Troubled waters

Rich Neely:  We were feeling extremely low.

It was midnight. Ally and Rich had been adrift on the Great Barrier Reef for nine hours, six of them in the dark -- and Ally's resolve was fading.

Rich Neely:  Whenever Ally went quiet, I would pull her in, or if I didn't pull her, I would shout "Are you okay?" And if I got a very quiet "Yeah, " I would shout again until I got a louder response.

Pulling on the 10 feet of rope that was keeping them connected, entwining his legs around hers, Rich urged Ally not to give up.

Ally Dalton: I think that's when he became strong for me. At some point  I made a conscious effort to just say "OK, get through the next 30 minutes. Just 30 more minutes. 30 more minutes."

On the black, open ocean, an eerie sense of isolation was closing in.

Matt Lauer: These helicopters that had been a fairly frequent presence in the area, flying in that familiar search pattern, started to see fewer and fewer of them?

Rich Neely:  Yeah.

Ally Dalton: They actually came not too far from us but then the pattern changed, and it was gone.

They were alone, surrounded by nothing but dark seas and black sky. Ally and Rich were about to face their most harrowing hours.

Matt Lauer: About midnight, while Ally has already clearly started to exhibit some of the signs of hypothermia, you start to recognize them in yourself as well?

Rich Neely: Yeah, I start shivering then.

Matt Lauer: Uncontrollably.

Rich Neely: Yeah. I couldn't stop it. I feel myself shivering, could feel my chin like this and I was shivering here, in my midsection as well. That started to worry me now, that we wouldn't be able to keep enough heat between us.

Matt Lauer: Did you think you were going to be okay at that point?

Rich Neely: I didn't know if I was going to be okay. I didn't know if Ally was going to be okay. But, I knew that we had to believe we would be.

Between the shivering, and Ally's violent stomach spasms, the couple was weak, exhaustion taking over. Even in the turbulent water, Ally began slipping into a hazy sleep.

Rich Neely:  It was because of our physical deterioration. And you realize that a human being can only take so much physical deterioration, before, ultimately, we die. We were aware of that, and I made sure that Ally shouted to me. Ally woke up. And you did, didn't you?

Ally Dalton: Yeah.

Matt Lauer: Ally, by this point have you thought about "Am I going to die out here tonight?"

Ally Dalton: Oh yeah.

Matt Lauer: And you said "I love you" over and over again?

Rich Neely:  (pause, nods, looking at Ally)

Matt Lauer: Why did "I love you" feel so good?

Ally Dalton: It gave me that reminder that someone really wanted me to make it through this, because I was really questioning whether I could. And he wasn't going to let me go.

Love was willing them to remain strong, but by 2 a.m. - 11 arduous hours into their ordeal, Ally and Rich were losing it.

Matt Lauer: Both of you, not on cue, but close to the same time, start to hallucinate.

Ally Dalton: I'm looking up at the sky just trying to wrap my head around what's happening suddenly the sky was a reef. And I'm looking at sand, and corals, and I can see a barracuda

Matt Lauer: So it's a world upside down?

Ally Dalton: Exactly. It felt like I was diving upside down - but on steroids.

Rich Neely:  I saw a very huge lady's head and shoulders. She had her knuckles on the cloud, looking down at me, with a young boy next to her. I stopped myself, "Whoa, I'm hallucinating."  This is going on for hours.

Ally Dalton: And then I started saying things to Rich that made no sense.

Matt Lauer: The shivering, the waves, the weather, the hallucinations, gibberish - so the "I love yous" and the "We're going to get through this" had stopped by that point?

Rich Neely:  By then, I was calling to Ally "You OK?" That was all I could manage.

At 3 a.m. - 12 hours after they should have been safely back on board the Pacific Star, the distant buzz of helicopters ceased all together. At 4, the lights on the boat vanished from view, no longer a tiny, but reassuring, glow. Rich hit bottom.

Matt Lauer: You've been taking these photographs throughout the night. And now you start to think, although I don't think you mentioned it to Ally, of perhaps using your camera to record something else?

Rich Neely:  I'm not sure if I can make it. I'm thinking "Is this really the time that I am meant to die?"  If it is, how terrible for my dad. How are they going to find out? They've never been to my house in Thailand. What about all my things? How is all of this going to get sorted out? What do I do?

Matt Lauer: So you were going to sit there in the water in the midst of this ordeal and start recording a last will?

Rich Neely:  I want to talk into the camera and say "Dad, my email address is such and such, The address is this. My landlord's name is this." Blah blah blah blah.

Matt Lauer: Why didn't you do it?

Rich Neely:  I kept putting it - survival's more important. I've got to keep going. This - it can't happen.  It can't happen. The sun's coming up soon. It's getting closer to sunrise, I'll put if off.

Matt Lauer: Rich knew that with the sun, rescue planes might return.  But dawn would also bring sharks to the surface, looking to feed.

MORE FROM NEWSMAKERS

Newsmakers Section Front

NBC's People of the Year: Read the interviews Vote: Who do you think is person of the year? Secrets Of The Lost Symbol Read an excerpt from 'The Lost Symbol' The Michael Jackson Tapes Michael Jackson: ‘I am scared of my father’ Back to Woodstock Kidnapped Heiress: The Patty Hearst Story On tour with Taylor Swift See behind-the-scenes web videos of Taylor Swift Newsmakers Section Front   Add Newsmakers headlines to your news reader: