Together, they drifted alone for three months in the Pacific, subsisting on raw fish and rainfall.
However, Tim Shaddock, an Australian sailor who had been saved from the sea, had to leave Bella behind when they finally arrived on land.
After being evaluated on the rescue vessel, the Maria Delia, Timothy Lyndsay Shaddock, 54, disembarked in the Mexican city of Manzanillo. He expressed his gratitude for being alive and set foot on dry land for the first time since their experience began.
“I’m doing fine. I’m feeling a lot better than I was, I tell ya,” a beaming, gaunt, bearded Shaddock told reporters on the dock in the port city 337 kilometres west of Mexico City.
“I’m just very grateful to the captain and the fishing company who saved my life. Shaddock added, “I’m alive and I didn’t really believe I’d make it. He also mentioned that he and his “wonderful” dog Bella are both doing fine.
Shaddock described himself as a reserved individual who cherished alone on the sea. He was originally baffled when asked why he had left Mexico’s Baja Peninsula in April to travel across the Pacific Ocean to French Polynesia.
I love sailing, and I love the people of the sea, but I’m not sure I have the answer to that, he remarked. We all get together because of the seafarers. We are part of the ocean. We are the ocean.
The Sydney man’s catamaran set out from the Mexican city of La Paz, but it was damaged by harsh weather weeks into the journey. Early in May, while he was sailing out of the Sea of Cortez and into the Pacific, he claimed to have last seen land. A full moon was in the sky.
Shaddock claimed he had been well-supplied, but a storm had destroyed his electronics and his ability to cook. He and Bella subsisted on raw fish.
He remarked, “There were many, many, many good days and many, many, many bad days.”
The hardest aspect, he claimed, is the energy and exhaustion. He spent the time mending things and staying upbeat by entering the water to “just enjoy being in the water.”
Shaddock claimed that the first sign of people he had seen in three months was when the helicopter of the tuna boat spotted his catamaran 1,930 km from shore. He claimed that after the pilot threw him a drink and took off, he subsequently came back from the Mara Delia with a speedboat.
The fishing fleet’s operator, Grupomar, didn’t say exactly when the rescue took place. But it claimed in a statement that Shaddock and his dog were in a “precarious” situation when they were discovered, without food and shelter, and that the crew of the tuna boat provided them with medical care, food, and water.
Bella was an instant favourite with the crew, according to Shaddock, who said that the tuna boat became his home. He also described how he and the dog met.
“Bella kind of found me in the middle of Mexico.” He stated, “She’s Mexican. She would not let me leave since she is the spirit of the middle of the nation. She just kept following me onto the ocean despite my three attempts to locate her a place to live. She is definitely a lot braver than I am.
Bella was shown in heartfelt scenes waiting for Shaddock to drive away before she stepped off the boat.
On the understanding that he would take good care of the puppy, he had previously decided to adopt her from Mazatlan crew member Genaro Rosales.
Shaddock stated that he is eager to visit his family when he returns to Australia soon.
