I SURVIVED: We're Going To Fight With Everything We Have

Summary

Cold Case Files — "I SurVIVED: We're Going To Fight With Everything We Have"

Podcast: Cold Case Files (A&E / PodcastOne)
Host: Paula Barros
Date: December 13, 2025

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Episode Overview

This gripping episode of Cold Case Files presents two harrowing survival stories—one of a vicious mountain attack in Colorado, and one of a catastrophic shipwreck in Mexico. Through first-person accounts, the survivors recount their determination to fight for their lives against all odds. Their stories, full of suspense, trauma, and resilience, illustrate the depths of human courage and the will to live.

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Main Story 1: Attack on Signal Mountain, Colorado

Setting the Scene (02:10)

• Nina and Kim, sisters-in-law, take an early morning hike in September 2009 near Kim’s cabin in Signal Mountain, Colorado.
• Kim has a history of knee trouble and brings a walking stick for protection, as advised by her husband.

The Attack (04:32)

• As they return from their hike, a man in full camouflage ambushes them.
• Kim: "All of a sudden I saw something move and I turned. Everything went to slow motion because there was something dressed in full camouflage coming at me." (04:32)
• The assailant brandishes a large knife, targeting their throats and immediately wounding Nina who had tried to protect herself.

The Struggle and Assault (05:06 – 09:12)

• The attacker holds Kim at knifepoint, while Nina, injured, tries to appease him.
• Kim remains eerily calm: "I don't even know why I remained calm because I was so nervous inside. But I kept asking him questions. Why? Why are you doing this?" (05:06)
• Nina picks up the walking stick, trying to obey orders while positioning herself defensively.
• The attacker attempts to sexually assault Kim; Nina desperately distracts him by claiming their husbands will soon arrive.

The Turning Point and Resistance (09:12 – 13:27)

• The attacker, agitated, tries to move both women off the trail and into the woods, but the women refuse.
• Nina’s pivotal moment: "We're gonna die or we're gonna live. And damned if he's gonna take that choice away from us. We're gonna fight with everything we have." (02:02, repeated sentiment at 12:56)
• With a silent signal, both women agree to fight back. Nina swings the walking stick, giving Kim a chance to escape the assailant's grip.

Escape and Aftermath (13:54 – 15:34)

• The attacker briefly pursues, but after a tense standoff, flees.
• Both women run for their lives, despite Nina’s Achilles tendon injury, refusing to stop until reaching safety.
• At the cabin, their families mistakenly assume they were attacked by an animal; the truth quickly sets in.

Investigation and Justice (15:54 – 19:03)

• Police quickly set up roadblocks but initially let a key suspect go.
• Nine days later, Kim and Nina identify their attacker, James Bondsteel, in a dramatic in-person lineup.
• Nina on the identifcation: "Absolutely no doubt in my mind, the minute he said those words and I saw those eyes again...it’s him." (18:04)
• Bondsteel is found to have attacked other women; he’s ultimately convicted of six sexual attacks and sentenced to 134 years in prison.

Reflections on Survival (19:03 – 19:42)

• Kim: "I survived because I kept my wits about me. We stayed calm and we waited for an opportunity to make the escape happen." (19:03)
• Nina: "We were not going down without a fight. The alternative just was not acceptable." (19:14)

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Main Story 2: Shipwreck in the Sea of Cortez, Mexico

Setting the Scene (23:04)

• In July 2011, Mike and Charles join a fishing trip with friends on the vessel "Erik," a 115-foot mothership with several smaller "panga" boats.

Disaster Strikes (24:54 – 26:37)

• A sudden storm causes the boat to list dangerously. Windows shatter, lights go out, and passengers scramble to escape.
• Charles: "The wall became the floor, and the boat had listed 90 degrees...the boat was sinking." (25:24)

The Sinking Ship (27:34 – 28:10)

• Amid chaos, Charles is washed overboard without a life vest, clinging to a cooler.
• Charles: "One minute I was laying there listening to Louis Armstrong, and within four minutes I was in the ocean fighting for my life." (28:14)
• Mike and other survivors jump into the dark, fuel-covered water.

