How One Man Survived Being Lost 438 Days at Sea,Real Life Story

How 1 Man Survived Being Lost 438 Days at Sea ,Real Life Story Oceans are beautiful, only if you are at shores, But imagine that frightening scenario, if you are 250 miles away from the land, with limited supplies that were stored with the intention of surviving for a few days at max, but getting stuck alone in the mid-ocean for more than a year with no help and hope, is even worse than a nightmare. This is the story of José Salvador Alvarenga, who literally survived 438 days lost in the sea. So to know his unbelievable survival story, let’s get started. Alvarenga's story begins on 17 November 2012, when he set out from a village in Mexico to embark on what was supposed to be a 30-hour shift of deep-sea fishing. On November 18, 2012, Alvarenga planned to head out into the Pacific at 10 a.m. and work straight through until 4 p.m. the next day. His crewman was Ezequiel Córdoba, a 22-year-old rookie. Loading the boat involved over a thousand pounds of equipment, including a five-foot-long and four-foot-high icebox that would soon be filled with tuna, shark, and mahimahi, he was ready to sail. Alvarenga had been warned that a storm was coming, but there was little that would keep him from embarking. In one day, he’d make enough money to survive for a full week. On top of that he was a fearless and extremely experienced fisherman, so he believed that such small storms can’t hold him back. As he blasted through the waves some 75 miles from land, Alvarenga let out his two-mile-long fishing line. The storm was gaining strength on land but had yet to reach the men far offshore. They were chillin like they were on a vacation, but around 1 a.m. Waves rocked the small boat, which began to tilt sideways like an amusement park ride. Cordoba got scared at this and pleaded Alvarenga to return, but it was too late now. Alveranga tried to pull the fishing line, but the waves were so ruthless that he had left no choice but to cut the line, dumping thousands of dollars’ worth of equipment and fish into the sea. Alvarenga spotted the rise of the mountains on the horizon and swiftly started moving towards it, but suddenly all their hopes vanished when the motor died during the chase when they were just 15 miles away from the shore. He tried to contact Willie, his boss so that he could report his location to Willie, Willie replied “We’re Coming!”, but their radio also died shortly after the conversation. To worsen the situation, wind continued to rip straight offshore, driving the men farther out to sea. It was five days before the winds finally eased. Alvarenga and Córdoba were now around 280 miles offshore. The only likely rescue was by being spotted by another boat, But that was difficult, as they were virtually invisible from more than a half mile away due to clear water and the outlook of the boat. The sun during the day made it feel as if they were being cooked alive. During the cold nights, they would climb inside the icebox and huddle for warmth. Thirst had become an obsession, as had starvation. As a relief, rain came after 4 days that helped them to take a bath and they also collected about 5 gallons of freshwater, which was enough for at least a week if rations were kept to a minimum. Roughly 11 days after losing the engine and subsisting on small, bony triggerfish he caught by hand, Alvarenga caught a turtle. They were so starved that they not only ate the turtle, but also drank the merlot-colored blood to quench their thirst. Alvarenga now spent entire days hunting for turtles, Cordoba was disgusted at first, but was so helpless that he had to eat them to survive no matter what. The turtle meat was showing huge side effects on them, as they started hallucinating things at a very extreme level, making them lunatic very slowly. After a few months, they slowly started to accept their reality, in which Alvarenga caught fishes while Cordoba was taking a nap, and when Cordoba woke up, they both ate fishes and spent their whole day looking at the sun and surroundings. Despite being strangers when they set out, Alverenga and Cordoba had formed a friendship. Night after night, they tried to outdo each other as they invented constellations, each man trying to create a more fantastic drawing. They even fantasised that the planes they tracked across the heavens had been sent to rescue them.