The group of three men and two women were left stranded when their boat's anchor broke, and had spent nine hours out in the open before they were found off the Queensland coast in Australia.
One of the party, Mrs Forbes Taylor, said that she had come to terms with the idea that they would be spending a night in the open, even though they had little to no supplies.
'We had reef walkers on thankfully, but we had no food, water, cream, no hats, not much at all,' she said.
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She explained that the group set about looking for the best place where they could huddle together out of the wind.
The Queensland Water Police were alerted to a possible situation when the group's boat was found abandoned near some islands on Monday.
They then enlisted the help of the RACQ-CQ Rescue helicopter to find the missing people, which set out to look for them. Three hours later, rescuers spotted the SOS message and managed to reach the group.
After stopping on the rocky island for an explore, the travellers spotted their boat drifting away from the island at speed, and they were unable to get back to the vessel.
But the story has a happy ending - with all five adults only suffering from minor sunburn after their ordeal.