On a sunny day in Southern California, my friend and I decided to go kayaking. But our journey for an adrenaline rush turned into a nightmare once we became lost in the cold, shark infested waters of Gaviota State Beach.

It all started in the fall semester of 2010 when five friends of mine and I decided to have a picnic at the beach. We brought plenty of brew, juicy watermelons, and Coppertone Sport Sunscreen for all.

While relaxing, laughing and getting buzzed at Gaviota State Beach, 30 miles west of Santa Barbara, a couple of my friends gave our two blue kayaks a whirl. They set sail at 2:30 p.m. with seals swimming nearby, and came back safely around 3 p.m.

After their return, my Armenian friend Anthony Panoyan and I decided to venture out, our orange life jackets secure. Little did we know what we were getting ourselves into.

We jumped into our single kayaks, grabbed the yellow oars, and paddled away from shore. The choppy surface became a calm oasis once we were about half a mile out. The trickling sound of the water and the sun beaming on the vibrant shades of blue and green created a tranquil experience.

After an hour long escape, we estimated the distance to our friends was about a mile and decided to paddle back.

While digging my oar into the splashing currents I heard a voice screaming out “Collin!”

I looked back and saw Panoyan’s kayak flipped over. As I turned around I could see his ghostly pale face struggling to stay afloat.

In a desperate act to get back, he ascended onto my kayak and I tied his to mine. Soon both of us flipped over simultaneously, and the knot between our kayaks untangled, letting our spare bobble out into the open ocean.

Now with only one kayak left, Panoyan climbed back into mine, while I stayed in the cold salt-water, doggy paddling him against the tight peaks. It was us versus Mother Nature and the currents were getting worse, pushing us further away from shore.

We became frantic with worry in the midst of the gale force winds, terrified of drowning. Panoyan screamed out “We need help. Help! Help,” but his piercing cry was drowned out by the whistles of the wind.

In an act of survival Panoyan pointed his yellow oar to the blue sky, waving it side to side signaling a mayday to our friends on land. Luckily, they recognized the waving oar and immediately ran up to the street for help. They stopped an ambulance driving by and showed the paramedics the vacant kayaks floating in the distance.

Once they got back down to the sand, a young civilian was questioning what all the hype was about. Once my friends told him what happened he jumped onto his boogie-board and swam out to assure us that help was on its way.

Meanwhile in the middle of the ocean, Panoyan and I got tired of dragging the dead weight around and decided to ditch our only floating device.

After abandoning the kayak, the strong currents immediately started separating us. A half an hour went by and there was no beach in sight, just the open ocean with salt water splashing into my mouth.

I started to lose hope. I felt alone, shivering with a numbing feeling in my legs as the sun was going down. I yelled out “Somebody help me!” but only the seagulls responded.

Suddenly, a helicopter hovered over us looking like a black bird. A man in a black diving suit dropped down and rescued us one by one. I put my arms around him as he lifted my cold numb body up to safety. Panoyan and the man on the boogie-board were already in the helicopter sighing with relief.

The helicopter flew down to the ambulance where the paramedic told me that I would have died of hyperthermia if I were out there for another half an hour. I felt blessed to be alive.

Later that night my friend told me about an incident, where a man survived from a Great White shark attack after kayaking five miles off the shores of Gaviota. Another incident happened a few months after, where a firefighter was never found after kayaking solo.

Nowadays I live life to the fullest, knowing that we would’ve drifted into the sharks’ territory if it weren’t for our friends and the boogie-board hero. Panoyan and I have grown closer together with an unbreakable bond knowing we’ve stared death in the face and have the scars to prove it.