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Remopita Pongi, 29, was walking from Opotiki to his mother’s house in Kawerau, New Zealand — 80 km (50 miles) — using Google Maps on his iPhone to guide him. As he approached an estuary off the Bay of Plenty, the online map indicated he could shave 25 km off his walk by swimming across the inlet. “I had searched up whether [the phone] was waterproofed or not,” he said. “They said it was waterproof up to a meter,” so Pongi dove in — and was quickly swept out into the bay by a riptide. Luckily he saw a floating log; “I just grabbed on to that and floated.” He planned to wait for the tide to change and float back in, but “a couple of hours” later he decided he was getting hypothermic, so he pulled out his phone and called for help. He was rescued 2.5 km off the coast. “I tried to remain composed because I know panic is no good in those life-threatening situations,” Pongi said. (RC/New Zealand Herald) ...He’s been in crazy life-threatening situations before, I think he means — and is that any surprise?