Belmont Boat Survivor Clung to Cooler, Ate Chocolate to Survive

On the Fourth of July weekend, while millions of Americans were celebrating the nation’s birth with fireworks and barbecues, Belmont resident Michael Ng spent 16 hours floating on a cooler in the waters off Mexico with nothing to eat but Hershey’s Kisses.

So when the 43-year-old returned to Belmont on Friday evening, he wasn’t about to take anything for granted. He hugged his wife, ate some Chinese food and drank 50-year-old whiskey.

“One thing I learned from this is to keep on living,” Ng said of his ordeal, which started out as an annual Fourth of July fishing trip out of San Felipe.

Ng went with his first and second cousins and some friends. It was his second time on the trip. Don Lee, a 62-year-old retiree from San Ramon, is one of seven still missing from the shipwreck.

Ng brought his favorite travel tote bag, his salt-water fishing gear and travel items. 

He had no idea those cherished items would end up at the bottom of the sea.

The boat sank in the early morning hours of July 3, after a storm hit the ship, flooding the engine room.

Ng, one of the 37 survivors, said the captain of the boat “was negligent” by shirking safety precautions even after a storm warning. The captain has since been .

The captain “was warned there was going to be a big storm that night,” Ng said. “You’ve heard the expression ‘batten down the hatches’? When the ship was in the storm, none of the hatches were shut. Water started building up, sinking the ship.”

The boat didn’t capsize, it sank, Ng said.

“It listed portside and sank from stern to bow,” he said. “It was surreal.”

“The best way to describe it is a mash-up of three movies,” Ng said. “The Perfect Storm, Titanic and The Guardian.”

But, he continued, their guardian never came.

The vessel sank near Isla San Luis, Baja California, with 44 people aboard about 2:30 a.m. July 3, according to the U.S. Coast Guard. The three men — Ng, Jerry Garcia and Leslie Yee — waited in the waters for a Coast Guard helicopter or another sign of rescue. No one came.

“When dawn came, we realized we were on our own,” Ng said. “We had to coordinate to determine which way to start swimming.”

With no land in sight, the three men — tired, cold and scared — tried to keep swimming, with only a cooler to keep them afloat.

“The Sea of Cortez is about 70 degrees, but some currents brought in colder waters,” Ng said. “Hypothermia almost got us, but we stayed warm by swimming.”

They found some Hershey’s Kisses in one of the coolers, Ng said.

“That was a lifesaver,” he added. “They were delicious.”

But Garcia, a diabetic, was unable to eat the chocolate. “He survived without his pills, too,” Ng said. “He swam like a fish.”

Mid-morning, Ng said, the men spotted their first sign of hope — far off in the distance there was land.

“It was far, far away,” he said. “We were as far as Belmont is from the Oakland hills.”

Though they were miles away, the men pushed on.

“All we could do was swim,” Ng said. “We swam pretty much the whole day. We fought several currents, and finally had to alter our course to get to a different island.”

The currents continued to push them back, and the men had to switch gears again and aim for another island.

“The currents were just too strong,” Ng said. “So I decided to break away from the two to see if I could swim for help on my own.”

Ng made some progress, but the islands were just too far. So he swam back to the group, where he found Garcia also separated from the cooler.

“He hadn’t stayed with the cooler, he tried to make it to shore,” Ng said.

They returned to the cooler, thinking they could try to make it to an island — any island — to sleep on the beach for the night.

“We had chocolate to hold out,” Ng said.

“I grabbed Jerry, but when I got to the cooler I saw that Les was missing.”

Leslie Yee, 65, had perished in the waters. His body washed ashore soon after, and was identified by the Mexican Navy.

“It was disheartening,” Ng said, his voice lowering. “The only thing we could do was swim until we reached the island.”

But relief came right before they reached an island. A Mexican fishing boat, out for its daily catch, came upon the men.

“It was amazing,” Ng said of the rescue. “I was so happy. They brought us back to a local fishing town. The military had brought in a helicopter, and a wide search was going about in that area for survivors.”

Ng said he flew to San Felipe, where he received treatment for  second-degree sunburn.

Then, Ng began his journey north. Final destination: Belmont.

After enduring a car breakdown and a Greyhound bus ride, Ng finally arrived home Friday evening to his wife’s open arms.

Since then, he’s been trying to piece his life back together. An IT manager for Wells Fargo in San Francisco, Ng says he is grateful to be back in Belmont. He lost his wallet and passport when the boat sank, and spent two hours at the DMV on Monday to get a new driver’s license.

He said his neighbors, too, have been gracious.

“I came home last night to a big cake” from the family downstairs, Ng said. “We chat once in a while, and they thought enough to bake a cake. It’s the little things that keep us going.”

Though Ng lost a lot on the trip, he remembers what he still has: family, friends, his life.

And his wedding ring.

“I left my wedding ring at home,” he said with a laugh. “So I didn’t lose that.”