Fisherman lost at sea for 95 days recounts miraculous rescue

Lima Newsroom, Mar 28, 2025 / 08:00 am

“I want everyone to know that God is great. God is beautiful. God wants us all to pray, to have love in our hearts, to help each other,” said Máximo Napa Castro — known as “Gatón” — a Peruvian fisherman who never lost his faith while being stranded at sea for 95 days until he was finally rescued off the coast of Ecuador.

Napa shared with “EWTN Noticias,” the Spanish-language edition of EWTN News, his dramatic story, which made headlines around the world, but now in a more personal way, beginning with admitting that he has never read the Bible, which he now wants to do as soon as he has some money since he lost his boat, his means for making a living. 

Upbringing

“Gatón” (“Big Cat”) — as his friends call him because he could no longer be called “Gatito“ (“Little Cat“), as his mother affectionately called him when he was little — comes from a family of humble origins who worked the land growing corn and cotton, something he simply didn’t like to do.

One day, when he was 13, his father told him to go with a relative who was a fisherman. And that day everything changed.

“I loved it. I’ve been in love with the sea ever since. I love the sea. I converse with the sea,” he said, “but before heading out, I kneel. I go with you, my beautiful Father. Your will, always. I never stopped asking [God] to take me out and bring me back. Never, never. And praying for my children, for my mother.”

Napa now lives in Pisco, about four hours by car south of Lima, but on Dec. 7, 2024, he set out for sea from Marcona, three hours further south, where he began a saga he perhaps never imagined.

Stranded

Before setting out to sea on the eve of the solemnity of the Immaculate Conception, Napa called his mother and asked for her blessing. “Never in my life did I think this would happen to me, because I’m used to [the sea], and I go out alone.”

The first few days, already about 60 miles out, he made a good catch and filled seven sacks with fish, hoping to make a good amount of money. On Dec. 17, he decided to return, but the engine wouldn’t start, and so he prepared for the worst, with food available for about a month.

“My God,” I said, “ugh. And at that moment, I began to ration my provisions, my water. One day I would eat, the next day I wouldn’t.”

He watched as he gradually drifted further away, until he was 150 miles from the mainland, and by the time New Year’s Day came around, he ran out of food. “And I knelt in the boat. I said, ‘Whatever may happen…’ But I believe in you. I’m going to get through this. I have to keep my mind focused, not despair, and remain calm.”

In January, while already drinking rainwater, his supplies ran out completely: “I had nothing. That’s when I started eating cockroaches,” yet he didn’t stop praying.

“I woke up praying. I slept praying. For almost two months, I don’t think I felt his presence. I thought, ‘Have you abandoned me? Why?’ And I cried, as you might expect. I cried a lot, because I knew the situation I was in.”

In February, he again experienced the Lord’s presence with him. Around the 10th, he began eating the birds that swooped down on his boat. On the 20th, he managed to keep going with the fish that “he had given me. I told him, ‘I know you sent me this fish. Thank you, Father.’”

Despite this, even harder days came, and he began to complain to the Lord because the fish in his sacks had also spoiled, and he had to throw everything away. “I tossed overboard my entire catch, almost 800 kilos (about 1,765 pounds) that I had, more than 30,000 soles worth (about $7,000),” money with which he also wanted to buy something for his mother.

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Máximo "Gatón" Napa (seated) with his sister Flor and brother Alberto. Credit: "EWTN Noticias"/Screenshot

Napa promised to turn back to God if he saved him. “I’ve used drugs. And sometimes because of the drugs, I became very distant from my family. Since I live alone, fishing alone. And I never could. I never could... But I wanted to for my children, my brother, they were feeling bad” about his situation.

By early March, the situation seemed hopeless. “There was no more water, no more food, no more rain. March 11 came. I was already at the end, I was having trouble breathing. I was struggling. I had thrown myself onto my deck. Then I felt something hit my boat. What was happening? But then I looked, and it was a tortoise. Incredible.”

Napa took the tortoise, grabbed his knife, apologized to the creature, cut it open, and drank its blood, “and then I felt like my life was being restored. But throughout the whole process I was going through, I felt like he [God] was the one doing all of that.”

The rescue

The Peruvian fisherman was holding out in his boat, already exhausted, and suddenly he saw a helicopter, and there, he assured, he also saw Jesus. “And that’s when I started to see Wilson (the helicopter’s co-pilot). But when I saw Wilson like that, he was right next to Jesus’ face, looking at me.”

The day before, on March 10, Napa had said to God: “I know you’re going to take me away in a helicopter or a small plane. And when I saw the helicopter… you did it. And Wilson later said to me: Why were you pointing like that? Because I wanted you to turn around and see him. Jesus was right next to your cheek.”

“I saw him clearly. I saw his whites and his beautiful face. And I told him, ‘You did it, you did it. You, you did it.’ And I fell back and cried. I thanked him. Let the whole world hear this. I’m taking time to recuperate. I want to do it with all the love God gave me,” he shared emotionally.

Napa was then transferred to the Ecuadorian tuna fishing boat that had launched the helicopter, where everyone touched him in amazement and repeated: “It’s a miracle.” From there, he was able to make a video call to speak with his daughter and tell her he was still alive.

The next day, the fishing boat captain told him that the ship wasn’t supposed to pass the place it had gone to rescue Napa on March 11, and that the helicopter hadn’t been launched the previous two days, only on the 11th, and that everything had fallen into place for his rescue, including a dream the captain had about his mother, who asked him to “go out” and look around to see what was there.

When the helicopter was sent out to look for fish the panel detected many birds in one location, which usually indicates an abundance of fish, but it wasn’t that but Napa’s boat. “So Julio, the captain, is also convinced that it was all a chain of events and that God did it.”

Napa also said he has always prayed at the end of the day, to thank God for life and for putting food on the table for him. ”Thank you, Father, for being with me.” He added that in the medical checkups he’s had, everything appears normal: “I don’t have anything, I don’t have diabetes,” which he said the doctors can’t explain.

“Now we don’t know if cockroach, bird, or tortoise blood can cure diabetics,” he joked.

Reactions from his siblings

Flor Napa Castro, Napa’s sister, told the Spanish-language edition of EWTN News that “my brother hasn’t been a saint, and sometimes people ask why, why did he choose him? Truly, God always, I don’t know, suddenly sees his good heart, because he’s always had a good heart for everyone, not just for his family, for anyone who approached him. He always came, they came to ask, and he didn’t hesitate. He’d put his hand in his pocket right there, if he had food, he’d give it to them. He’s always been a very kind person. Maybe that’s why God chose him.”

For Alberto, Napa’s brother, surviving 95 days at sea demonstrates “the courage he has had to go through this entire journey. For me, he is a warrior as a person, because I believe few people can make it through that journey and survive. But I also want to thank the great Lord who has always held him close and never abandoned him, nor has he ever lost his faith.”

Napa had already survived other shipwrecks, including a fire when one of his sons was 13, from which both emerged safely. Despite everything, he confesses that he wants to return to the sea, where he finds the Lord.

Abel Camasca, a journalist for the Spanish-language edition of EWTN News, contributed to this article.

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.