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00:00Two scuba divers are exploring a remote tropical dive site.
00:06But when they're separated from their boat in bad weather,
00:10they're left stranded in an ocean full of danger.
00:14What was that?
00:15It's coming right up.
00:17With no sign of rescue, they have only each other
00:20to keep themselves alive.
00:24Facing exhaustion, dehydration, and constant fear,
00:28they fight for their lives in shark-infested waters.
00:33What it takes to survive on I Shouldn't Be Alive.
00:37Oh, my God!
00:47Something just touched my leg.
00:49Ah!
00:54Ah!
00:58The Solomon Islands lie 1,200 miles northeast of Australia.
01:04They're a remote chain of lush volcanic islands
01:06surrounded by an amazing variety of sea life.
01:11The island of Gadigai has just 1,000 inhabitants
01:14and is rarely visited by foreigners.
01:17But tired of the rat race,
01:18Melissa Armstrong quit her job as a hotel manager in Toronto
01:22and has come here in search of adventure.
01:25I didn't know what to expect,
01:26going to the Solomon Islands for the first time.
01:29I was really wanting to make a change in my life.
01:33I wasn't feeling fulfilled.
01:35And I thought, okay, this will be an adventure.
01:38She's landed a job working with marine researcher David Tomlinson
01:42who spent almost 30 years studying oceans.
01:45I began diving in 1963 in the Bahamas.
01:48I'm very lucky to be able to study much of our oceans
01:51and see things that not a lot of people get a chance to see.
01:54Hey.
01:55Hi.
01:56How you doing?
01:57Good.
01:58Stephen, Peter, this is Melissa.
01:59Hey.
02:00So you all set to see Kavachi?
02:02Yeah.
02:03All right.
02:04Come on aboard.
02:06Kavachi is a submarine volcano.
02:10David studies its activity,
02:12but since he filmed this eruption,
02:14it's disappeared beneath the waves.
02:16Now he wants to find out what's left under the surface.
02:20The four of us went out, and the weather seemed to be ideal.
02:23Everything was supposed to go like clockwork.
02:28The dive site is 20 miles offshore.
02:31For Melissa, this dive will be her furthest from land.
02:35I was excited.
02:36I felt good about the dive.
02:38It wasn't until I went out there that I thought,
02:40oh, wow, I'm really out in the middle of nowhere.
02:46And then when we got to the dive site,
02:49I thought, there's something wrong.
02:53What's up?
02:55Nothing.
02:58Maybe I'm just a little nervous.
03:01What about?
03:03I was a little embarrassed because I wanted to be like the guys,
03:07one of the guys, and I said, I'm afraid of sharks.
03:12Oh, you don't have to worry about sharks.
03:15They're much more afraid of us than we are of them.
03:18I doubt it.
03:19I'm serious.
03:20They hardly ever bother divers.
03:22Now, if you were up on the surface like a surfer,
03:25flapping around, then you'd look like shark bait.
03:29But when you're down below, there's nothing to worry about.
03:32Can you zip me up?
03:34If it was me, I wouldn't be worried about the sharks.
03:36I'd be worried about you diving right on top of a volcano.
03:40Well, that wasn't something I had ever even contemplated.
03:43So now I'm thinking sharks, volcano exploding,
03:47sharks and volcano.
03:49Don't listen to him.
03:51It wasn't safe.
03:52We wouldn't be here.
03:53But David knows more than he's letting on.
03:56I had heard from the local fishermen
03:58that there was a couple of big sharks out here,
04:00big hammerheads, that had been coming in and bothering
04:03some of the local fishermen.
04:07But at that stage, she didn't need to know that.
04:12David has dived with sharks before
04:14and is confident they won't get attacked while underwater.
04:17He's more worried about the weather.
04:19We're watching the weather very carefully
04:21because it's very exposed out there.
04:23And I noticed off in the distance a funny-looking cloud.
04:25It looked like an eyebrow.
04:27But it was nothing that deeply concerned me.
04:29David's sure they'll be in and out of the water
04:31long before the cloud reaches them.
