IN the end, it was his mate’s final sacrifice that saved Danny Gray’s life.

There was a miraculous swim to shore in crocodile, shark and jellyfish infested waters. And a decision to follow a faint light under the cover of darkness, badly injured and bleeding, not knowing if it was on land or further out to sea.

But ultimately, it was Brad Maisel’s selfless decision to jerk his failing helicopter right as it crashed into the ocean that’s given Danny Gray the opportunity to watch his two young kids grow up.

With their Robinson 22 plummeting towards the Coral Sea at more than 130kmh, Gray believes his friend maneuvered the aircraft to ensure his corner was the first to hit the water.

“He has made the ultimate sacrifice,” Gray said in an exclusive interview with Newsport.

“He’s consciously chosen to cop the full brunt of the impact to at least give me a chance, and that just shows the sort of bloke he was.

“He knew, it might have only been for a split second, but he knew. He was that sort of guy, he wouldn’t have even thought twice about it.

“I was lucky, but there are a lot of other things that went into this that meant I lived, and I think it was Brad’s ultimate sacrifice right at the end that gave me the chance to do all the rest.”

The ‘rest’ is a survival story that’d make Bear Grylls blush. It’s about a popular Port Douglas family man refusing to give up on his wife Laura and sons Finn and Rory, in the face of unimaginable adversity.

The last thing Gray remembers before impact was seeing a mass of water before a huge explosion. He woke up on the ocean floor still strapped in his seatbelt. He thought he was dead.

“I just remember sitting on the bottom of the ocean thinking that you must maintain some sort of consciousness when you die,” he said.

"Then, all of a sudden, I felt like taking a breath and I thought hang on, I’m still going here.”

In pitch black and completely disoriented, Gray popped his seat belt and floated towards the surface.  The chopper would later be found in more than seven metres of water.

“In those sort of conditions when it's dark, you just don’t know what’s up, down or sideways, but I’ve just gone straight up,” he explained.

“I must have almost passed out because I was badly out of air. I remember getting up the top and thinking my leg was gone, because I couldn’t feel it."

With cracked ribs, slashed legs and a badly lacerated wrist exposing his tendons, Gray was met at the oceans surface by two-and-half-metre swell and complete darkness. A doctor would later tell him he’d have ‘bled out’ had the cut not missed an artery by less than a millimeter.

Drifting in-and-out of consciousness Gray floated about at the mercy of huge waves, calling out for his mate.

“I thought I heard him,” he said.

“What they’ve told me since is when you’re in swell like that you can call out and your voice is echoing off another wave, so that’s what I was hearing.”

The waters south of Cape Tribulation Gray found himself in, fighting for his life, are home to sharks, crocodiles and box jellyfish - three of the most deadly marine animals in Australia. Despite the overwhelming odds stacked against him he remembers remaining relatively calm.

“I was lucky that I wasn’t panicking. I originally didn’t want to paddle to much because I didn’t want a shark or a croc to get me,” he said.

“But I stopped thinking about the sharks and thought if they’re going to grab me, then they’re just going to grab me. There wasn’t a lot I could do about it.

“I guess after getting over that initial fear of thinking I was already dead…I made calculated decisions.”

One of those was making a break for lights he could barely see every time a swell came in. Gray, losing blood and badly dehydrated, pinned his hopes on the lights belonging to land and not a boat further out to sea.

“I made a choice that I was going for it,” he explains.

“I was conserving my energy as much as I could, I knew I didn’t have much because I was struggling to stay afloat.

“So every time a wave would come I’d sort of just go with it, I wouldn’t exert much energy, and I’d wait for the next one to come and I’d go again.

“Lucky for me the tide must have been going in. Had it been going the other way I would have been in all sorts of trouble.”

Around 15 minutes into what turned out to be 45-minute swim covering close to 800 metres, Gray realised the light he was following were flames of a campfire. His heart filled with hope, and the determination to survive for his family kicked in. He said it was an overwhelmingly powerful experience.

“There was a couple of times when I ‘d swallowed too much water and you’re just thinking geez, I’ve had enough of this, and then you see your kids' faces,” he said.

“You’ve just got to do anything to get in and see them. I was thinking about Laura and the kids the whole way in, but as soon as I hit land it was all about Brad.”

When his feet touched the sand Gray’s pain vanished. He rushed to nearby campers and ordered people to take torches to the shoreline so Maisel could find his way in. He was then driven by a tourist to find phone service to call for help. The first person he called was his wife.

“All I wanted to do was to get more people on that beach to help Brad," he said.

“I rang Laura and I said I’m ok, we’ve crashed the chopper and Brad’s in the water you need to ring triple 0.”

He then raced back to the beach with the camper he was with and waited for helicopter spotlights and emergency crews to arrive. All the while hoping for another miracle, for Maisel.

“As the ambulance arrived I just fainted, I was out cold,” Gray said. 

“I was dehydrated, my body was starting to eat itself for energy because I had expended every last bit that I had. When the adrenalin stopped, I just crashed.”

Air, land and sea searches coordinated by the Australian Maritime Safety Authority failed to find Maisel’s body, with the search officially suspended yesterday.

Gray said Maisel was a widely respected man in Mareeba and would be sorely missed. He is survived by his wife Stacey, daughter Jordan and sons Coby and Nate.

“There is that feeling of guilt, and it’s heavy too, that I got out but Brad didn’t,” he said.

“Once I got in the ambulance I was thinking should I be feeling this relief? You do feel that, and do feel bad that I survived and he didn’t.

“It was a tragic accident and I just feel for Brad’s family… he died doing what he loved.”

Gray wanted to thank the campers who helped him, the staff at the Mossman Hospital, his ambulance crew, all emergency service personnel and the Port Douglas community for their efforts over the past week.

“The support has been overwhelming and I’m just so grateful for it.”

He saved his final thank you for his mate, Brad Maisel.