72 • DECEMBER 2021
fishermen hung around for another
couple of hours, pulling in fish after
fish. As they worked, the fog cleared
and the sun started shining.
As night turned into the next day,
Desireé and her aunt and uncle
were slipping in and out of
consciousness. To keep themselves
awake, Desireé and her aunt
daydreamed about what they would
do after they were rescued. They
would stay in a hotel, order room
service, and burrow under the
blankets in bed, cosy and warm.
“We still had hope,” Desireé says.
“Like, we’re going to be OK. We’re
going to come out of this.”
Her uncle evidently didn’t share
their hope. With the afternoon sun
now high overhead, she recalls, he
swam away from the boat.
“He just kind of gave up,” she recalls.
She swam after him, propelled
forward by her aunt’s plea: “Don’t
let him drown.” Desireé caught up
with her uncle quickly but struggled
to keep his tall, stocky frame above
water. She finally had to let go, and
he slipped beneath the surface.
Desireé doesn’t remember how or
when her aunt died. But soon, the
nine-year-old became aware that she
was alone in the ocean.
“At that point, I just made the
decision that I need to get away
from this boat,” Desireé remembers.
“I need to swim away, somewhere
else... Where? I don’t know.”
Late that afternoon, Strasser and
Pisano set off on the return voyage
to San Pedro with their haul of fresh-
caught yellowtail.
About seven miles away from
Catalina Island, Strasser noticed
something white flashing in the
water. He steered the First String
toward it and peered through his
binoculars, thinking it might be a
boat bumper.
“We’ve got something going on
here; this is weird,” Strasser recalls
saying. “When I pulled up to it, I saw
a dead body face down,” he says. “It
was tangled up in all this rope.”
Strasser radioed the Coast Guard.Passengers were yelling on the
deck below. In the commotion, he
noticed two other people in the
water: one was floating facedown.
The other, wearing an orange life
jacket, was bobbing with the swells,
her head and brown hair visible just
above the water.
“I knew if there was a life jacket,
we have a chance,” Strasser says. He
steered the boat closer, and Pisano
jumped into the water. Pumping
with adrenaline, he swam toward the
figure and grabbed the life jacket.IF THE BOAT HADN’T
COME RIGHT THEN, I
DON’T THINK I WOULD
HAVE LIVEDREUNITED WITH HER RESCUERS