04:34So what's your dog plan, huh?
04:35Well, we're going to drop in around 30 meters.
04:37Have a look around.
04:38His plan is to dive for around a half an hour
04:40while the boat stays in position above them.
04:43The boatman went over exactly where we would be dropped off,
04:46exactly where we would be picked up.
04:49I didn't pay too much attention.
04:50I just let them do their thing.
04:54But the anxiety just kept growing and growing.
05:11Come on in.
05:12The water's fantastic.
05:13Fantastic.
05:19Then I got my gear on.
05:21I looked at the boatman, and I said, here I go.
05:25Say a prayer for me.
05:27And I thought, well, why did I say that?
05:43The dive was completely different than anything
05:45I'd ever experienced.
05:47It was amazing.
05:48We started going through this white haze.
05:51It was quite dreamlike, and there were
05:53bubbles funneling up around us.
05:56They can't see Kivachi because its peak now
05:58lies nearly 200 feet beneath them,
06:01deeper than they can safely descend.
06:03The volcano reaches up almost one mile above the seabed.
06:07It's covered with vents that release hot sulfur
06:09dioxide into the water.
06:11This rises towards the divers in the form
06:13of bubbles and clouds.
06:19It was such an amazing celestial scene.
06:21It was just breathtaking.
06:29After 30 minutes, the divers ascend.
06:31That was amazing, wasn't it?
06:33It was awesome.
06:34The weather has changed dramatically.
06:37The dark cloud David had spotted earlier is now above them.
06:41God, it's really choppy now.
06:42Yeah.
06:48There's the boat, it's miles away.
06:51Yeah, the current must be really strong.
06:56Hey!
06:58Hey, guys!
07:00Hey!
07:05We're behind you!
07:08Hey!
07:11I remember thinking, OK, that's no big deal.
07:14I was just looking forward to getting in the boat
07:16and putting a towel around myself.
07:19And then they didn't turn around.
07:23We've got the engines on.
07:24I can't hear us over the engines.
07:26Turn them off!
07:28Cut the engines!
07:30Turn it off!
07:32Hey!
07:33I said, David, why aren't they turning around?
07:35And he couldn't answer that question.
07:37You're yelling, you're screaming at the top of your voice.
07:40Why isn't he looking?
07:41We're here.
07:42Can't you see us?
07:44The boatmen know the divers must be out of air by now.
07:47They expect to see them surface, but the dark sky
07:50has made the divers impossible to spot.
07:53While the engine keeps the boat in position,
07:55they have no idea that a strong current is
07:57pulling the divers further away.
07:59Where are they going?
08:01They're not going anywhere.
08:03They are.
08:04No, it's the current.
08:06It's pulling us away.
08:07Yes, you feel anger.
08:08You feel like, come on, turn around and have a look at us.
08:10Why aren't you looking at us?
08:12Hey!
08:13The current was pushing us away.
08:15We could see him.
08:17They couldn't see us.
08:19Running the engine to hold the boat in position
08:21is burning up gas.
08:23If the boatmen don't leave soon, they risk
08:25being stranded in the ocean.
08:28One of them makes a desperate attempt
08:29to locate the missing divers, but he has no idea
08:32just how far away they are now.
08:35With the gas tank almost empty, the boatmen
08:37have no other choice but to return to the island
08:39to get help.
08:40Guys, no!
08:43It happened quite quickly.
08:45We watched them disappear as if the sea swallowed them up.
08:51I said, David, this is bad.
08:54This is really, really, really bad.
08:58But it's about to get even worse.
09:02I still had faith that they would come back,
09:05ride over the waves like heroes,
09:07and pluck us out of the water.
09:10But they didn't.
09:12We are absolutely alone, miles away from land.
09:17I knew we were in trouble.
09:20So do you think we could swim for it?
09:23No.
09:25It's too far.
09:27They're going to be looking for us down there.
09:29They're going to be looking for us down current.
09:31I think we should just stay put.