The Fight for Survival (29:53 – 33:54)

• Survivors form groups, tie together coolers, and attempt to focus on survival and teamwork.
• Hope comes with dawn, but rescue seems distant.
• Charles is given a life jacket by his friend Glenn, leading to renewed determination.

Swimming for Land, Facing Despair (34:53 – 38:47)

• Huge currents separate swimmers. Some make for a visible island, others are lost.
• Mike tries to reach land but realizes it's futile and fights to rejoin his friends, fearing for Les, who disappears.

Rescue and Loss (39:52 – 42:30)

• Charles, pushed by miraculous waves, drags himself onto an island, joining another survivor, Rich.
• Mike and Jerry are eventually rescued by fishermen, but Les is gone.
• Emotional reunions occur, but seven men—including Mike's cousins—are never found.
• Mike: "To this day, I survived because we worked together as a team. Jerry, myself, and Les. I survived with the help of God and the hope that he gave us through our struggles.” (42:30)
• Charles: "I survived because of the goodness of other people and the grace of God." (42:55)

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Key Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Kim: "We're back in the middle of nowhere. This man is dressed in full camouflage. He has a big, sharp, shiny knife at my throat." (01:26, 05:43)
• Nina: "We were not going down without a fight. The alternative just was not acceptable." (19:14)
• Charles: "It was amazing how fast it happened. One minute I was laying there listening to Louis Armstrong and within four minutes I was in the ocean fighting for my life." (01:37, 28:14)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• 02:10 — Introduction to Colorado hiking attack
• 04:32 — Assault begins
• 09:12 — Kim and Nina’s coordinated resistance
• 13:27 — Escape
• 15:54 — Police response, suspect encounter
• 17:00 — In-person suspect lineup
• 18:26 — Discovery of attacker’s other crimes
• 19:03 — Reflections on survival
• 23:04 — Sea of Cortez fishing trip
• 24:54 — Storm and sinking ship
• 28:14 — Overboard, first-person chaos
• 32:46 — Dawn, surrounded by water
• 33:54 — Gift of a life vest
• 38:47 — Les goes missing
• 39:52 — Charles makes island landfall
• 41:30 — Emotional rescue and survivor reunion
• 42:14 — Losses confirmed, final survivor statements

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Tone and Language

The episode's tone is intense and engrossing, driven by the survivors' raw voices and emotional recollections. The storytelling weaves suspense and hope, highlighting both the terror of near-death experiences and the power of resilience.

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Summary

This episode of Cold Case Files is a powerful testament to the strength of the human spirit in the face of violent crime and natural disaster. The bravery of Kim and Nina, vowing to fight back against a brutal attacker, and the resourcefulness of Mike and Charles amidst an unexpected shipwreck, stand as moving examples of survival, teamwork, and determination when confronted with the unimaginable.

Transcript

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[Kim]

We're back in the middle of nowhere. This man is dressed in full camouflage. He. He has a big sharp shiny knife at my throat.

[Nina]

Real people.

[Charles]

It was amazing how fast it happened. One minute I was laying there listening to Louis Armstrong and within four minutes I was in the ocean fighting for my life.

[Narrator]

Who faced death.

[Mike]

We were surrounded by water. I was scared again. Really scared. Because I had no clue where we were at and how far away we were from land.

[Narrator]

And live to tell how we're gonna.

[Nina]

Die or we're gonna live. And damned if he's gonna take that choice away from us. We're gonna fight with everything we have.

[Narrator]

This is. I survived. It's September 2009 in Signal Mountain, Colorado. Nina and her sister in law Kim are staying at Kim's cabin with their Families.

[Nina]

We headed up there Saturday evening, spent the night up there, and then first thing in the morning, before everybody else woke up, I wanted to go hiking. There's a trail through the meadow that links up with this incredible trail that goes up to Signal Mountain. I definitely wanted to take Nina on it. I do it every time we were up there. I would do it in the morning before breakfast because it's a nice three miles out, three miles back. I know I can get six miles in, and then we can all have breakfast together.

[Kim]

I have a bad knee, and I had done a lot of running that week before, so my knee was kind of aching. I went back and forth, and I said, you know what, Kim? I'd like to ride my new mountain bike. Why don't you go ahead and start off before I do, and I will catch up with you? And so Kim actually started out about 30 minutes prior to me, and the plan was to meet her somewhere on the trail.

