US tourists survive 12-hour ordeal in shark-infested Caribbean waters Kate Suski, right, and her brother Dan. An American brother and sister who swam through the shark-infested waters of the Caribbean for 12 hours after their fishing boat sank in rough seas have described their terror, panic and remarkable survival. Dan and Kate Suski had been trying to land a 200lb (90kg) marlin off the north coast of St Lucia on Sunday afternoon when water began to rush into the cabin and engine room of the boat they had chartered. Dan, 30, an IT worker from San Francisco, and Kate, 39, an architect from Seattle, were given life jackets by the captain who radioed for help as the vessel flooded. When the boat began to sink, the captain ordered everyone to abandon ship and so they jumped into the sea, where they found themselves buffeted by high waves and at least eight miles (13km) from shore. "The captain was telling us to stay together, and that help was on its way and that we needed to wait," Kate told Associated Press. But after an hour had passed and with no sign of imminent rescue, the siblings decided to swim for it and quickly lost sight of the captain and the first mate - and the shore. "We would just see swells and grey," said Dan. Although a plane and a helicopter hovered over the area, they failed to spot the pair and soon the sun began to set. "There's this very real understanding that the situation is dire," said Kate. You come face to face with understanding your own mortality. Before long, they began to wonder how death would come. Kate asked herself whether they would get cramp and drown or be eaten by a shark - "I thought I was going to vomit I was so scared" - while Dan, who thought they might succumb to hypothermia, struggled to ignore mental images of the film Open Water, in which a scuba-diving couple left behind by their group are attacked by sharks. After swimming, shivering, through the moonlit sea for hours, they reached land only to realise they would be dashed against the island's sheer rocky cliffs if they didn't press on. Around midnight, they dragged themselves on to a spit of sand where they collapsed, side-by-side, and covered themselves with grass and brush to try to keep warm. When they had rested, they pushed inland, hiking through thick brush and eating the bitter mangoes and green bananas they found along the way. "It was probably the best and worst banana I've ever had," said Dan. Three hours later, they spotted a young farm worker walking with his dog. He fed them crackers, gave them water and waited until police arrived. "We asked if he knew anything about the captain and mate," said Kate. The Suskis, who were treated in hospital and received intravenous fluids, later learned that the captain and mate had been rescued after spending nearly 23 hours in the water. St Lucia's tourism minister Lorne Theophilus described their survival as a miracle and said the island's maritime affairs unit was investigating what caused the boat to sink. The brother and sister, however, do not blame anyone for the shipwreck. "We are so grateful to be alive right now," said Kate. Nothing can sort of puncture that bubble. They will fly back to the US on Saturday to meet their father in Florida. "It's really been amazing," said Dan. It's a moving experience for me.