09:35I said, let's not ruin the chance of them finding us.
09:38The boat driver was the only one that knew we were in trouble.
09:41And he knew that if he'd come looking for us,
09:43he'd come down current.
09:44So we were going to stay down current.
09:47How do you know they're coming back?
09:49Well, if they went to get gas, it's an hour there.
09:53And it's an hour back, so.
09:57I think we'll be out of the water by 4 o'clock the latest.
10:01Yeah?
10:03David had come up with a timetable, so to speak,
10:06of when the boatman might return, which was about 4 o'clock.
10:12I thought, OK, we might be here a while.
10:15But then the uncertainty started seeping in.
10:20David.
10:24David, are you looking for something?
10:28Just being aware, that's all.
10:31Are we in danger here, David?
10:33I really, really, really do not want to get eaten by sharks.
10:37Hey, you need to calm down.
10:40I think at that point, a bit of anger was coming in.
10:44He should have known better.
10:45How could we be in this situation?
10:47Please don't tell me to calm down.
10:49We're in the middle of the ocean.
10:50You've lost that boat.
10:52I think I have the right to vent here.
10:54I won't say what I said, but I swore a little bit.
10:58Melissa's reacting as one might expect.
11:01She had a little bit of a dummy spit,
11:03and she was swearing profusely.
11:06She's relying on me to ensure that everything went smoothly.
11:10And at that stage, I'd shot myself in the foot big time.
11:14And it just was turning sour.
11:17David and Melissa ignore each other,
11:20forgetting they're floating in a powerful current.
11:23David.
11:26David!
11:27Separation in a scenario like that can be deadly.
11:32Come here.
11:35We had to try to swim against a knot to a knot and a half current.
11:38Swim to me.
11:40With the equipment that we had, that was almost impossible.
11:49Just a couple seconds of being apart,
11:51I thought, oh, my gosh, we just can't let that happen.
11:56I took her regulator, shoved it in through my BC,
12:00which was an easy way of making sure that we didn't get separated.
12:05Hey!
12:0820 miles away, the boatmen return to the island and raise the alarm.
12:13The locals know giant hammerhead sharks have been preying on fishermen.
12:18The divers are incredibly vulnerable.
12:21Rescuers race out to sea to search for them.
12:26David and Melissa can only hope help is on the way.
12:30But with each passing hour, they get more nervous.
12:34In the Solomons, there's a phenomenal amount of sea life there.
12:38Our biggest fear at that stage, I believe, was sharks.
12:44I can imagine them circling below us.
12:48This big mouth coming up and tearing into one of us.
13:00What was that?
13:01What?
13:02Was that you?
13:03Something's on my leg.
13:04Get it off!
13:05It's my gauge.
13:06It's my gauge.
13:07Get it off me!
13:08I'm trying.
13:09Would you stop kicking?
13:10Look, there's nothing down there.
13:12There's everything down there.
13:14If there's anything dangerous down there.
13:16Like sharks, you mean?
13:17Yeah.
13:18Just say it.
13:19Yeah, and you keep kicking and splashing,
13:20they're sure as heck going to come and check us out, right?
13:23All I could think about was sharks.
13:28One nibble, one drop of blood in the water,
13:32and then we're gone.
13:38The search parties have reached Kavachi.
13:40They have no idea that David and Melissa
13:42have already drifted miles away in the current.
13:45They continue to search above the volcano.
13:52David was convinced they would be found by 4 o'clock.
13:56Now it's almost 5, and still no sign of rescue boats.
14:01It was very clear that David wanted to stay still.
14:04He didn't want to move.
14:05He wanted to conserve his energy.
14:08I remember turning around and just looking all around me
14:12and just seeing all this water.
14:15And then looking at the land again and thinking,
14:17there's no other option.
14:20I really think we should try and swim.
14:24David looked in my eyes, and he knew at that point
14:26that there's no arguing.
14:28We're going to start swimming.
14:30OK.
14:33Take it nice and easy, OK?
14:36No splashing.
14:38I'm going to keep my hand under water.