[Nina]

So I head out, and I end up at my 3 1/2 mile mark, and she hasn't caught up with me yet. So I'm getting a little concerned. I head back to go find her, and a couple miles back down the trail, I find her. And it's just gotten. It's too rocky. It's a little too tough to ride your bike.

[Kim]

We decide to ditch my bike. And Kim's been carrying this walking stick that her husband is adamant about her taking on every single hike. Apparently, there's mountain lions up in this area, and it's just some type of protection. So she insists that I take this hiking stick because I complained about my knee originally hurting, and of course, she wants to get rid of it. So I take the walking stick and we continue on together. On the hike up to the turnaround.

[Nina]

Spot, we're talking the entire way. There was absolutely no peace for anyone in the mountains that day at all. And we're hiking along, and we finally hit the bridge, and then my stomach starts to grumble, and I realize, time to head back. We need to cook breakfast for everyone. So we decide we're gonna turn around and go back.

[Kim]

We walked maybe about 50ft, and all of a sudden I saw something move and I turned. Everything went to slow motion because there was something dressed in full camouflage coming at me.

[Nina]

When I turn around, this man is coming at Nina with this knife. So she puts her hands up, and he cuts her with the knife as he's coming at her with it, because she is protecting her neck.

[Kim]

Before I knew it, this man had grabbed ahold of me and had the knife at my neck. He wrestles me down to the ground, and I start asking him questions. And I don't even know why I remained calm because I was so nervous inside. But I kept asking him questions. Why? Why are you doing this?

[Nina]

And he says, because it's fallen, and these nasty black eyes are staring out of this balaclava at me. And I realize we are in big trouble.

[Kim]

You start to realize this is a very, very serious situation. We're back in the middle of nowhere. This man is dressed in full camouflage. He has a big, sharp, shiny knife at my throat. He has now taken control of the situation by wrestling me down to the ground. I really started to study his skin and his eyes, because I thought, if they ever catch this man, I'm going to have to describe something. And this is all I can see.

[Narrator]

Nina had dropped the walking stick during the attack.

[Nina]

Out of sheer instinct, I pick up the walking stick, and he's yelling at me the whole time, drop the stick. Sit down. Back off. And I'm trying. I'm trying to do enough of what he's asking me to do so that he doesn't hurt her worse.

[Kim]

Both Kim and I, we remained fairly calm. We never let out a scream. Deep inside, of course, we're panicking. We're very nervous. Your life feels like it's going to flash by you, and you're thinking, this is not how I want to die.

[Nina]

Of course, he's yelling the whole time, I'll cut her. I'll kill her. I'll cut her.

[Charles]

Back off.

[Nina]

And I realized that if I back up a little bit, that I can squat against the mountain, but I can stay ready. I can jump up if I need to.

[Kim]

He kept telling me, don't struggle. Don't struggle. Quit resisting me. Quit resisting me. And I said very calmly, I'm not resisting you. I'm just a little stressed here. You've got a knife to my throat. You've got me down on the ground. You've cut me. My hand is bleeding. May I get a band aid out of my backpack? And I knew in reality, I had no band aid in my backpack. I was just thinking of something to do so I could change up the situation. And he said, no, bitch. You can't get a band aid out of your backpack.

[Nina]

My initial take on the situation was that we were gonna die. I mean, he was absolutely there to kill us.

[Kim]

He then started to fondle with my backpack that I had attached to my chest. And I'm thinking, okay, I Know what he's after now?

[Nina]

He's on top of her, and he's trying to pin her arms down. And, oh, my gosh, he's gonna rape her. I am gonna have to sit here and watch Nina get raped. He's pulling her shirt up. He's pulling her bike shorts down. And as much as I thought that I could wait for the right moment, I can't. He thinks I've dropped the stick because it's laying on the ground, but I still have my arms around it. I jump up, and as soon as I jump up, I have no idea what I'm gonna do because he's still got the knife to her neck, and I can't think of a safe way to attack him. So I say, our husbands are coming. They left the cabin 20 minutes after us. They're gonna be here any moment. You better let us go.

