A Salvadorian Fisherman Washed Up On A Remote Pacific Island After Surviving At Sea For 438 Days

On November 17, 2012, José Alvarenga was preparing to leave the village of Costa Azul in Chiapas, Mexico, for a run-of-the-mill fishing trip. Usually, his friend Ray Perez went with him on such expeditions, but that day Perez was unable to make it.

Córdoba and Alvarenga had never chatted, let alone worked together, before then. But the fisherman promised him $50, and Córdoba agreed. So, together, the pair left Costa Azul aboard Alvarenga’s 25-foot fishing boat.

Alvarenga’s boat was low and open, without any raised structure or working electricity. Although the vessel contained plenty of essentials, such as gasoline, a fishing line, and a cell phone, there were a number of glaring problems. Problems that would prove catastrophic as the trip progressed.

At first, in any case, the trip seemed to be going well. Together, the pair managed to catch more than 1,000 pounds of fish, including much sought-after tuna, shark, and mahi-mahi.

As massive waves continued to batter the tiny boat, the inexperienced Córdoba reportedly began to panic. Finally, though, there was a lull in the storm, and Alvarenga gained sight of land.

Following protocol, Willy immediately requested coordinates for Alvarenga and Córdoba’s location. But with the GPS likely flooded from the storm, it was no longer working. Try as they might, the desperate fishermen were unable to identify their position. With their options quickly dwindling, Willy ordered them to lay anchor.

Still, undaunted, Willy reassured the two men that help was on its way. After receiving a report of the missing boat, Chiapas authorities launched a search and rescue mission.

As days and then weeks ticked by with no sign of Alvarenga and Córdoba, the chances of the two men being found alive grew ever more remote. Meanwhile, in the fishing community of Costa Azur, life slowly returned to relative normality.

Emi Libokmeto and her husband, Russel Laikidrik, live on Tile Islet — one of 22 small islands that make up the Pacific Ocean’s Ebon Atoll. Normally, the couple’s days are spent stripping the husks from coconuts and drying them outside their island home.

“As I’m looking across, I see this white man there,” Libokmeto recounted to Jonathan Franklin for the journalist’s 2015 book, 438 Days. “He is yelling. He looks weak and hungry. My first thought was, this person swam here; he must have fallen off a ship.”

A nurse and a policeman then arrived and brought the wild-looking man back to the main port of Ebon. And, slowly, the man was able to relate the details of how he had come to be washed up on Tile Islet.

But had Alvarenga really survived at sea for 438 days? And what had been the fate of Córdoba, his unfortunate crew mate? At first, the fisherman was unwilling to open up to the press.

After losing radio contact with his boss in Costa Azur, Alvarenga had realized that he and Córdoba were on their own. Then for days, the storm had continued to batter the tiny boat.

At night, it’s reported, the two men had huddled inside a large, upside-down icebox for warmth, while by day Alvarenga had apparently caught fish to replenish the stock they'd lost with his bare hands.

Gradually, the weeks turned into months, and still no sign of rescue arrived. And as time wore on, their energy reserves dwindled, and their need for food became more urgent. It’s said the pair therefore turned to an even grimmer means of survival. 

Tragically, it seems that after some four months at sea, Córdoba passed away. For six days, Alvarenga apparently continued to talk with his crew mate’s corpse, treating him as if he were alive.

For the next ten months, Alvarenga drifted with only his imagination for company. He has said that although he considered killing himself, his religious faith would not allow him to do so.

Then, at last, Alvarenga spotted land. Amazed, he slashed away the buoys that had been keeping the boat stable on the ocean and guided it towards Tide Islet. And there, he stumbled on Emi and Russel’s island home.

Today, Alvarenga lives with his family in El Salvador, his ordeal having mended a rift that saw them estranged from each other for eight years. Córdoba’s family, meanwhile, seemingly took a contentious approach to dealing with their loss.

In truth, Alvarenga and Córdoba's experience was difficult to believe from start to finish, but nightmares becoming a reality really do happen. And tragedies at sea aren't confined to tiny fishing boats in the far reaches of the Pacific, either. Take Alabama native James Grimes, who stepped on board a cruise ship with his relatives expecting a vacation just like any other.

A resident of Valley, Alabama, James was just like any number of other working fathers. He held down a job in the construction industry to support his family, which included a young daughter.

And the family intended to celebrate Thanksgiving in some style! So, James’ relatives had booked a spot on the Carnival Valor cruise ship, which was traveling from New Orleans, Louisiana, to Cozumel, Mexico.

James and company took their spots on the boat in New Orleans on November 23, 2022. Once the vessel had set sail, the dad kicked back and looked to have some fun with his clan. They were in the perfect place for it! So leaving his cabin as the evening drew in, he joined them and grabbed a few drinks.

But after that, the chain of events gets a little hazier for the construction worker. As he continued to hang out with his family, James stepped away to visit the bathroom. Apparently, he had let his sister know before trotting off, yet the dad has absolutely no memory of that.

“The next thing I remember is waking up in the water,” James told People. “The boat was out of sight. I thought, ‘Wow, this is for real. I’m out here in the sea.’” Yep, while searching for the bathroom, the Valley resident had somehow fallen off the Carnival Valor, plummeting into the Gulf of Mexico.

