The storm lasted, in Alvarenga’s account, approximately five days. During those five days, he and Córdoba dumped the approximately 500 kilograms of fresh fish they had already caught — more than 1,100 pounds — because the weight of the catch was making the boat harder to control in the seas. The fish they had caught and hoped to sell, the product of the trip they had come out to complete, went over the side.
They were left with a dead motor, a working but powerless boat, no radio, no anchor, and no GPS. They were somewhere in the Pacific Ocean southwest of Chiapas, and they were moving west — carried by winds and currents that had no particular interest in returning them to Mexico.
A search party was launched. It was called off after two days because of bad weather and poor visibility. Marroquin confirmed this in February 2014: the official record showed that a boat carrying two men had been reported missing two days after departing on November 17, 2012, that a search had been conducted, and that the search had been ended without finding the men or the vessel.
As far as Mexico was concerned, the two fishermen were gone.
## The First Weeks: Improvisation Under Pressure
Alvarenga had a boat and he had skills. The skills were what kept him alive in the initial period after the motor failed and the drift began.
He was not a man without resources. He knew how to catch fish without a line and hook — he could catch fish with his bare hands in the open water around the boat, a skill that Jonathan Franklin’s subsequent reporting confirmed was part of his repertoire as an experienced fisherman. He knew how to construct makeshift equipment from the materials on board. He improvised a sea anchor from buoys to slow the boat’s drift and make it more stable in swells. He collected rainwater in whatever containers were available, adapted plastic storage containers to serve as catch basins during rain events, and began the systematic process of managing resources that would need to sustain two people for an unknown but potentially long period.