[Kim]

That made him nervous enough that he wanted to take us off the trail and across the creek. So he now drags me to my feet and starts to drag me across the trail down to a flat area before we have to cross the creek.

[Nina]

All I could think was, oh, my God, what have I done? Now he's gonna haul us into the woods where we have no chance. I mean, we go into the woods, we're not coming back out. So I say, no, I'm not going.

[Kim]

And he's really adamant that he wants Kim to go first. And Kim does not want to go. She is holding her ground.

[Nina]

He's got her around the neck, and he's got the knife up to her neck. And he says, go across the creek or I'm gonna cut her.

[Kim]

And she said, I'm not letting you take her. I'm not letting you take her. And then he slices my arm with the knife to say, I'm gonna. You know, I mean business now. Quit screwing around.

[Nina]

Of course, that scares me to death. Because now my stubbornness and how I think I'm protecting us gets Nina cut. But I know that if we go into the woods. I don't know the woods. I mean, we've only had this cabin for a few months. I've never been off the trail. I don't know what's back there. He does. You can see in his eyes he's made a decision, and he knows he can't control two of us. So it occurs to me that he's gonna take Nina.

[Kim]

And we look into each other's eyes, and we know, okay, something has to be done here. We've reached the moment.

[Nina]

My eyebrows Raise a little bit. And she looks at me and I can see it. She's ready. She does not want me to let him take her into the woods. And she's ready to fight Nina. And I make eye contact and she knows that this is it, this is a breaking point. And there's no way that I am going to turn and leave her and let him take her into the woods. He takes her down and he's trying to drag her down into the creek. And so I have my walking stick, and I take the walking stick and I swing.

[Kim]

I don't see her swing the stick. I just hear this whack. But it's enough that he loses his grip on me because she's whacked him with the stick. And then I'm able to slip out from his grip underneath his arm and slide through.

[Nina]

He now charges at me, and I don't have anything to protect myself anymore. The stick is gone. Turns out it had broken and was laying down where we were fighting. And I am stumbling backwards to try to stay away from the knife because he's slashing the knife. And next thing I know, I'm on.

[Kim]

The ground and I'm already in motion, looking for a rock. And I look down more to my right as I turn around and there's this one lonely rock. I reach for it, I come back and I throw it at him as hard as I can. It leaves my hand in slow motion. And then it feels like when it hits him, you know, that it barely does anything.

[Nina]

It makes him stop and I can get to my feet.

[Kim]

All three of us are standing and there is a standoff. We're all looking at each other and he doesn't know what to do.

[Nina]

So Nina and I, we are screaming at him all kinds of things that our children should never hear us say. We're out of control because we know we're gonna die or we're gonna live. And damned if he's gonna take that choice away from us. We're gonna fight with everything we have. He's standing there facing off with us, and he still has a knife. And there's like a 15 second period of time where he's trying to decide, what do I do?

[Kim]

And he looks back and forth at us and doesn't know what to do. And then he turns and runs away from us. And as he takes off, I'm thinking, oh, my God, he is going to get a gun. He's going to finish us off. We have pissed him off. And then Kim yells to me, nina, come on let's go. And so we take off for this run for our lives down the mountain.

[Nina]

25, maybe 30 yards into this sprint, Nina pulls her Achilles tendon.

[Kim]

And I said, I just popped my Achilles.

[Nina]

And I said, nina, we either run or we die. You can run. I know she's injured. I mean, she's pulled her Achilles. I know she's cut at least two, three times. I'm just trying to reassure her that if we can just keep running, we're gonna be fine. But inside, I'm scared to death.

[Kim]

I said, you know, I feel like he's coming after us. Kim, we need to get off this trail and take the unbeaten path. And she says, no, Nina, we gotta stay on the trail. And I said, kim, what if he's. If he's coming down the other side of the creek?

[Nina]

I'm telling her, nina, I don't know how to get back. If we go into the mountains and we get off this trail, we're gonna get lost. We are running so fast back, and the whole time we're just.

[Kim]

We're scared to death as we're running down the trail. She'd say, okay, Nina, you know, as soon as we get by the pump house, we have maybe another quarter mile to go before we get to the footbridge down there.