14:40Keep it like that, OK?
14:44Nice and easy.
14:45OK.
14:46David's reluctant to start swimming,
14:48because with 30 years diving experience,
14:50he knows that splashing on the surface creates its own risks.
14:55Having watched the oceans and observed what happens there
14:57my whole life, there was a pretty strong likelihood
14:59that some sharks would come up and have a good look at us.
15:03You're on edge.
15:04Totally.
15:06It was not a good feeling, not at all.
15:09While David keeps watch below the surface,
15:12Melissa scans above for any sign of danger.
15:17You see these pointed gray waves,
15:20and then all of a sudden, you think you see fins.
15:24What?
15:26And so your mind plays tricks with you.
15:30What?
15:31Nothing.
15:33Sorry.
15:35It was a constant battle to not let my imagination go.
15:40But the dangers hidden beneath the ocean
15:42are not just in Melissa's mind.
15:46Ow!
15:47Something gripped me.
15:48What?
15:49Where?
15:50Ow!
15:51Ah!
15:52Ah!
15:55Then I looked in the water,
15:57and there were millions of these little globs,
16:02little translucent balls.
16:05And I was like, oh, my God.
16:08And there were millions of these little globs,
16:13little translucent balls.
16:17Oh!
16:18Jellyfish!
16:19Ah!
16:20The jellyfish had thin tentacles covered with cells.
16:23When disturbed by the divers, each one explodes,
16:26sending thousands of poisonous barbed stingers
16:28into the divers' flesh.
16:30The toxic fluid oozes to the surface of their skin,
16:33causing painful blisters.
16:36While hundreds of thousands of jellyfish
16:38can make up one swarm, the divers must fight their way through.
16:42All right, look, they hurt, but they're not gonna kill you,
16:44OK?
16:45Swim through them.
16:46Come on.
16:47Ah!
16:50We were swimming through countless amounts of them.
16:55We were getting stung all over the place.
16:58I remember trying to count the stings.
17:00I got up to 64.
17:03But then it all blended into one.
17:05It was just the zapping pain that was
17:07shooting through my entire body.
17:10Oh!
17:11They've made it through the jellyfish,
17:12but they're covered in painful stings.
17:15My lip is killing me.
17:17My hands are on fire.
17:19That's OK.
17:20It'll go down in about an hour.
17:24Are you OK to go on?
17:27Yeah.
17:28Yeah?
17:29Desperate to escape the jellyfish,
17:31the divers splashed around on the surface.
17:34They broke David's golden rule and had
17:36become a magnet for predators.
17:39As I'm looking around, I'm looking straight down.
17:41And I see this little dot coming.
17:45I felt David, he pulled me to the right abruptly.
17:49David!
17:50David, what are you doing?
17:51I pulled back, and he pulled me.
17:53And I'm like, what?
17:54What?
17:55What?
17:57It was coming straight at me from the depths,
17:59literally from what I could see straight in my face.
18:03He's coming right at him!
18:06Oh, my god!
18:08It was this huge, ugly barracuda,
18:10probably five and a half feet.
18:12They can be very aggressive, and they have been
18:15known to attack people before.
18:16Oh, my god!
18:17David, what's he doing?
18:19All he has to do is hit me in my hand, my arm, my leg.
18:22If I start bleeding, I've got another major problem.
18:25I've got a problem with sharks.
18:27Against two sets of razor-sharp teeth,
18:30David's only defense is his camera.
18:32I needed something to ram and protect us.
18:34That was the first thing to use.
18:44It circled around us, and then it went off.
18:48You couldn't believe it didn't do anything else.
18:51It's gone.
18:53I kept looking for it, because I just didn't want to be caught
18:56by surprise by one of those.
19:10With daylight fading, the search parties return to the island.
19:15They've spent over six hours searching for the missing divers.
19:19They'll resume again in the morning,
19:21but everyone knows that by then,
19:23the odds are they'll be looking for dead bodies.
19:28As the sun went down, I felt really sad.
19:34I didn't understand why they didn't come back for us.
