In this incident that took place at the end of 2012, they were actually two people, but Jose’s friend died after a while, unable to stand the living conditions, leaving his teammate alone.
So how did Jose Alvarenga survive in a 7-meter boat for more than a year in the middle of nowhere? Was the story he told true? What do the experts say about this?
Jose Alvarenga had planned a 30-hour deep-sea shift fishing amongst the sharks.
Competition was fierce in the Mexican fishing village of Costa Azul, and Alvarenga was determined to catch an impressive catch. He was going to set off with another fisherman working for his friend and employer, Villermino Rodriguez, but that person backed out at the last minute.
Alvarenga did not care much about this situation and chose another young fisherman named Ezequiel Cordoba from his employer’s company. Although Alvarenga had never worked with or even spoken to Cordoba before, he saw the inexperienced young man fit for his journey.
Unaware of what will happen to them, the two set off in a tiny boat across the ocean.
On 17 November 2012, the duo set out in a 7-metre rowboat with a small motor. The ship was equipped with various fishing gear, a portable electronic radio and a large ice box to catch the fish.
The trip seemed to be going as well as Alvarenga had hoped, as they soon caught enough fish to fill nearly all of the iceboxes.
Due to the stormy rain, it was impossible to chart a route.
A few hours before the end of their journey, a storm broke out that would last for five days. Alvarenga and Cordoba tried to return the boat to shore, but in this storm and rain it was impossible to see where the shore was.
Their boats were also weighed down by the fish, and they had to dump their catch into the sea in order to maneuver. For a time, they survived on rainwater and the small amount of food they brought with them.
When the storm subsided, they were able to see exactly what they had left.
Their engines were unusable, their fishing gear was lost, and their electronics were damaged. They were stranded in the middle of the ocean with only a few essential supplies.
Jose Alvarenga; He was able to catch fish, turtles, jellyfish and seabirds with his bare hands. For a while, they managed that way, but days turned into weeks, weeks into months, and everything was getting harder and harder.
Their only hope was to be seen by planes or drifted to a shoreline.
By following the phases of the Moon, Alvarenga was able to keep herself busy and to keep time. Having grown up in water and spending most of his life at sea, he was accustomed to a seafood diet, the sun, and harsh salty weather. For Ezequiel Cordoba, however, the situation was different.
When his friend died, Alvarenga also considered committing suicide.
Cordoba; He was starting to get sick from eating raw fish, birds, and turtles. Shortly after he fell ill, he stopped eating and eventually died of starvation. Left alone after Ezequiel Cordoba’s death, Alvarenga began to consider suicide, but never did.
After spending more than 400 days at sea, Alvarenga finally saw what he had dreamed of for over a year: land.
His little battered boat had been swept south to a remote corner of the Marshall Islands, some 9,000 kilometers from his voyage.
After arriving on the shore, he knocked on the door of a small beach house. The couple, who could not believe what the man said, immediately reported the situation to the authorities. Thinking that Alvarenga died 11 months ago, the police were shocked by the story.
Everyone thought the two fishermen in the small boat were already dead. Her parents, her little daughter and her boss; They were very happy with his return. His boss had sent a search party for Alvarenga, but they couldn’t find him because of the storm.
In the beginning, almost no one believed the story of Jose Alvarenga.
Alvarenga looked too healthy to spend more than a year at sea. He was emaciated, his hair and beard had grown too long, and his skin was frayed, but staying this long without eating or drinking fresh water would certainly have weakened him even more. Doctors claimed that he must at least have scurvy (a disease likely caused by the fish he ate).
Also, several maritime experts had said that to reach the point of the Marshall Islands would have to sail in a particularly straight line, which would have been nearly impossible without any steering mechanism or navigation system.
But this route inconsistency disappeared when a University of Hawaii study proved that ocean currents would lead it directly to the island it landed on.
Today, Alvarenga lives in a small landlocked town in El Salvador, as far from the water as possible.
The story the man told is still not fully proven to be true or false. If what he said was not true, why had he lived away from home for so long? If true, it was a miracle.
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