[Narrator]

Kim and Nina approached the pump house near the end of the trail.

[Nina]

It's empty and it's unlocked all the time, and it is not four feet off the trail. And in my mind, I'm thinking, he's in there. I'm convinced he's going to jump out. We're still running. I mean, there's nothing else. There's nowhere else for us to go. So we run past, we clear the watershed.

[Kim]

And as we get to the beginning of the meadow is when we start yelling.

[Nina]

Everyone's inclination as they come out on the deck is that we've been attacked by an animal. And then it sinks into them as we're yelling more a man with a knife. Call 91 1.

[Narrator]

Police quickly set roadblocks to close off the area.

[Kim]

This man comes down off the road, and he kind of fits the description of 5, 10, 240 pounds, scraggly ponytail. And out of everybody that the officer stopped, he is the one that is least cooperative.

[Nina]

He says he knows his rights. They can't search his car. They try to get a hold of Nina or I to come. They try to get the deputies to bring us down to look at him. They can't get in touch with us. We're out of range, so they have to let him go.

[Narrator]

Nina was released from the hospital after her knife wounds were treated.

[Nina]

We're complete wrecks because we're positive this man is going to find us. We're having nightmares, can't sleep at night. I can't work because I'm scared to death he's going to find my kids while I'm away. They bring us in nine days later for a lineup. They tell us that it's just standard procedure. They need to eliminate some suspects.

[Kim]

We go to this room, and it's not behind one way glass. It's an actual room and there is a table separating you and the men dressed in full camouflage behind the table. And they're all given scripts that they have to read from statements that you've given the officers about what was said in the conversation that went on during the attack.

[Nina]

We walk through the door and I look in and on my right are six men lined up against the wall, all dressed exactly how we described.

[Kim]

I scanned the room really quickly and I looked down at number six and my heart started to race.

[Nina]

And number six, it's him. And I look in his eyes and I am just ready to fall apart. And he says, because it's fun.

[Kim]

He tried to disguise his voice differently. And that's why I said, speak up. I want you to speak louder.

[Nina]

And I realize, oh, my gosh, all those fears. You always worry, what, have I identified the wrong man? What, have I picked the wrong person? Absolutely not. No doubt. Absolutely no doubt in my mind, the minute he said those words and I saw those eyes again and that same combination. It's him.

[Kim]

We learned that he had attacked other women off his motorcycle and held them at gunpoint and sexually assaulted them.

[Nina]

Once they discovered that he had committed these other crimes, they combined our two cases and there was multiple charges against him. Now against six women.

[Narrator]

James Bondsteel was convicted of all six sexual attacks. The judge gave the maximum penalty for each offense, sentencing James Bondsteel to a total of 134 years in prison.

[Kim]

I survived because I kept my wits about me. We stayed calm and we waited for an opportunity to make the escape happen.

[Nina]

I survived because there was no other option. As far as we were concerned, we were not going down without a fight. The alternative just was not acceptable. I mean, we have families and we have kids and we have fantastic husbands and it just wasn't an option.

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It'S July 2011 on the sea of Cortez, Mexico. Mike and Charles are on a fishing vacation.

[Mike]

My cousin Don Lee, he's a big fisherman and he puts together an annual trip for his buddies and usually it's about maybe 20 to 30 people. And I've been on two trips with him previous. The trip is a six day, five night fishing trip out in the sea of Cortez on the ship known as the Eric.

[Charles]

Well, fishing is my passion and I've been fishing with this particular group of guys for the past seven years in different parts of Mexico. Now, this is a mothership type of fishing adventure. It's where you have the big 115 foot ship, the Erik. And on the back it carries eight to 10 little boats called pongas. They're about 20 foot long and hold about three or four people. And the beauty of it is when you get out into the middle of the ocean, the Eric anchors and then you fish from a little ponga. It's really exciting to be in the ocean fishing for big fish off of the little boat. From the first time we brought our own life vest because we realized that there weren't life vest in the pongas.

[Mike]

It was a calm, quiet evening. The seas were flat. It's about 85 degrees. It's really warm and the sunset was beautiful. It was an orange sunset and it turned into a hazy purple gray.

