Jesús Vidaña is a

fisherman A fisher or fisherman is someone who captures fish and other animals from a body of water, or gathers shellfish. Worldwide, there are about 38 million commercial and subsistence fishers and fish farmers. Fishers may be professional or recreati ...

from

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

. He, together with Lucio Rendón and Salvador Ordóñez, left a Mexican fishing port in October 2005 and survived nine months adrift in a fishing boat in the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

before being rescued in August 2006.

Lost at sea

Just before sunrise on 28 October 2005, Rendón, Ordóñez and Vidaña, along with two other seafarers, left the Mexican port of

San Blas, Nayarit San Blas is both a municipality and municipal seat located on the Pacific coast of Mexico in Nayarit. City San Blas is a port and popular tourist destination, located about north of Puerto Vallarta, and west of the state capital Tepic, and th ...

, to catch sharks south of the

Islas Marías The Islas Marías ("Mary Islands") are an archipelago of four islands that belong to Mexico. They are located in the Pacific Ocean, some off the coast of the mexican state, state of Nayarit and about southeast of the tip of Baja California. The ...

in a fiberglass boat. But they exhausted their fuel and strong easterly winds cast them adrift in the Northern Equatorial Current which crosses the

from

to the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

. Rendón's family searched for several weeks, but the

castaway A castaway is a person who is cast adrift or ashore. While the situation usually happens after a shipwreck, some people voluntarily stay behind on a deserted island, either to evade captors or the world in general. A person may also be left a ...

s were blown out into the high seas too fast and could not be found. Without a radio, the fishermen had no way to raise help.

Surviving nine months adrift

The three survived for nine months on raw fish, seagulls, and sea turtles and by collecting rain in empty gasoline containers. This was scarce during the first month, but with the onset of winter, successive cold fronts brought showers, enabling their survival. However, two other companions, including the vessel's owner, died from starvation after two months.

Sailing across the Pacific Ocean

Although they thought they were drifting aimlessly, the survivors had followed exactly the same path that the

Nao de China The Manila galleons ( es, Galeón de Manila; fil, Galyon ng Maynila) were Spain, Spanish trading sailing ship, ships which for two and a half centuries linked the Spanish Crown’s New Spain, Viceroyalty of New Spain, based in Mexico City, with ...

travelled in the 17th century from Acapulco to Manila. Hope returned to the stranded fishermen when they saw planes flying from the west. They realized that it would be easier to cross the ocean to the west, rather than attempting to turn into the wind to return to Mexico. They fashioned a sail with blankets and continued westwards, following the wind and the currents. Over 270 days their average speed was . The men made fishing hooks with strings and wire from the engine, and caught turtles by diving into the ocean with a rope tied to their waists. They ate everything: meat, blood, bones, eggs, and so survived for nine months crossing two thirds of the Pacific Ocean (more than ) westwards.

Rescue at sea

On 9 August 2006, their boat was spotted on the radar of a Taiwanese tuna fishing vessel, ''Koo's 102'', at a distance of . The captain ordered the crew to sail towards the signal to investigate, thinking the radar signal was too strong to be a group of sea gulls. Soon they reached the stranded boat and picked up the three surviving fishermen around 14:00 local time at a point located east of the

Marshall Islands The Marshall Islands ( mh, Ṃajeḷ), officially the Republic of the Marshall Islands ( mh, Aolepān Aorōkin Ṃajeḷ),'' () is an independent island country and microstate near the Equator in the Pacific Ocean, slightly west of the Internati ...

. The survivors were reported to be "very thin and hungry, but otherwise healthy". The sailors of the Taiwanese boat took them aboard and gave them food, medical care, and clothes and had them rest for the 13 days until they disembarked in

Majuro Majuro (; Marshallese: ' ) is the capital and largest city of the Marshall Islands. It is also a large coral atoll of 64 islands in the Pacific Ocean. It forms a legislative district of the Ratak (Sunrise) Chain of the Marshall Islands. The ato ...

, on 22 August 2006, where they were handed over to the local authorities and later to an official from the Mexican embassy in

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

, who arranged to have them flown back to Mexico.

Back home

They arrived back in Mexico on 27 August 2006, and after visiting their families they went back to San Blas to continue with shark fishing. Yumei Yoselyn, Jesús Vidaña's 21-year-old wife, was pregnant when her 27-year-old husband got lost at sea. She also had a four-year-old child. Some suspected that the fishermen were involved in drug-smuggling, which all of them adamantly denied.Rescued at Sea, Now Roasted in the Media
By Manuel Roig-Franzia, August 23, 2006, The Washington Post In Mexico shark-fishing permits are expensive, so small fishing boats that sail out into the sea to catch sharks often do not inform port authorities of their leaving.

References

;Notes *From the Mexican newspaper ''

La Jornada ''La Jornada'' (''The Working Day'') is one of Mexico City's leading daily newspapers. It was established in 1984 by Carlos Payán Velver. The current editor ''(directora general)'' is Carmen Lira Saade. ''La Jornada'' has presence in eight sta ...