It was a real-life castaway story when 51-year-old Joseph Rangel set off on a seven-day fishing adventure off the coast of California with his lifelong friend Lorenzo Madrid, 50, and their 24-year-old guide, Jose Luis Ramos Garcia.
In October 2000, the trio planned a fishing trip in the Sea of Cortez. They were part of a group of 12 aboard a 95-foot vessel, aiming to angle for yellowtail. However, Rangel and Madrid wanted more and booked a separate side trip that was meant to last just two hours.
That short excursion turned into a harrowing ordeal, leaving them stranded for two weeks — and tragically resulting in one of the men never making it home.
Rangel, then a quality-control manager for an aerospace company, and Madrid, a drug-store manager, were aboard a 22-foot skiff with Ramos when the guide mistakenly steered south instead of north for a full 90 minutes. Facing the wrong direction and battling heavy winds, the boat ultimately ran aground.
The men soon found themselves stranded on a deserted island 15 miles off the coast of Baja. With nothing but crabs, snails, and bugs to eat, they survived on “three cans of beer, four 15-oz. bottles of water, and a Dr. Pepper,” Rangel told PEOPLE in a 2000 interview.
Desperate to reach safety, the men used driftwood oars to attempt rowing their vessel back to the mainland. But heavy winds ran them aground again, wrecking the boat.
Next, they built a raft from the wreckage and set off toward land. Along the three-day journey, they stopped to sleep in caves, eating raw crabs and bugs to survive. However, they soon realized they had somehow gone in a circle.
Rangel lamented to PEOPLE, “We did all that work, and we were right back where we started.”
Despite repeated attempts, the ordeal continued. Eleven days into their struggle for survival, Madrid lost consciousness.
“I tried to get a pulse,” Rangel explained, recalling how he pulled his friend to shore before realizing, “He was gone.”
A day and a half later, Ramos and Rangel were finally rescued by commercial divers on a small boat. The stretch of island where their vessel ran aground was so remote that rescue efforts, covering a 25-mile area, had missed them completely.
After nearly two weeks stranded, Rangel had lost 30 pounds and was treated for an ulcer, a bacterial infection, and blood clots in his legs. All the while, he mourned the loss of his childhood friend.
Speaking to the press from his hospital bed, Rangel said the entire episode could have been avoided if the fishing charter had been properly equipped. He maintained that there was no radio, flares, or lifejackets on board.
“A simple radio would have taken care of it; simple safety equipment and a plan if something went wrong,” Rangel told The Daily Journal.
This story stands as a stark reminder of the importance of safety precautions when venturing into the wilderness — even for what seems like a brief excursion.
https://people.com/stranded-marooned-deserted-island-fishing-trip-castaways-11862477