VANCOUVER -- He spent four days trapped on a rocky slope, with barely any food and just enough water to survive.

His only protection from the elements: a jacket and a sleeping bag.

It is still unclear who he is.

However, a B.C. canoeist managed to walk away from a frightening ordeal with the help of a kayaker and the Squamish Royal Canadian Marine Search and Rescue team.

This Tuesday, Steve Best paddled his kayak through Howe Sound near Squamish. He said he came around a corner and saw the man stranded several metres away from the shoreline.

“He was just talking,” Best told CTV News. “He was very calm.”

The man then told Best he had lost his canoe in the water nearby and asked him to help retrieve it.

Best called for help when the canoeist asked him whether it was Saturday or Sunday.

“I told him it was Tuesday,” said the Good Samaritan.

The aforementioned rescue crew from Squamish left to find the man and arrived in minutes.

“On Tuesday his spirits were getting pretty low after four days of boredom, waiting for somebody to come by,” said Scott Shaw-MacLaren of the Royal Canadian Marine Search and Rescue team.

The man told rescuers he had stopped to take a break when his canoe slipped away. He tried to grab it, but the rocks were too slippery, trapping him on the shore with limited food and water supplies; the rest was in the canoe.

“He was a little cold, it had really, really rained hard on Monday night into Tuesday morning,” Shaw-Maclaren said.

Despite the severity of the situation, Best told CTV News Vancouver the canoeist remained in good spirits.

“You know, the guy was very together. He just kept it together,” said Best.

Once back on dry land, the canoeist skipped a visit to the hospital, and instead chose to walk home.

“He’s pretty lucky obviously, pretty strong will to survive,” Shaw-Maclaren said. “A pretty tough character.”

When faced with the fact he may have saved the man’s life, Best simply shrugged and appeared to humbly accept the kudos.

“You do what you got to do.”

With a report from CTV News Vancouver's St. John Alexander