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.

It was Ng's second time on the trip, where he was accompanied by his first cousin Don Lee and second cousin Albert Mein, along with other friends.

Ng brought his favorite travel tote bag, his salt water fishing gear and other nostalgic travel equipment -- though 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 and filled the engine room with water.

Ng, one of the 37 survivors, said the captain of the boat “was negligent,” in that he failed to take safety precautions following 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.”

Ng said the boat didn’t actually capsize, but sank due to the water that had built up.

“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, Ng continued, their guardian never came.

The vessel sank near Isla San Luis, Baja California, with 44 people aboard around 2:30 a.m. July 3, according to the U.S. Coast Guard. Ng, along with Jerry Garcia and Leslie Yee, waited in the waters for a Coast Guard helicopter or another sign of rescue, but 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 then 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.”

By mid-morning, Ng said the men finally 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.”

And though they were miles apart, 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 Ng 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.

But 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.”

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, stumbled 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 to the second-degree burns he’d sustained from swimming in the waters all day.

And then Ng began his journey north, final destination: Belmont.

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

And 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.

His neighbors, too, have been gracious, he added.

“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.”

Ng’s cousins Lee and Mein are among the seven men who remain missing.

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.”