Although the Sun King was surrounded by water on all sides he was anyhow well protected and cared for:

When in Hora Nui 2 Hotu Matu'a undertook his 'Sea Journey' it was the time when close to the Full Moon appeared the Mouth of the Fish - suggesting he would manage to survive by being swallowed by a 'great fish':

...Then the big Fish did swallow him, and he had done acts worthy of blame.
Had it not been that he (repented and) glorified Allah,
He would certainly have remained inside the Fish till the Day of Resurrection. - Qur'an, chapter 37 (As-Saaffat), verse 139–144.

But We cast him forth on the naked shore in a state of sickness,
And We caused to grow, over him, a spreading plant of the gourd kind.
And We sent him (on a mission) to a hundred thousand (men) or more.
And they believed; so We permitted them to enjoy (their life) for a while. - Qur'an, chapter 37 (As-Saaffat), verse 145–148.

... Heracles is swallowed by Tiamat, and disappears for three days before fighting his way out. So also, according to a Hebrew moral tale apparently based on the same icon, Jonah spent three days in the Whale's belly; and so Marduk's representative, the king of Babylon, spent a period in demise every year, during which he was supposedly fighting Tiamat ...