San Carlos Mexico, June 2024
by Dawn Norton as told by Steven (a true story)
It was a nearly perfect day of scuba diving, except the water had become choppy and the boat was navigating the increased swells after the decision was made to forego a second scuba dive and try again tomorrow closer to the mainland. The dive had been perfectly beautiful without event. Not finding any better waters near the island where they dove, they headed back toward the mainland, with the thought of driving again in the morning.
About five miles from the island, two of six teenage boys were on the top of the ship, and two were at the bow, legs dangling over the front without concern for the choppy water. The remaining two boys were under deck in a small cabin, one asleep, and one resting. The four adult leaders had been chatting but decided it might be better given the change in the water to bring the boys up top and in front to the back of the boat, just for safety’s sake.
Tom and Rob, brothers, along with Steven and Parker were completing scuba training with the boys on a small boat that Tom and Rob owned.
Rob was the bishop of their local congregation at home and was acting as Captain. He watched the gauges closely, noticing that one of the engines was getting hot. The boat had navigated hundreds of trips and it wasn’t uncommon to have to shut down one engine so this was not particularly concerning, but he continued to keep an eye on it. Steven noticed that there was water collecting on deck. He mentioned it to the others but was assured as long as the bilge pumps were working, it was also not a big concern. The water was indeed coming out of the sides of the boat as designed. But it was only a few seconds before the water had doubled. The temperature gauge continued to show the engine overheating.
One of the men grabbed a bucket the diving masks were in and was able to bail one bucket of water, before the water had doubled again. The stark realization came to all of the adults at once, that the boat was sinking and there was no time to do anything about it. Rob had been intensely focused on those gauges. In the meantime Tom only had one thought before the decision to jump ship. “Grab your cell phone.” Which he did.
Then the boys were instructed sharply and seriously, “the boat is sinking and we have to get off now!”
The boys below were called upon to throw out as many of the life jackets as they could in the remaining moments. They were able to get five out before the boat’s back end began going down and the front end began heaving up.
From the time the water was noticed until the time the boat completely sank, was about two minutes. The last one off the boat was one of the boys who helped with the life jackets, and to everyone’s horror in the water, he got caught on something in the doorway of the cabin. Brief fear gripped everyone while the young man gave a herculean yank and tore his shirt and made it over the side as the boat went below the surface.
In the events of the previous minutes, two of the boys had good gashes that had bled. Steven wondered if the sharks would begin circling. Everyone jumped off the boat at different points, and so the intense waves caused them to drift apart. The leaders beckoned and shouted out that they must gather together. Tom, with a boat cushion under his arm was trying desperately to keep his phone high in the air in hopes that service could be found. But 12 miles from the mainland, it was only a desperate hope.
One of the first miracles the group experienced was that the 80-90 pound scuba tanks that would have normally been stowed away, were on deck when the boat sank. The tanks with their attached un-inflated vests, should have gone straight to the bottom with the boat. Instead, they somehow floated to the surface and they were able to grab all of them, inflate the vests, and tether them together to create a makeshift flotation for the five with life vests, and the five without.
Parker had the presence of mind to grab some flippers on his way off the boat knowing he was a good swimmer and they might be needed. After their options were assessed, Parker volunteered to attempt a swim to shore to get help. There was no way of knowing when or if a rescue would come, but in the end, the group decided their best bet was to stick together.
There had not even been a moment to call for help on the radio as the boat went down, so once they were successfully gathered and tethered and the gravity of the situation was fully upon them, they decided prayer was the most important thing they could do. No sooner had the Amen been said, than the phone rang! It was Tom’s wife! “Honey, the boat went down, we’re in the water, call Preston for help!” Preston was another one of the boat owners who was not on the trip, but had connections and knew what to do. With breaths held, they had no idea if the message even went through.
Then a text came through from Tom’s son. “Hey Dad, hope you’re having fun. How’s the trip?” “Mayday, we are in the ocean, the boat sank, call for help.” And one last second to send coordinates to their shifting location. Then no more service. And now, they were all left with the weight of the situation they were in and how to manage the thoughts that came washing over them as turbulently as some of the swelling and crashing waves.
One boy became anxious, one boy threw up, and panic set in. There was a concerted encouragement for the boys to remain calm and try to keep their thoughts up. Matters weren’t helped when Steven’s son declared that he thought they were in about the same spot as when they saw a shark on their way to the island for the first dive. Up and down, up and down. Waves and thoughts and hopes.
