He was alone for about 20 hours in the Gulf of Mexico after falling off a cruise ship and being rescued. James Michael Grimes told his story on Friday, saying it taught him not to take life for granted.

"My worst fear is drowning and that was something I did not want to have to face," Grimes said as quoted by ABC's "Good Morning America." "I wanted to see my family again. I was dead set on making it out of there. I was never accepting that this was it, that this was going to be the end of my life."

The 28-year-old from Lafayette, Alabama, was on a Carnival cruise to Cozumel, Mexico, with 18 relatives when he fell overboard.

On Nov. 23, he won an air guitar event on the cruise and recalls informing his sister at 11 pm that he needed to use the restroom. What happened next is unknown. He claims he has no recollection of falling or landing in the water.

"When I came to, regained consciousness, I was in the water with no boat in sight," he said as quoted by ABC. "I can't float myself, even when I'm trying to. So there had to be ... the Lord was with me while I was out there because something was holding me up the whole time I was passed out."

Grimes claimed he saw the fin of a shark kicking at something that knocked into his leg at one point. He later chewed on a bamboo-looking stick he found floating in the water.

"It gave some type of flavor in my mouth other than saltwater," he said.

As the sun began to drop, Grimes noticed that the water became colder.

"At that time, I thought, how much longer am I going to have to be out here," he said. "The fall didn't kill me and the sea creatures didn't eat me. I felt like I was meant to get out here."

He then saw the lights of a tanker ship and started swimming toward it.

"I'd done taken off my socks and everything and was just waving them around my head, trying to do something where they could see me, and when that light finally hit me, somehow I heard, 'We got him,' and I seen a guy coming down from a helicopter and ... right then I thought, 'man I seen the light.'"

According to the Coast Guard, Grimes was recovered around 2:30 p.m. local time on Nov. 24, roughly 20 miles off the coast of Southwest Pass, Louisiana. 

It's been a week since the incident, and Grimes says the event opened his eyes. Grimes said he discovered a fortune cookie fortune in the pocket of a pair of pants he meant to wear on the trip while dressing "Life's a beach. Enjoy the waves."

Despite it all, Grimes said the event will not deter him from taking another trip.

"I might not get within 10-foot of the rails, but I'd definitely be open to going on another cruise, because I really didn't get to go on this one," he concluded according to ABC.