For about two hours, they tried catching up to the boat, but it kept slipping farther away with the waves.
Finally, they gave up and turned to the shoreline.
They still had on their floating vests and wetsuits, and so they locked arms like a man escorting a woman, floated on their backs and kicked toward the shore miles away.
As the hours wore on and they grew weaker from the exertion, they talked to keep awake and focused.
Then it got dark, and the water got colder. By 9 or 10 p.m. the water reached 74 degrees Fahrenheit, according to the National Weather Service. Thats cold enough to give people hypothermia, if theyre in the water long enough.
On two separate occasions, they got a nasty jolt when they saw the dark gray shark fin.
Eventually, they started hallucinating and hearing things, they said. Helicopters and boats appeared and disappeared, and distant voices would talk to them.
Kittle said he heard his father, a retired Air Force colonel. Hed say things like, Son, you can do this.
Occasionally, theyd hug to keep warm. Kittle was worried his friend would get hypothermia. Kittle had on two wetsuits, but Hines had just one, with short sleeves.
He kept hearing things, Kittle said. Hed say, What was that? What did you say? And Id say, Nothing. I was just kicking.
Once, about three or four hours into it, they saw a real boat with a search light perhaps one of the Coast Guard boats that started looking for them at 7:30 p.m. Sunday after they were reported missing by the boat renters.
But the boat left, and the two were alone in the dark water.
Coast Guard spokeswoman Roxanne Jensen said three boats and a helicopter swept the area for about four hours Sunday.
Eventually, the friends reached the uninhabited island and soon saw a nearby Coast Guard boat. They started yelling, blowing their emergency whistle and flashing S-O-S on their flashlight.
Almost an hour later, a fire department boat arrived to navigate through the mangroves and get them. It was about 11:30 p.m.
Luckily, the two didnt have to go to the hospital.
In fact, the first place they went afterward was Waffle House.
They showed up wrapped in towels and wolfed down a meal of waffles, steak and eggs.
And that hot chocolate was the best thing in the world, Hines said. It was awesome.
Days later, the two feel lucky to be alive and telling their story.
I definitely didnt think I was going to make it, Hines said. But I knew that if I was going to die, I was going to die swimming.
