
Nor ought to he.
For retaining his head above water, heading off sea creatures, being an air guitar champion, and desirous to go on one other cruise “because I really didn’t get to go on this one,” James Michael Grimes is a Washington Free Beacon Man of the Year.