19:38I didn't... I was hurt.
19:42How could this be?
19:45How could they not come back?
19:48Maybe they're back there looking.
19:54We should just keep swimming.
19:57Come on, we're covering good ground.
20:00Outwardly, you're bold and brave,
20:03and you're sort of smiling,
20:05and inside, you're packing it.
20:08With night coming, that was a totally different scenario,
20:11because a lot of animals come up to the surface and feed at night time.
20:17I found myself thinking we were there to get eaten.
20:24Fears aside, they have no other option,
20:27so they keep on swimming.
20:42Over a thousand miles away,
20:44David's older brother Owen is home with his family.
20:47It was about 6.30 at night.
20:49I just sat down to dinner.
20:51Owen Tomlinson.
20:53And it was David's secretary from Cairns
20:56saying, Owen, I've got some bad news for you.
21:00David is missing at sea.
21:02What happened?
21:04And I was informed that he went diving and never came up.
21:09We'd just lost our younger sister with cancer
21:12about four or five months previous.
21:14My first thought was my 90-year-old mother,
21:17whether she could handle the shock
21:19of possibly having lost another of her children,
21:22so that was very traumatic in that regard.
21:24OK, OK, I'll get there as soon as I can.
21:26As David's brother, of course,
21:28your first reaction is, what can I do to fix it?
21:31Hello. Yeah, I'd like a flight to the Solomon Islands.
21:35The first flight available was 3.30 in the morning.
21:38Eight hours and a bit off,
21:40and he felt inept, I guess,
21:42because he didn't know what to do.
21:45And he felt inept, I guess, impotent,
21:47whatever word is applicable,
21:49that I couldn't do anything that time span.
21:51Thank you, bye.
21:53And David was wherever he was, out at sea somewhere.
22:04As night started wrapping itself around us,
22:08it was completely terrifying.
22:15Nancy. What?
22:17Stop. What is it? Stop swimming.
22:19Slow down.
22:21All of a sudden, I find that every time
22:23we move our arm or our leg, the water's glowing.
22:30The mysterious light is caused
22:32by microscopic plankton in the water.
22:34The slightest motion causes them
22:36to emit a visible glow called bioluminescence.
22:39With hundreds of millions of them
22:41in the water around the divers,
22:43their movement leaves a trail of light.
22:46Wow.
22:53Stop. Stop.
22:55But it's beautiful.
22:57Yeah. We move, we get seen.
23:00That really stopped us from swimming
23:02because I said, Melissa, we can't keep swimming now
23:05because it's lighting up around us,
23:07something's going to see us.
23:10I was trying to recharge her batteries,
23:12allowing her to stretch out,
23:14and just try to use a minimum amount of energy
23:16but enough to keep herself warm.
23:18We're really getting rather tired.
23:20We can't sleep. We don't dare sleep
23:22because if we fall asleep, we could drown.
23:32I had taken my mask off,
23:35and I remember putting my arm through it.
23:39I went to reach for it. It was gone.
23:42Oh, God.
23:48Can you see it?
23:56That's horrible because as far as survival is concerned,
23:59that's such an important tool.
24:03No!
24:25Oh, David! What was that?
24:27What?
24:28Something just touched my work.
24:30Something just touched my leg.
24:31Was that you?
24:32Was that your fin, David?
24:33Well, that wasn't me.
24:34Oh, my god.
24:36I feel just a little bump, just like something
24:38brushed up against me.
24:42I said, is it sharks?
24:43Is it sharks?
24:43Is it sharks?
24:44Yeah.
24:51David and Melissa have been adrift in the South Pacific
24:54for over 12 hours.
24:56Trails of luminous plankton have made them stop swimming.
25:00Whatever's causing the flashes now, it's not them.
25:04Oh, my god.
25:07What was that?
25:08We were seeing little explosions of light within, you know,
25:115, 10 meters of us.
25:12Ah!
25:13God!
25:14Did you see that?
25:15There'd be a flicker of light, and then another one,
25:18and then another one.
