The 438 days are over. The knowledge is his.
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**Slug:** jose-alvarenga-fisherman-mexico-marshall-islands-438-days-pacific-survival
**Meta description:** He left Mexico on a routine fishing trip and drifted more than 6,000 miles across the Pacific for over a year. This is José Alvarenga’s documented survival story.
**Category:** Extraordinary Survival
**Thumbnail hook:** He left for a 30-hour fishing trip. He didn’t come back for more than a year — and when he did, he was 6,000 miles away.
**Internal tracking:** BM-CANDIDATE-068
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**SOURCE AND EDITORIAL NOTES**
**Primary sources accessed:**
1. Wikipedia — “José Salvador Alvarenga” (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jos%C3%A9_Salvador_Alvarenga, accessed October 2026). Source for: birth c.1975 Garita Palmera El Salvador, alias Cirilo Vargas in Mexico, family names, Costa Azul departure November 17 2012, Pijijiapan/Chiapas location, 7-meter fiberglass skiff with single outboard motor and icebox, 500kg fish dumped, companion Ezequiel Córdoba aged 22-24 (various accounts), storm lasting approximately five days, Córdoba death approximately four months in from refusing raw food, body kept six days before release, 15 lunar cycles tracked, landfall Ebon Atoll Tile Islet January 30 2014, Amy Libokmeto and Russell Laijedrik (spellings vary in sources), condition on arrival (swollen ankles, anemia, low blood pressure, parasite suspicion), Majuro hospital treatment IV drip Feb 6, flew El Salvador February 10, 8 years without family contact, Norman Barth US Embassy found him credible, University of Hawaii Maximenko and Hafner drift analysis, Erik van Sebille 14-20 months drift window, April 2014 polygraph, Córdoba family lawsuit 2015 alleging cannibalism (denied by Alvarenga), Jonathan Franklin book 438 Days published 2015, overall 438-day documented drift duration, distance estimate 5,500-6,700 miles.