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 News from Around Banderas Bay | April 2007 
Man Who Drifted 38 Days Doubts Survival Story
 David Agren - Herald Mexico
| | (L-R) San Blas fishermen Jesus Vidana Lopez, 27, Salvador Ordonez, 37 holding his Bible, and Lucio Rendon, 27 sit on their boat upon arriving in Majuro, August, 2006. (AFP/Suzanne Murphy) |
La Cruz de Huanacaxtle, Nay. - José Alfredo Torres, better known as Tartín, makes a mean ceviche in a small restaurant by the waterfront in La Cruz de Huanacaxtle, Nayarit, a fishing village on the north shore of Banderas Bay near Puerto Vallarta.
He also serves up a legendary fishing tale from his youth - a story of being lost at sea in a small boat with a fellow fisherman for 38 days.
It seems implausible at first, but after three fishermen from San Blas, Nayarit, who claim to have survived nine months adrift, were rescued last August 5,500 miles away near the Marshall Islands, Tartín´s tale seems far less fishy.
Virtually everyone in the village alive in 1981 vividly remembers the day they celebrated the return of their two perdidos (lost ones) - who were sunburnt to a crisp and resembled anorexics - with a parade and Mass to give thanks.
It also bothered many in La Cruz that the San Blas trio, whose tale of survival is riddled with unanswered questions, basked in the international spotlight for their supposed exploits, receiving immense press coverage and offers to turn their tale into a Hollywood movie.
Tartín, a good-natured fellow with a warm smile, skinny build and thin mustache, seethes whenever the subject of the San Blas fishermen comes up. In broken English, he repeatedly refers to them as "liars." "These guys were in another business," he says tersely, referring to allegations they were possibly transporting narcotics. (Mexican officials decided against launching an investigation into the San Blasfishermen´s odyssey.)
The son of a fisherman, Tartín has always taken to the sea. He mostly pursues shark: it "gets a good price," he says.
Tartín was going after sharks when his adventure began in November 1981. It started out like a normal day, but weather conditions quickly changed.
He and a buddy Jesús were originally heading towards Cabo Corrientes on the southern edge of Banderas Bay. Along the way, though, they encountered engine problems.
As the weather worsened, a strong current carried them out to sea and eventually took them south towards Manzanillo.
Like the San Blas trio, who said they stayed alive by eating raw fish and birds, Tartín and Jesús did the same as their food and water ran out in just three days. Tartín would capture ducks and birds that landed on his boat´s canopy by stealthily grabbing their feet while he hid underneath.
He also fashioned a crude water purification system by hanging a thick blanket that had been soaked in the ocean and allowing it to dry. Pure water would drip down while salt would remain behind.
"It was more-or-less potable water," Tartín recalls.
Besides a will to live and some authentic ingenuity, Tartín says the shade provided by a tarp that partially covered his boat was invaluable. He questions how the San Blas trio could have survived without one.
"I spent 38 days (at sea) ... we had shade and all our skin was burned," he says, adding, "These guys didn´t have shade."
Time at sea passed slowly. "It was often really boring," Tartín says. "We would cry whenever we thought about our families." Thoughts of surviving and returning to La Cruz kept the pair going, along with prayers.
Back in La Cruz, local fishermen, government officials and the fishing company that had contracted Tartín and Jesús organized search parties, which combed Banderas Bay. News of a drowning in any coastal community always raised fears of the worst, but the victims never turned out to be Tartín or Jesús. Coronas del Mar (floating floral wreaths) were eventually sent out into the bay in their honor. During his time at sea, Tartín´s grandmother passed away - something he said was hastened by the stress of his disappearance. He also missed his sister´s quinceañera.
"They couldn´t celebrate it with me gone," he says somewhat mournfully.
After 38 days adrift, a Japanese cargo ship plucked Tartín and Jesús from their fishing boat. They were dropped off three days later in Los Angeles and turned over to the Mexican consulate.
Luis Alberto Robles, then a high-ranking official with the transit police in Puerto Vallarta, received a phone call from a consular official, informing him of Tartín and Jesús´ rescue. Robles quickly convened a meeting of the missing men´s families at a restaurant owned by the traffic cop´s father in La Cruz as there were no telephone lines in the village.
"They all almost had heart attacks upon being told the news," he remembers.
The pair arrived back in La Cruz in rough shape. Robles says "they looked like anorexics" and were badly sunburned. Robles says that despite spending much less time at sea, Tartín and Jesús looked far worse than the images of the three perdidos from San Blas.
Tartín recovered fully, although life hasn´t always been easy since being rescued. A jack of all trades, he fishes, surfs, works in a seafood restaurant and even does some woodworking, but isn´t fully dedicated to any single activity. Despite nearly losing his life while fishing, Tartín still regularly heads out to sea. "The sea is my life," he answered, when asked about his vocation.
His teenage daughter lives in California along with his estranged wife. Tartín spent three years in the United States, but returned to La Cruz, saying, "(Things) were too fast there...I need the quaint life."
The quaint life might be coming to an end in La Cruz as a massive new marina and real estate development threatens to transform the once-sleepy village and drive out the fishermen.
"They´re going to get rid of all the fishermen," Tartín says ruefully, pointing towards an assortment of heavy equipment at work in the bay and a former beach area now littered with dredged-up mud and sea shells.
"They´re destroying all of the marine life."
He fears La Cruz may suffer the same fate as Punta de Mita, a community to the west, where he says much of the local population was uprooted by a luxury resort development.
He also expresses misgivings about the San Blas trio. Mainly, it bothers him that they will make out like bandits for a story he calls "A (stinking) lie." |
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