“I’m not dying tonight,” Rob Konrad told himself as he made a determined effort to finish a 9-mile, 16-hour swim to shore after he fell off his fishing boat last week.

On Monday in Palm Beach, Fla., the former Miami Dolphins fullback emotionally recalled the harrowing odyssey that began last Wednesday when he fell off his 36-foot boat and could not catch up to it as it motored away under its own power.

“At that point in time, after panicking, I realized I was in real trouble,” the 38-year-old said. “I was miles out. The boat was on autopilot heading east to the Bahamas. I didn’t have time to get out an SOS call. I knew I was in trouble.”

He said he began to swim toward shore. “After about probably five hours, I said, ‘I can do this. I’m going to swim all night and hit the shore.'”

Konrad said he was encouraged by thoughts of his daughters, ages 8 and 10.

“After some time, I just said, ‘I’m not dying tonight. I have two beautiful daughters. I’m hitting that shore.'”

His wife, Tammy, said, “Our children are his world. He had two angels on his back.”

During his swim, Konrad said, he was bitten by jellyfish and other sea life and saw at least one shark circling beneath him. He twice spotted potential rescuers: a fishing boat and a Coast Guard helicopter.

The Coast Guard had commenced a search after Tammy and friends had not heard from him for several hours and reported him missing.

“I saw the Coast Guard,” he said. “They had come right over the top of me. They had their lights right on me and kept going. That’s when I realized I was on my own.”

Konrad reached shore in Palm Beach County about 4:30 a.m. Thursday and made his way to a nearby beach house. He was taken to a hospital and treated for hypothermia and dehydration. He was released Sunday.

He said his boat was found in Dead Man’s Reef in Grand Bahamas and he expects to get it back this week.

Konrad played fullback for the Dolphins from 1999 to 2004 and lives in Boynton Beach, Fla.