25:20What sort of fish they were, I don't know.
25:22Any minute.
25:24You expect something's going to hit you.
25:26Oh, my god.
25:29Your fear is unbelievable.
25:42The night was the most stressful time
25:45I've ever had in my life.
25:47It was, as far as your emotional lows are concerned,
25:52I don't have to rank up there with them,
25:54because I've never been so hopeless.
25:59Every minute that we're out there,
26:02you become less convinced that we're going to get out of it.
26:07We're in a really bad place here.
26:10I don't know what's going to happen.
26:14Part of what we went through was discussing what we pass on.
26:20If I don't survive, tell my kids I love them.
26:23I love them.
26:29And my family.
26:31It's scary.
26:32Oh!
26:32Oh!
26:33Oh!
26:34Oh!
26:38It was really important for me that if he were to survive,
26:42I wanted him to tell my mom and dad
26:43that they were good parents.
26:50He started crying, and he said, you're
26:53going to live to be very old.
26:54You're going to have children.
26:58And that was hard.
27:03I had fought against the idea of death.
27:18And then this transition happened,
27:20where you're talking about it.
27:22You're accepting it.
27:33David and Melissa were 19 miles out at sea.
27:37I'm looking out the windows of my plane, and it's black.
27:41And I'm thinking, they're down there in the water
27:43somewhere, and it's black.
27:47You really feel very useless, because there's
27:51nothing you can do.
27:53A lot runs through your mind.
27:55It really does.
27:59Obviously, I hope he's alive and he's floating somewhere.
28:03If not, what do I do?
28:05How do I bring a body back?
28:17There was one point where I thought,
28:19maybe David can just hold me under.
28:29And I couldn't allow myself to die that way.
28:36I couldn't do that to my family.
28:39I couldn't dishonor them.
28:41I couldn't do it.
28:44I just said, David, I don't care.
28:47I don't care if I die.
28:48I've got to die trying.
28:50I'm not going to lay here anymore.
28:53We've got to swim.
28:58We've got to swim.
29:00Please?
29:03And he said, OK.
29:05All right, let's go for it.
29:07He said, just go really slow.
29:11And so we kicked, and we didn't stop kicking.
29:17Both divers know the decision to swim
29:19will create a bioluminescent trail that
29:22makes them a target for sharks.
29:27Against all odds, they've survived the longest
29:30night of their lives.
29:38After living through that darkness
29:40and then seeing the light, it just changed.
29:44It just gave me something I didn't have.
29:47It was glorious just seeing that sun.
29:54It was one of the brightest sunrises
29:56I've ever seen in my life.
29:58Just to watch the light come up was great.
30:01I could actually see, for the first time, the land.
30:05I could see that it was actually tangible.
30:07Oh, we're getting closer.
30:11It is closer.
30:13They swam nearly 10 miles.
30:16David's had no sleep at all.
30:17They're both dehydrated and completely wiped out.
30:21I was getting really tired.
30:23I've been going for 24 hours at that stage.
30:27There's no telling how long they can keep going.
30:33David's brother, Owen, could be their only hope of rescue.
30:36He's finally arrived in the Solomon Islands,
30:38but there's no official search and rescue organization.
30:41He needs to charter his own helicopter, and fast.
30:46When we got the helicopter chartering service,
30:49they weren't really sitting around waiting for me.
30:51They were doing other things.
30:54And I'm standing in the counter saying, come on, come on,
30:56you know?
30:57I want to get this up and going.
31:00Owen knows that every second could be the difference
31:03between life and death.
31:05Hi.
31:06Yes, sir.
31:07I need a helicopter as soon as possible.
31:10OK, what for?
31:11My brother's gone missing me, Kavachi.
31:14I'll have to talk to my boss first.
31:16So if you'd like to take a seat.
31:18It was a bit upsetting because you
31:19wanted to find the two of them as quickly as possible.
31:22Mr. Tomlinson, good news.
31:24We've got a chopper on standby for you.
31:26Oh, that's great.
