A Peruvian fisherman, stranded at sea for an astonishing 95 days, credits his faith and love for his family for keeping him alive, along with an unthinkable survival diet of cockroaches, birds, fish, and even a turtle.
Máximo Napa Castro, known as Gatón, shared his harrowing ordeal with CNN’s Jimena De La Quintana, revealing how his belief in God and thoughts of his loved ones gave him the strength to endure.
“Firstly, it was my faith in God. Because I spoke to him for many days. Because I let him know how important my family was. My mother, my brother, my children,” he said.
However, the journey was grueling. As his food and water ran out, so did his hope. There were moments when despair nearly won.
“I even got a knife three times. Three times I got the knife because I couldn’t take it anymore,” he admitted. “But I told myself: Calm down, Gatón. You can do it. You can do it.”
Gatón initially set out with supplies meant to last a month. But when his boat’s motor suddenly failed just as he was preparing to return to shore, he found himself helplessly adrift. He rationed what little food remained, but after weeks passed with no sign of rescue, he was forced to adapt to extreme conditions.
“After January and February, that’s when I started eating roaches and birds, various kinds of fish that happened to jump into the boat,” he explained.
To catch birds, he devised a nighttime strategy. “Around 1 or 2 a.m., they would rest on top of my boat and fall asleep. Once they did, I got a club, snuck up behind them and ‘pop.’”
His thirst became unbearable. With no fresh water left, he made a desperate choice. He hunted a turtle—not for its meat, but for its blood.
“I didn’t want to do it, but I didn’t have a choice. It was my life.”
Then, just as exhaustion was about to consume him, salvation came.
He was dozing inside his boat when a sudden voice rang out—loud and clear—calling his nickname: “Gatón!”
A rescue helicopter had found him.
“That’s when I said (to God): You did it! You did it!”
The rescue team signaled that a boat was on its way. As darkness settled over the sea, he finally saw its lights approaching. After three long months lost at sea, he was going home.
“It was something sensational,” he recalled.
Now, having survived against all odds, he sees life through a new lens.
“I will tell my story worldwide, so the world knows that God is everything in this life, that we put our hand on our chest and fill ourselves with love, give love. That is what we need here on Earth.”