[Charles]

The dinner bell rang and we had enchiladas and tortillas and a wonderful dinner. After that, it was time for the guys to start assembling their fishing gear because we're gonna start fishing and the next morning it's gonna be fish on. After that we went up to Margaritaville for a few cocktails and about 10:30 I went to bed.

[Narrator]

Mike had retired to his cabin when he felt the boat start to rock.

[Mike]

Came outside and I noticed that there was the breeze had now turned into more of a gale, wind gusts were about 15-20 mph. Went to the front of the boat. And then that's when I realized that we were heading into a big storm. On the horizon, you can see faint hints of large rolling waves. And waves were crashing into the bow at maybe 20 to 20, 20ft. I'm like, well, you know, we went through a storm much like this last year, so, you know, it'll pass. So I decided to go back to my cabin. The banging got louder and the boat just continued to rock. At that point, I was thrown onto the floor. The wall became the floor, and the boat had listed 90 degrees to the left side or starboard side. And at that point, I knew something bad was happening and the boat was sinking.

[Charles]

I remember listening Louis Armstrong, when I was awakened by a frantic voice saying, charles, the ship is sinking. Get out of here. I could hear yelling in Spanish. I could feel waves hitting the the Eric. I got up dressed in only my birthday suit, and I got out of there. I walked into the hallway and I saw a line of people trying to get out of the area because we were in the belly of the boat and the ship was lisping to the left in such a way that it was very difficult to get out.

[Narrator]

The stairs became unusable, and so the men helped each other to escape.

[Charles]

They would reach down with one hand and pull you up, and someone behind you would push you from the rear. The guy who pushed me from behind said it wasn't a pretty sight.

[Mike]

The back of the boat started to list and slowly pull downwards. So we had to climb to the third deck, to the bar deck. And then above that, the lights went out. So the boat's electricity had gone and everything was pitch black. At this point, I kind of knew that the inevitable was going to take place, which is the boat's gonna sink. So if that's gonna happen, I have my life vest, but I think we'll need lights. So I climbed back into the cabin to grab my headlamp and I pulled myself back out onto the deck.

[Charles]

And I'll never forget the look of terror in the eyes of my fellow fishermen. Once I reached the deck, they were donned in life vest and they were braced against the side of the ship and the rail, wondering whether they were gonna live or die. As I moved forward, one of the crew members came and gave the guy next to me a life vest. He turned to me and said, we have no more life vests. Sorry, senor. Just then, a wave, a huge wave hit the ship and knocked me into The Sea of Cortez.

[Narrator]

Charles is washed overboard without a life jacket.

[Charles]

I traded water. There was a lot of confusion. People were yelling. There were a couple of lights. People were saying, over here, over here. Help. Help me. Help me. And suddenly, a cooler, an ice chest, hit me from the back, and I grabbed it with my right hand. It was amazing how fast it happened. One minute I was laying there listening to Louis Armstrong, and within four minutes, I was in the ocean fighting for my life.

[Narrator]

Mike and his friend Jerry were still on board the sinking ship.

[Mike]

We climbed to the top of the communication tower or the communication antenna, and that was the end of the line. Right when the water filled the antenna, we decided to just jump off. At this time, the storm was still jostling us left and right.

[Kim]

Right.

[Mike]

And we had to swim out of position from debris. So the boat had spewed a lot of fuel because at this point, you can smell diesel fuel in the air. So we're being burned by diesel fuel.

[Charles]

The smell of gasoline and diesel fuel burned my eyes and skin. And I looked through the corner of my left eye, and I saw the Eric. She stood straight up and went straight down. We were stuck in the middle of the ocean, Pitch black, no ambient light, no moon, no stars. We didn't know where we were, and we had nothing. We didn't know if the sharks had us on a breakfast menu. As tantalizing tourists, Charles and six other.

[Narrator]

Men tied coolers together to stay afloat.

[Charles]

There was disbelief that we were on vacation and just went out to catch some fish. And now we were holding on to these coolers, trying to survive. Guys were asking questions like, what happened? How could this have happened? They were looking for someone to blame. And we talked to each other, and we said, hey, you know, we can't worry about that type of stuff. We have to keep focus on our survival.

