The icebox that had been loaded with fresh fish was now empty of fish but still functional as a container. It became a storage unit for whatever he could gather. The various containers on the boat took on new functions.
In these early weeks, Córdoba was alive and present, and the two men worked together and kept each other company. Alvarenga, by his subsequent account, worked consistently on keeping the boat maintained and on food gathering, while also maintaining the kind of mental discipline required to not be overwhelmed by the reality of their situation. They had no way to contact help and no way to propel themselves toward land. The Pacific Ocean southwest of Mexico extends thousands of miles to the west and northwest before the Marshall Islands are reached, and the currents they were in were carrying them in exactly that direction.
The passing ships — Alvarenga would later account for roughly twenty container ships that crossed his path during the drift — were a recurring source of hope and then despair. Each ship that appeared in the distance sent him into frantic activity: waving, shouting, making himself as visible as possible on the water. Each ship that continued on its course without responding left him to deal with the aftermath of that near-miss. He told Jonathan Franklin that each sighting energized him enough to wave and signal for hours, and that the repeated failures to be seen were among the psychologically most difficult experiences of the entire ordeal.
No passing ship stopped to investigate the small open boat drifting in the Pacific.