The Guy Who Fell Off A Cruise Ship And Treaded Water For 20 Hours Survived By Eating Bamboo And Fending Off Sea Creatures

Only one person had a worse Thanksgiving than Donald Trump: His name is James Michael Grimes, and he’s the guy who spent the holiday trapped in the middle of the Gulf of Mexico after falling off a cruise ship. For 20 hours he managed to stay alive, though at the time the news broke it wasn’t clear how. It still isn’t entirely clear, but he recently opened up to Good Morning America, telling a wild story about eating unusual things to stay alive and fending off sea creatures.

Grimes told GMA that on Thanksgiving Eve he had a couple drinks while on board a Carnival cruise ship. Though he wasn’t drunk, he doesn’t remember what happened between when he told his sister he was going to the bathroom and awaking to find himself in the water, with no ship in sight.

For the next 20 hours, he managed to tread water and battle jellyfish. At one point he encountered some unidentified critter with a fin.

“It came up on me really quick and I went under, and I could see it. And it wasn’t a shark, I don’t believe,” Grimes recalled. “But it had more like a flat mouth, and it came up and bumped one of my legs, and I kicked it with the other leg. It scared me, not knowing what it was, all I could see was a fin.”

How did he keep up his energy over the long time? By eating what he could, including bamboo that floated by him.

“It gave some type of flavor in my mouth other than saltwater,” Grimes said. “I was never accepting that this is it — this is going to be the end of my life.”

It wasn’t until late into Thanksgiving Day, around 8:25 pm, that a Coast Guard tanker spotted him and fished him out of the water. Not only did he miraculously survive, but his condition was stable. Surely Hollywood will be calling him, ready to gift the world with the next 127 Hours.

(Via Insider)