[Narrator]

Mike was clinging to a cooler with two other men, Jerry and Les.

[Mike]

We had no provisions, no water. We actually didn't know where we were at in relation to the shore. The storm left as fast as it came. We were in the water for no more than, I would say, 30 minutes. And the storm subsided, and it was calm. So it was myself, Les, and Jerry hanging onto a cooler, and we were being burned by diesel fuel. In our panic, we were yelling for people or for help. Help. Help. Is anyone out there? We're over here. It's Mike, Jerry, and Les. Come over here. We heard a few faint whispers of Spanish in the air. The whisper disappeared, and we were alone.

[Narrator]

Charles had no life vest and clung to a raft of coolers with six.

[Charles]

When I was in the ocean and we were fighting for our life, holding onto these coolers, I could hear other guys yelling over here and talking, but I couldn't see anyone. So we kind of focused inward on our little group to help these seven people survive. One of the fishermen said, there's a light on the horizon about seven miles in front of us. He said, let's kick toward the light. I knew exactly what he was doing when he said it. He was getting us to focus on getting to that light and to work together as a team and not think about our plight, because our plight was bad.

[Mike]

Most ships have EEPers, electronic beacons that basically float above the water after a ship sinks. So we're looking for a beacon, a light. So we did see a light in the distance. It was semi bright, so we started to swim towards it. We swam for, I would imagine, an hour or two in the darkness. My headlamp finally gave out and it was pitch dark. The light just never got closer. So at that point, we gave up and we just kind of huddled for maybe an hour's time and just continued to pray in silence.

[Narrator]

Four hours after the ship sinks, Mike and Charles are adrift at sea. Mike and his two friends, Jerry and Les, spend the night clinging to a cooler.

[Mike]

The sun came up, and I noticed that we were surrounded by water, 360 degrees of water again. It was. But despair set in. I was scared again, really scared, because I had no clue where we were at and how far away we were from land. We kept swimming and swimming and swimming and swimming. It's about 85, 90 degrees. There's no cloud cover. There's no canopy of clouds to give us some relief. So we're just being burned right now.

[Charles]

And finally the sun came up. And when the sun came up, it brought renewed hope. We hoped that a helicopter could see us, that a boat might see us, and also we could see. So we could see an island to the right and a rocky structure to the left. One of the guys in our group said, hey, let's swim for it. I said, I wasn't swimming anywhere without a vest.

[Narrator]

Charles was given help by his friend Glenn.

[Charles]

He had a life vest and a flotation device. He took off his life vest and gave it to me. I felt renewed confidence when I had the life vest. And all of a sudden, of the seven of us, six took off swimming. One guy had no life vests and couldn't swim. He was a crew member, so he.

[Narrator]

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[Charles]

As we swam toward the islands, we were separated by huge swells and currents. Initially, I could hear the voices saying, over here. But I didn't know where here was. And then I could no longer hear the voices and couldn't see anyone. Then I realized I was alone.

[Narrator]

Mike and his group had been in the water for 10 hours with no sight of land.

[Mike]

Lo and behold, we see two seagulls. These seagulls flew right above us for a few minutes, and to me it was a sign from heaven giving us hope, telling me, yes, you know, Mike, keep going, because there's a chance. We swam in the direction of the seagulls for a few minutes and we saw a glimmer, slivers of land on the horizon. We were swimming towards the left landmass, but the current was fighting us so we couldn't make it in. We decided to swim for a smaller island to the right of the channel. So we swam and swam, but ultimately we couldn't fight the current. So I told Jerry and Les to stay with the cooler and I would take my chances and swim for shore. If I could make it to shore in the next hour, I could maybe get help before sunset and get someone out to pick them up. It was the scariest decision of my life. I was letting go of my lifeline.

[Narrator]

Charles was swimming alone after losing his group.

[Charles]

I decided to swim toward the initial island. So I stroked and swam and swam for a good two and a half hours, but I didn't get any closer. It was frustrating and depressing, and I realized I might not make it. That's when I made peace with God. I said, lord, if it's your desire to take me, I've lived a good life. But if not, I'm gonna fight to survive. And a certain peace came over me because all I had to do was keep my part of the bargain, fight to survive. I decided to swim toward Big Rock, the big rocky formation, and come hella high water, I was gonna swim toward it.