31:27And I said, well, get him out there.
31:28Get him going.
31:29One minute.
31:31Finally, the divers have a chance of rescue.
31:34OK, boys, we're ready to go.
31:39David and Melissa have swam 14 miles without rest, food,
31:42or fresh water.
31:44Now the hot sun is adding to their suffering.
31:48My lips were so raw and swollen.
31:54And now the sun was burning them,
31:56so they were starting to blister.
32:03David's in an even worse state.
32:06I was dehydrated.
32:07I was starving.
32:08I was running on less than empty at that stage.
32:13Out of food, David's blood sugar levels crash.
32:17His brain senses this and starts to reduce its activity
32:20to conserve energy.
32:21It's trying to shut down and sleep.
32:24I was starting not to think straight.
32:26You all right?
32:30You all right?
32:33You OK?
32:38You OK to swim along?
32:42I remember him looking at the land and saying, oh, look.
32:47Look at those condominiums.
32:53And I said, there's no condominiums.
32:56There's no condominiums.
33:09That's really when I realized he was fading.
33:19I was getting closer to almost total exhaustion,
33:26we finally heard it.
33:29It's a helicopter.
33:32That wakes you up fast.
33:35It's the helicopter chartered by David's brother.
33:38Rescue is finally in sight.
33:41It was the most beautiful thing I've ever seen in my life.
33:47It was amazing.
33:48And here it comes, and we waved and did all the right things.
33:51But we're wearing suits that are black and blue.
33:54We don't stick out.
33:56We need something reflective.
33:57We're all over here.
33:59Find something reflective.
34:02Hey!
34:06We've made it through this hellish night.
34:08The sharks didn't get us.
34:10Yay, here's the helicopter, and they're here to save us,
34:14and everything's going to be OK.
34:17They get closer and closer, and we're trying to signal.
34:20And then, and then, and then they turned.
34:31They can't see us.
34:37And then they went off.
34:39And that was disheartening, to say the least.
34:50Then we just pressed on towards the land,
34:55because there's no other choice but to keep going.
34:58The exhausted divers still face a four-mile swim to shore.
35:04For David, it's a terrifying prospect.
35:08I didn't totally mention to Melissa at that stage
35:11that I believe the greatest fear we're going to have
35:14is that last bit, right in close to the shore,
35:17because it's an area I wanted to fish,
35:19because there's so much sea life,
35:21including your upper main major predators.
35:28And at the same time, I didn't tell her
35:29about two big 20-plus foot hammerheads
35:32that I heard about that have been bothering the fishermen.
35:37So that deeply concerned me, but she didn't need to know that.
35:41But what David doesn't know is that his fins have been chafing
35:44his ankles, and he's now bleeding profusely.
35:48The blood is quickly diluted in the ocean,
35:50but the shark doesn't need much to lead it to its prey.
35:54The folded membranes in its nose are lined with millions
35:57of chemical sensors that give it an extraordinary sense of smell.
36:0210,000 times more powerful than humans,
36:04hammerheads can smell one drop of blood
36:07in a million drops of seawater.
36:10I remember thinking,
36:12what's that piece of plastic sticking out of the water?
36:16It looks like a sailboat's on its end,
36:19or almost like a kayak sticking straight up out of the water.
36:22Well, what's that plastic?
36:25Oh, David! David!
36:28It's our shark!
36:30What?
36:31It's our fin!
36:32Oh, my God!
36:34That woke me up.
36:35It woke me up.
36:36Oh, my God!
36:37That woke me up.
36:38What did it look like?
36:40I said, did it sort of look like this?
36:43And she says, yeah.
36:44And what I sketched with my finger
36:46was a dorsal fin of a hammerhead shark.
36:49Oh, God!
36:50Oh, my God!
36:51Oh, God!
36:55David and Melissa survived a terrifying night
36:57in the Pacific Ocean.
36:59Now, just offshore, their worst nightmare has come true.
37:03It's a hammerhead shark.
37:06Oh, my God!
37:08Oh, my God!