He had been completely unconscious, leaving him vulnerable to all manner of dangers. In December 2022 the dad touched on that during a sit-down chat with Good Morning America, pondering how he had survived during those initial minutes.

It was an insane situation. But the unique circumstances may well have helped him during those first few moments. Survival specialist Cat Bigney was reflecting on what you should and shouldn’t do if you fall off a boat while speaking to the Insider website.

Bigney informed the website, “When people enter a body of water they usually damage their lungs right away because they gasp. We have such a panic instinct to get air, and when people do that they bring water into their lungs. [Panicking is] the biggest thing that will kill you in a survival situation.”

Of course, he was fortunate to have been floating face-up, or he wouldn’t be here now to tell the tale. And the overall statistics for folks in these situations make for very grim reading. When it comes to passengers falling off vessels, the Cruise Lines International Association did some research on the figures available from 2009 until 2019.

And James soon realized just how tough things were going to get. Once awake, to keep himself above water, the dad felt he couldn’t afford to stop moving. Unsurprisingly, he eventually felt the strain as the hours went on, battling against the choppy elements.

Bigney told Insider that the most suitable approach here would be to swim a bit, before switching to treading or floating. That way, you can conserve your energy a little better, as opposed to burning yourself out.

Yet according to Bigney, the biggest advantage James could’ve gained during that spell was finding something to grab. She explained, “Even a small buoyant device will help you — something you can use with your arms around or your neck over just to help relieve some of the stress if you’re not a great swimmer, or you’re having a hard time staying afloat.”

Well, his sister was the first to come to that shocking realization hours after the family had spent the night together. Yes, when James’ sibling found out that he hadn’t made it back to his room, she and the rest of her relatives rushed to alert the ship’s staff.

When the Coast Guard received that message, James had been gone for well over 12 hours. So the search would be far from easy: the Gulf of Mexico isn’t exactly a small bed of water!

Gross told the program, “We did have a fairly significant search area. It was a potential of over 7,000 miles of ocean we had to search.” So the rescue mission was going to take time. But that was something James was fast running out of as the minutes and hours progressed.

He revealed to People, “[I encountered] two swarms of jellyfish that stung me pretty good all over my legs, arms, and neck.” The worst was yet to come, though. You see, the area that James found himself in is known to be a popular spot for sharks. And he saw something that fit the description, leaving him utterly petrified.

James recalled, “I thought it was a shark. I mean, I was swimming in one direction, and I looked around and I [saw] it out of the corner of my eye. And it came up on me really quick. I went under [the water] and I could see it, and it wasn’t a shark, I don’t believe. It had more of a flat mouth.”

Thankfully for the construction worker, the mysterious sea creature didn’t bother him again following the kick. Yet James’ problems didn’t end there. He hadn’t eaten for hours, meaning he was dealing with some serious hunger pangs.

As James told Good Morning America, “A stick came floating by. [It] looked like bamboo, so I started eating on it. I mean, I’m not going to say that it tasted good, but it gave some type of flavor in my mouth other than salt water.” In other words, it was better than nothing! But according to Bigney, he probably would’ve been okay without it.

At the same time, she suggested that the bamboo might’ve served as a bigger boost “psychologically” as opposed to physically. Knowing that you’ve eaten something in that situation could be all you need. But going back to Bigney’s point about fasting, how long could you realistically survive adrift without eating?

Given James’ predicament, that can’t have been easy. How do you avoid swallowing salt water when you’ve been in it for hours? And while his will to survive certainly couldn’t be questioned, there was a point where he feared that his efforts would come to nothing.

James said, “When it started getting back towards night-time again, [and] the water started getting colder, at that time I thought, ‘How much longer am I going to be out here?’ [But] the fall [off of the cruise ship] didn’t kill me, sea creatures didn’t eat me. I felt like I was meant to get out of there.” 

But following close to 20 harrowing hours in the Gulf of Mexico, the dad caught sight of a glimmer of hope. “I spotted two ships and spent hours swimming to them,” James recounted to the magazine. “I’d gotten so sunburned that I was really shivering once night set in. I told myself that I had to make it to one of those boats.”

James said on Good Morning America, “That was my final little burst of energy. The strength that I had, I used pretty much every bit of it to make it to one of [the boats].” Luckily, the crew on one of the ships spotted him; they alerted the Coast Guard. His last push had paid off big time! What happened next, though?

He continued, “I saw a guy coming down from that helicopter, and right then I thought, ‘I see the light!’” The “guy” in question was an aviation survival technician named Richard Hoefle. And he outlined just how opportune the rescue timing had been in this particular case.

In the wake of the dramatic rescue, James was transported to a nearby hospital to recover from the ordeal. He was there for five days, but with no health insurance to cover the bills, the construction worker faced an altogether different issue.

As for James, while he ultimately survived the nightmare in the Gulf of Mexico, he felt that part of him had definitely changed in the aftermath. “[The experience] opened my eyes,” James informed Good Morning America.

When asked if he’d hop aboard a cruise in the future, James didn’t hesitate with his response. He replied, “Yeah I will. Yeah. I ain’t gonna let it discourage me that much."