[Mike]

I probably swam maybe A quarter mile. After an hour, I closed my eyes and paddled some more. But a half hour later, my position hasn't moved. I thought I was gonna die at that point. I knew I was gonna. It was a hopeless situation. So I said my prayers. But then God gave me hope and clarified my mind. He says, you know, don't die alone. Swim back and find. Find death. Jerry and Les.

[Narrator]

Mike tries to swim alone to shore, but makes no progress against the current. He decides to swim back to the cooler and rejoin Jerry and Les.

[Mike]

I figure if I can get back to the cooler, I can survive another night. And hopefully, if we're lucky, we hit landfall, the currents will push us towards the islands. I start to swim towards it, swim back in the direction I came, and I found Jerry floating towards me. I told Jerry, let's swim back to the cooler. But when we got to the cooler, Les wasn't on the cooler. So I felt very alone at that point and scared for Les, you know, where was he? But he was nowhere to be seen.

[Narrator]

After being in the water for over 414 hours, Charles finally made it to an island.

[Charles]

I could see a beachy area, and I looked at it, and I said, lord, if I could just get a little push to get to that island, I'd really appreciate it. And just then, this huge wave came and pushed me toward that island. I knew it would have pulled me out, so I rolled toward it on my side. A second wave came and pushed me closer to the beach, and I rode toward it. When a third wave came, I crawled on my hands and knees, and I could feel the earth touching my body. I managed to take off my vest, and I found a stick. I posted it on a stick so that a helicopter or a boat driving by would know that someone was on this island. Because it was an abandoned island, Just a big, huge rock formation in the middle of the ocean. I found an area where I could climb underneath, and I collapsed from exhaustion.

[Narrator]

Another survivor had also made it to the island.

[Charles]

I heard a voice say, hi, neighbor. I say, God, is that you? It turned out to be Rich. My cabin mate just happened to land on the same island. He was walking around looking for food and water, and he found me.

[Narrator]

Mike and Jerry swam back to the cooler to find that Les was nowhere in sight.

[Mike]

We heard a sound on the horizon that sounded like a motor. And when we looked over towards the sound, we saw a little speck of a boat. You could hear the motor. You could hear some people yelling. And at that point, I knew that we were gonna make it. And that was probably the happiest moment in my life.

[Narrator]

Mike and Jerry were rescued by local fishermen.

[Mike]

They pulled us out of the water, and I asked them to look for less, you know, Cause there's one more guy out there. But they said, you know, we don't have enough room. We gotta bring you back. And we'll come back. We'll come back and look.

[Charles]

So Rich is kind of running around the island looking for stuff, being the caretaker. And he came at one time, he yelled. He said, charles, look, a panga. So I grabbed my vest from the stick and I waved it in the air to alert them that there were people on the island. And when I saw them coming toward us, okay, I was happy.

[Mike]

They dropped us off, and I found both Charles and Rich sitting on the beach. I pulled myself off the boat and helped Jerry off, and it was awesome.

[Narrator]

The men were flown to the hospital at San Felipe. Many men were still missing, including Glenn, who had given his life vest to Charles.

[Charles]

If he had lost his life by giving me the vest, I don't know how I would have made it through that. But the next day, there was a tearful reunion. It was so wonderful to see him. I remember walking up to him, said, man, you saved my life. Thank you.

[Mike]

We get news from the Mexican Navy that they find they found a body. And unfortunately, that body was Les Yi.

[Narrator]

Seven other bodies were never recovered, including Mike's two cousins.

[Mike]

I think they were still in the cabin asleep when the boat went under. So my cousin Don and Albert may still be on the boat today. To this day, I survived because we worked together as a team. Jerry, myself, and Les. I survived with the help of God and the hope that he gave us through our struggles.

[Charles]

It was a terrible feeling in your gut to think that 27 of us had came there for a fishing vacation and that not all of us would be going home. I survived because of the goodness of other people and the grace of God.

[Mike]

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[Charles]

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[Nina]

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