Boating Survivor Describes Floating In Gulf

Alabama Mississippi Whitney Navas was among four people rescued.

by Steve Alexander

Published: Mon, May 18, 2009 - 9:33 pm CST Last Updated: Mon, May 18, 2009 - 9:59 pm CST

One of the Ocean Springs boating survivors said she became delirious during her ordeal, but had confidence she would be rescued.
Whitney Navas said the problems began Sunday afternoon when the boat the group was on started flipping.
She said, "At first, it was like, I can't believe this is really happening."
Navas said her first reaction was to grab a life vest because, "You ain't going no where because your boat has sunk."
Navas said she managed to stay with her husband, Jonathan, and talked about things like, "You owe me a big dinner. I think he (Jonathan) said, 'As soon as I get home, I'm going to order six large pizzas.' "
Navas said they dozed off, but never completely slept.
When asked what she was thinking, Navas said, "I want to see land. I just want to touch bottom. I want to go home. It makes you feel like a little kid again. I'm going to hug mama and dad as soon as I get home."
Navas said at one point she became delirious.
She said, "I thought the pelicans were planes today, so I was either really ready to come home, or I was liking the birds."
After about 24 hours in the water, Navas saw a real Coast Guard plane.
Navas said, "I didn't really think that I was really going to die unless a shark would have probably bit us: yeah, we would have died. But I knew we were going home sooner or later. We weren't going out like this. We were going home."
Navas's father, Curtis Smith, talked about hearing the news his daughter was alive.
He said, "I started crying, and I thank God that He let them live through it."
Whitney Navas is suffering from dehydration and sunburn, but said she hopes to get out of the hospital Tuesday.

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