Fisherman survives more than a year drifting across the Pacific from Mexico
SEAFOODNEWS.COM [UPI] - February 3, 2014 - MAJURO, Marshall Islands, A 37-year-old man who turned up in the Marshall Islands after a year adrift in the Pacific Ocean said he survived by eating turtles, small sharks and birds.
Jose Salvador Alvarenga said he set off Dec. 21, 2012, from Mexico to catch shark and shrimp with a 15-year-old fellow fisherman named Ezekiel.
He said the motor on their 24-foot boat stopped working just hours into their first day at sea and for a few days they drifted near land.
The boat eventually drifted out into the ocean where Alvarenga and Ezekiel had to live off turtles, fish, small sharks and birds, Britain’s Telegraph reported.
Ezekiel died after four months, the report said.
Alvarenga said he was surprised to learn he had hit land in the Marshall Islands, a country he had never heard of.
“I had just killed a bird to eat and saw some trees,” he said. "I cried, ‘Oh God.’ I got to land and had a mountain of sleep. In the morning I woke up and heard a rooster and saw chickens and saw a small house. I saw two native women screaming and yelling. I didn’t have any clothes – I was only in my underwear and they were ripped and torn."
Alvarenga was taken to a hospital in Majuro where he appeared to be in good health.
I read that there were still many questions as to the validity of his story. It’s pretty cool, no doubt, but I’m going to wait until they vet this guy a little bit before I start jumping for joy.
BS, That guy’s as fat as my girlfriends dog!, get a photo of his teeth, they should be bone white! 76 days out there is one for the record books. (76 days adrift) & he only made it because he was able to repair his water maker. one look at this photo and I’m calling BS on it. no way did he get by in that stretch of salt with no water … for a year? what tripe!
[QUOTE=jimrr;129934]BS, That guy’s as fat as my girlfriends dog!, get a photo of his teeth, they should be bone white! 76 days out there is one for the record books. (76 days adrift) & he only made it because he was able to repair his water maker. one look at this photo and I’m calling BS on it. no way did he get by in that stretch of salt with no water … for a year? what tripe![/QUOTE]
[QUOTE=jimrr;129934]BS, That guy’s as fat as my girlfriends dog!, get a photo of his teeth, they should be bone white! 76 days out there is one for the record books. (76 days adrift) & he only made it because he was able to repair his water maker. one look at this photo and I’m calling BS on it. no way did he get by in that stretch of salt with no water … for a year? what tripe![/QUOTE]
9 months, similar route in 2006:
this guy’s story isn’t entirely implausible, but yeah, he’s in terrific condition for such an ordeal. If it’s true, I think I have an idea about what happened to the kid…
[QUOTE=sailcapt;129980]CNN Headline News Just did a piece on it with the lovely Robin Meade. 7 minutes after the hour[/QUOTE]
Robin Meade, now there’s a thread unto itself! She’s the only news we watch underway. She’s like a mythical siren singing us sailors over the rail and down into the depths. She also entertained us through many a dreary morning. If she says it, it must be true. I’ll buy anything she says!
I actually have a weather router mapping out his journey right now. They say the weather conditions add up with his story. I’ll post about what they come back with.
In John Caldwell’s book Desperate Voyage where he talked about eating a tube of lipstick he found in the bilge and attempting to drink motor oil. I see this guy eating a pizza every day.
The Today Show show an interview with one of the Doctors that treated him. He said that his internal organs were swollen and that was what caused him to look like he does. Now as to whether or not he spent all that time drifting, we will most likely never know.
MAJURO, Marshall Islands, A 37-year-old man who turned up in the Marshall Islands after a year adrift in the Pacific Ocean said he survived by eating turtles, small sharks and birds.