37:11I'd never seen anything like this.
37:12It was huge.
37:15You're talking a six-plus-meter shark.
37:20That's a big shark.
37:22I figured if it's going to happen, I want it to happen
37:24fast.
37:26I hope it doesn't bite my leg.
37:28I hope it just sinks its teeth right into my heart
37:31and bang, it's over with.
37:34This was my greatest fear.
37:37You're just hoping that that shark isn't hungry.
37:40With all the bad things that have happened,
37:42a little bit of good luck would be nice right now.
38:00The hardest problem is that you know it's still nearby.
38:03You're still waiting in the back of your mind.
38:05It's going to sneak up on you.
38:07With the shark circling, their desperation
38:09to get out of the water is now overwhelming.
38:12But reaching shore is far more dangerous
38:15than they had ever imagined.
38:17This wasn't a sandy beach that we
38:19would float up to gently.
38:22This was an extremely pitted, jagged, horribly
38:27craggy shoreline.
38:29David, look.
38:30Look at the rocks.
38:32All I could think of was how badly we're going to be torn up.
38:3826 hours in the water has taken its toll on their skin.
38:42I looked at my hands, and my hands were just unbelievably
38:46wrinkled from being in the water for so long.
38:48Right in the corner of my thumb, just where my nail meets,
38:53a bit of flesh had fallen off.
38:56David's skin is literally dropping off.
39:00The constant immersion in the ocean
39:02has caused cells in his skin to absorb water and swell up.
39:06As the waterlogged cells inflate,
39:08the skin stretches out and wrinkles up, making it weaker.
39:12The slightest abrasions now will easily tear it.
39:15At that stage, our flesh is so soft from being
39:18in the water so long, it's not going to take
39:20much to hurt ourselves badly.
39:24It just takes a little piece of rock
39:25that's sticking up, and it's going straight through you.
39:27The rocks could be lethal, but the shark
39:30might return at any moment.
39:32It's a do or die decision.
39:34Yeah, give me your vest.
39:38I discussed with Melissa exactly what we're going to do.
39:40We've worked out a plan.
39:45We're going to body surf in on these, OK?
39:49So now I'm thinking, how on earth
39:51we're going to body surf and survive?
40:02But what choice do we have?
40:06It was completely terrifying.
40:10We're 100 meters from the shoreline,
40:13but the odds were that we weren't going to survive.
40:15You ready?
40:22And I just happened to turn left.
40:24I don't know why I turned left and looked.
40:30And then I heard him say, I'll be damned.
40:36There's a boat.
40:36Ah!
40:37Ah!
40:38Ah!
40:39Ah!
40:40Ah!
40:41Ah!
40:41Ah!
40:42Ah!
40:43Ah!
40:44Ah!
40:44Ah!
40:45Ah!
40:46Ah!
40:47Ah!
40:48Ah!
40:48Ah!
40:49It was unbelievable.
40:52It couldn't have been at a more beautiful time.
40:54Ah!
40:55Ah!
40:56Ah!
40:57Ah!
40:58Ah!
41:00It was an unbelievable feeling, absolutely unbelievable feeling,
41:04because then it was just like one of the heaviest weights
41:07you'd ever have in your life lifted off your shoulder.
41:14And I'm like, ah, ah, and I was this crazy mad woman.
41:18I was crying and laughing.
41:22I kept thinking, the sharks didn't eat us.
41:25We didn't die.
41:26I'm alive.
41:28David and Melissa swam 20 miles before they were rescued.
41:32Finally, back on dry land, David's
41:34astounded to find his brother waiting for him.
41:38There was my brother Owen.
41:40Greatest sight in the world.
41:42God, David, what have you done now?
41:44I didn't know whether to hug him or belt him over the head.
41:47I really didn't.
41:50And ever since then, every morning you wake up,
41:52it's wonderful to start a day standing on dry land.
41:57David still lives in the Solomon Islands and dives regularly.
42:01But Melissa returned home and hasn't
42:03done an open water dive since.
42:07The two of them remain good friends.