Steven wondered, “will I watch my son die today? Will I ever see my wife again? Will this be my last day? How long will we be in the ocean?” He knew that he had to chase the thoughts away and cling to faith and hope that they would be found, that God heard their prayer, that the message got through and someone was coming for them. One of the most difficult thoughts was when would the sharks arrive?
An hour in the ocean with nothing but sky above and the depths of the sea below, seems a lot longer than an hour on land or in the comfort of home and family, but a little after an hour, they spotted a ship. It appeared to be coming straight for them. And then it turned. “Maybe it wasn’t for us.” One of the boys took off his life jacket and began waving it. And as suddenly as the boat turned away, it turned back toward them. They were spotted! They were rescued. They were saved.
So many more small miracles were reported from the experience. Tom’s wife called Preston, and Preston called the marina to inform them of the situation. A mayday call went out immediately for anyone who could help to leave and begin the search. One of three boats was the one that rescued the men.
The boat that made the rescue had an American family aboard and a Mexican guide helping with their excursion. The coordinates went out in American units which differ slightly from Mexican units. But slightly in airplanes and oceans can make a big disastrous difference.
The Mexican man aboard the ship was consulted as they compared coordinates. He looked at the conflicting coordinates, stretched out his arm and while sweeping it across the water, paused and said, “There. They’re probably about right there.” And the direction he estimated was the exact direction where the ragged but hopeful was eventually found.
Steven asked the woman on board what her side of the story was. Adding to the previous unscientific direction-locating, she told him that she had been on top of their boat, looking as carefully as she could. She anxiously looked in that direction for ten minutes when she gave herself a ten second countdown, at which point she was going to face the opposite direction and try elsewhere. It was in that ten second countdown that she saw the young man in the water waving his life vest.
Everyone rescued was without shoes, and most of them were without wallets and identification. They had gone down with the boat. Rob left his passport at home. When the men got back to shore, they were able to arrange for someone to bring his passport to San Carlos so they could get back home. Steven had lost a wallet previous to the trip and got a new one to replace it. The wallet was found shortly before the trip and so his id was sent along with the passport.
The group of young men, 16-18 had happily invited and encouraged another young man with cerebral palsy and crutches to join them on the trip. Wanting to include him, they pushed and encouraged, and told him he could just sit on the boat while they dove. But his mother felt extreme resistance and decided he should stay home.
An interesting side note. One of the men on the trip’s daughter was distraught when she received the news of her dad and the others. Her husband, who was one of the other men’s sons, decided to reach out to a connection that he had, getting him through to the state department. They were able to report the loss of the boat and the plight of its occupants, which was forwarded on to the Marines at a location 30 minutes south of San Carlos. So, the rescued boys and men were barely on the new vessel, when the Marines showed up, boldly and speedily traversing the waves, looking for them as well. Not only had the call gone through, but at least 4 boats were sent to the rescue!
I asked Steven what his takeaways were having been through such a harrowing nearly traffic experience. He said, “I’m usually only comfortable waist deep in the water near the shore of the beach. It was a mental struggle to keep those thoughts away. To push them out and replace them. The decision had to be made to push them out and replace those frightening thoughts. I had to decide that we would be ok and that Heavenly Father would help us.”
He added, “God is very aware of us in every detail. Everything within the tragedy went VERY perfectly. Heaven was aware of every moment. I felt guardian angels were there fending off the sharks and trouble. Satan was tempting us in our thoughts. But Heavenly Father helped us through all of that, even our toughest moments and thoughts. I discovered that I have a strong will to live. We get to decide who we are going to be and whether we are going to be a success and that we are not going to be defeated.”
I was spellbound by his telling of their tale and impressed and intrigued by all the parts played and the conscious choice to choose to believe. I personally know 3 of the 4 men involved, and my gratitude joined theirs as I thought of the tremendous loss this story COULD have been about. I thought of the Unseen Help racing to their rescue, and that I have (we all have) access to that same Help when the swells and crashing of life events are all around us.
We can also choose. Choose our thoughts, choose to hang on, choose to watch for the help that’s coming. Choose to believe.
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2 Responses
This story was beautiful. As much as it sounds like a fiction or something you can easily watch in a movie or read in a book, I felt different about it, the spirit was strong in the moment’s of the small but huge miracles. I also believe Heavenly Father really watches over his children and is in very much the details of our life
This is an incredibly powerful example of how to push away extremely negative thoughts that could very easily overcome us. Thank you for sharing this! I choose to believe in the miracle that I and my family need right now to sell our home in a timely way in a market that is not so promising. (And to add to that – I am asking for/hoping for cash buyers!)