José Salvador Alvarenga is the man that, after spending 14 months floating in the Pacific Ocean, returned to civilization. Unfortunately, many people doubted his story of surviving in the open waters for so long. However, it was later proven to be true. Alvarenga survived on birds, fish, turtles, and rainwater.
José Salvador Alvarenga was born in Ahuachapán, El Salvador, in either 1977 or 1978. His parents were María Julia Alvarenga and José Ricardo Orellana. The family owned a store and a flour mill in Ahuachapán.
In 2002, he left El Salvador and moved to Mexico. In 2012, Alvarenga was living and working as a fisherman in Costa Azul, a small fishing village near Pijijiapan, Mexico, off the coast of Chiapas.
On November 18, 2012, Alvarenga and his fishing partner were going on a 30-hour fishing trip to catch sailfish, marlins, and sharks. His usual fishing mate was unable to join him. Then, he was joined by a 23-year-old inexperienced fisherman called Ezequiel Cordoba. Their boat was a 23-foot-long boat, which was a topless fiberglass skiff with a single outboard motor.
After a few hours of being at sea, a severe storm hit and lasted for five days. During this time, the two fishermen were in desperate need of help, but the weather was too severe for any rescue attempt. The boat had an icebox, the same size as a refrigerator, that they used to store the fish they caught. They had already caught around 500 kilograms (1000 pounds) of fish, but they had to dump it overboard to make it easier to steer the boat through the rough sea.
After the storm, the motor wouldn’t work and the radio batteries were dead. And they also had no oars, sails, running lights, or an anchor. They had no way to ask for help and the boat began to drift over the open ocean. They only had a few basic supplies and little food. And most of their fishing gear was damaged or lost during the storm.
Their boss attempted to organize a search party to find them, but it was repeatedly canceled due to poor weather conditions. After several weeks, the search was ultimately called off.
The two fishermen found themselves trapped in a boat that was drifting wherever the ocean took them. The little food they had was quickly exhausted and they resorted to scavenging whatever they could find in the sea, catching jellyfish, turtles, fish, and seabirds with their bare hands. Whenever it rained, they captured the rainwater for drinking.
But it didn’t always rain. So they had a lot of trouble when it didn’t rain for many days. Their supply would extinguish and they would go thirsty until it rained again. Food was also a problem, sometimes they had a lot, and sometimes they had none.
According to Alvarenga, after around four months at sea, Córdoba lost hope and believed that they would never be rescued. Due to eating raw food, he became sick and eventually refused to eat, eventually dying of starvation. Alvarenga found himself talking to Córdoba’s corpse and decided to remove it from the boat. Five days later, he put Córdoba’s body in the water and watched as the boat drifted away. This left Alvarenga feeling overwhelmed with the reality that he was now truly alone on a boat in the Pacific Ocean. He even thought about killing himself, but his Christian faith kept him from doing it.
Alvarenga had a strong will to survive and developed a system to obtain food from the sea using his hands, a knife, and a machete. He would also capture birds and keep them on the boat to use them as a source of food. Even though he couldn’t always find food, he was able to survive using his system.
During his time at sea, Alvarenga reported seeing multiple transoceanic container ships but was unable to get their attention. He measured time by counting the phases of the moon, and after counting his 15th lunar cycle, he finally saw land. This land turned out to be a small and desolate islet, located in a remote corner of the Marshall Islands.
On January 30, 2014, after 438 days at sea, Alvarenga abandoned his boat and swam to shore, where he came across a beach house owned by a local couple. Filled with many emotions, he was grateful to have finally reached land after his long and difficult journey.
After spending 438 days adrift in the Pacific Ocean, Jose Salvador Alvarenga was given a week of rest and medical treatment in Majuro, the Marshall Islands’ capital city. Physicians were amazed to find that his vital signs were all good, despite his ordeal. However, he did have a slight case of anemia and was very dehydrated. He also had low blood pressure and his ankles were swollen, making it difficult for him to walk.
The estimated distance of his voyage was between 8,900 to 10800 kilometers (5,500 to 6,700 miles). At first, many people didn’t believe his story, as it seemed unlikely that he could survive at sea for such a long time without proper supplies. However, upon further investigation, his story was confirmed. The boat he arrived in at the Marshall Islands was the same one that was reported missing in Mexico. The hull was covered in barnacles, mussels, and other marine organisms, which is common for boats left unmaintained in the sea. Experts created models of a drifting boat departing from Mexico based on wind and current conditions. They concluded that it would end up within 120 miles of Ebon, where Alvarenga actually landed.
José Salvador Alvarenga had no contact with his family for many years, but after his long journey, he finally returned to his hometown in El Salvador and reunited with them. However, upon arrival, he was greeted by a swarm of reporters that made him very uncomfortable, as he was not emotionally ready to talk about his experience yet. Once he was home, he made a promise to himself that he would spend more time with his daughter and become a good and always present father.