And if you live in Hawaii, there’s even more reason to take it easy. Some in their late 60s might relax in their retirement, reining it in a few notches as life slows down. “I thought, ‘I am going to get out,” he said. The El Salvador native told CNN that his faith in God helped him survive. The atoll has one phone line, no Internet service and a few residents, two of whom Alvarenga spotted and shouted to after spending a night in the woods. Then, after 13 or 14 months adrift, he and his small, heavily damaged boat arrived on the Ebon Atoll, about a 22-hour boat ride from the Marshall Islands capital of Majuro. Alvarenga says he drank rainwater and, when there wasn’t any available, his own urine. The days, weeks and months ran together after that. Then a storm hit causing their boat, which was about three people long and one wide, to lose its engine and use of its radio communication and GPS systems.įour weeks in, Alvarenga said his partner – 23-year-old Ezequiel Cordova, according to the boat’s owner – died because he refused to eat raw birds. His nightmare began when winds blew the pair off course. What was supposed to be a one-day trip, he says, turned into an arduous odyssey across the Pacific Ocean, one that saw him lose his fishing companion and tested his will and ability to survive. That’s when Alvarenga interacted with humans once again, thousands of miles away on a remote atoll in the Marshall Islands.Ĭastaway recounts how he survived over a year adrift in Pacific But what’s not in doubt is that, after he left, he disappeared. The exact date is up for debate – he says he set off in December, locals say it was November. Jose Salvador Alvarenga says his journey began in Paredon Viejo, a port on Mexico’s Pacific coast, in late 2012. His sailboat would capsize two more times before crew members on a German-flagged container ship, the Houston Express, spotted Jordan about 200 miles off the North Carolina coast on Thursday.Īfter their reunion, his father greeted him with a hug and an admission every parent dreads.įrom Mexico to the Marshall Islands, eating birds and turtles Louis Jordan, center, stands with his parents after what he says were 66 days drifting alone in the Atlantic Ocean.īut, Jordan said, “It took so long. As to food, Jordan says he used laundry to trap and scoop up fish. He bought time by rationing water, then collecting fresh water in a bucket. Not only did his boat capsize, but its mast broke, Jordan said. Rescued man says he is ‘utterly thankful’ He headed into the Gulf Stream looking for a good spot to catch fish.Īnd then everything – his boat, his life – turned upside down. Louis Jordan says that he set off on his 35-foot sailboat from South Carolina in late January. Such happy endings do occur – given what rescue agencies have reported and assuming you believe what any sole survivor says, a big qualifier since typically no one else can prove or refute their accounts. It’s hard to say how many of these types of stories end sadly, with a sailor dying at sea, except that it is a much higher number than those that end in rescues. In order to survive, they can’t bank on technology or the proximity of a nearby city, town or boat – but instead must rely on ingenuity, resourcefulness and luck. Much rarer are cases in which individuals become lost at sea long enough that they run out of whatever food and drinking water they’d brought aboard, if any. We’re not talking about people who float aimlessly or run aground after running out of gas or being let down by faltering winds only to be picked up a few hours later by the U.S. Miracles do happen, though, and not just in Hollywood. ![]() ![]() It’s the kind of thing you see in movies, like Robert Redford’s role in “All Is Lost” or Ang Lee’s “Life of Pi.”īut, in real life, it’s hard to swallow the idea of a single person being stranded at sea for days, weeks, if not months and somehow living to talk about it.
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