Tim Shaddock, from Sydney, and his dog Bella embarked on a journey from La Paz in Mexico to French Polynesia in April. However, their voyage was abruptly halted when a storm damaged their boat, severing their electronics and communications.
The pair were left adrift, surviving on raw fish and rainwater for months. Their ordeal ended this week when a tuna trawler and its helicopter spotted the vessel. Shaddock, now sporting a grown-out beard and a noticeably leaner figure, and Bella were found in good health, despite their ordeal.
“I have been through a very difficult ordeal at sea, I’m just needing rest and good food because I have been alone at sea a long time,” Shaddock said in a video obtained by Australian TV network Nine News. “Otherwise I’m in very good health.”
Shaddock reportedly used the boat’s shelter to protect himself from severe sunburn. He and Bella are currently receiving care and treatment from their rescuers. The tuna trawler is transporting the pair back to Mexico for further medical treatment.
This incident was not Shaddock’s first brush with adversity. Over two decades ago, he was diagnosed with stage four bowel cancer. He spoke about his journey to The Raw Food Kitchen blog in 2013, where he revealed that switching to a raw food diet helped him recover.
“I gradually found myself applying more and more health ideas that I discovered in my travels and before you knew it, I was still alive despite the lapse of time and things were getting better each moment,” he told the blog.
