A 77-year-old British Columbian survived six days at sea in a dinghy before being rescued by the Coast Guard in the Caribbean.
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In total, Don Cavers floated for twelve days at sea, six of which were on a dinghy.
A boating enthusiast for more than 30 years, the septuagenarian made regular trips from British Columbia to Mexico. He had recently bought a $45,000 fishing boat and planned to join his son in Puerto Rico, as reported by Global News, which points out that the event took place last December.
On his second night of travel, a wave of about 4.5 meters hit his boat. Water quickly accumulated in the cabin. Mr Cavers then succeeded in lowering the water level in the cabin, but realized the next day that the water had damaged the electrical system.
He spent several days without an electrical system on his sailboat, but this period of calm did not last, however, since the boat hit a reef shortly afterwards, which forced him to fall back on his rubber dinghy. .
On his twelfth day at sea, he heard a boat honk. Right away he sent out distress flares and grabbed his radio to tell the other sailors he couldn’t get out of their way.
“I get emotional every time I talk about it,” Cavers said. They told me they were going to help me.”
After living this near-death experience, the British Columbian said he learned his lesson. From now on, he will place all electronic devices in a waterproof box.