Gulf Coast Man Survives 19 Hours In Gulf

A Long Beach, Mississippi man fell off his boat near Ship Island Monday evening and spent 19 hours trying to swim and float back to shore.
29 year old Colin Rayner said he fought off strong currents, sharks and hallucinations.
It all started as a fishing trip about 6:00 Monday evening.
Rayner said he and a female friend were on his boat about six miles off the coast of Gulfport.
He said he went to go to the bathroom off the back of the boat without his life jacket, and his friend playfully pushed him.
Rayner said, "Before I knew it, she gave me a good shove on my back and I went in the water and the boat just started going."
Soon, the boat disappeared.
Rayner said it wasn't long before he saw rescue ships and a helicopter, but they didn't see him.
He said, "(The helicopter pilot) did some passes over me and around me and was close enough to where I saw the whites of his eyes. Finally, I saw that helicopter leave and I knew I was in some trouble."
As day turned into night, Rayner faced strong currents and other dangers.
He said, "Two sharks about fifteen minutes apart came and bumped my thigh and put their nose on it. The whole time I'm getting stung by jellyfish about every ten minutes everywhere."
Rayner said he even had hallucinations.
He said, "I was seeing beagles under the water. These beagles were just running around and playing and messing around with the sharks. I knew the beagles weren't real but I didn't know if the sharks (were)."
Finally, high tide eased the rip current and Rayner said he was able to swim to shore on Tuesday afternoon, 19 hours later.
He didn't give up, but he said he almost gave up twice.
Rayner said, "It was just peaceful, peaceful, and it was like something slapped me in the face and said, 'You idiot, you know, go now,' so I swam back up, and I thought about it. My sister is getting married tomorrow, and my dad is having his 80th birthday next week and I said, not this week, you can't die, you won't die and that's when I said I will not die."
Rayner was dehydrated, but not seriously hurt.