In 1989, the Cuban-American, Bill Butler Salazar, decided to circumnavigate the world with his French wife Simonne.
Instead, they ended up adrift in a two-meter leaky plastic liferaft when whales battered and sank their 12-meter sailboat.
Unlike Maurice and Maralyn shipwreck -who were sunk by a sperm whale- the Butle’s were attacked by a pod of pilot whales, also in the Pacific Ocean not far from Galapagos.
During the following 66 days the Butler’s fought each other, and for their lives, against the storm, sharks, hunger and frustration. Simonne, who had never truly shared Bill’s dream of circumnavigating the globe, blamed him bitterly during the whole stressful experience.
Like Maurice and Maralyn Bailey -who had a fantastic relationship- this couple had very different personalities. Butler’s biggest challenge was to deal with his bitterly angry wife who scolded him daily. As soon as they were finally saved by a fishing boat near the coast of Costa Rica, they got divorced.
I always found this story not only thrilling, but sometimes hilarious in the way that Bill had to deal with his wife yelling at him in such an absolutely extreme situation.
A few years ago, Bill invited me to one of the two apartment he had in Puerto Rico, and I spent a few weeks with him listening to his fascinating stories. Bill is now 90 years old, and he is still healthy enjoying his life as if he was teenager.
Still, nowadays Bill is a very unique man with a big personality and very charming. Soon I will release the video of my beautiful time with him in San Juan which I would love to repeat one day. In the meantime I recommend you to read the book he wrote about his adventure which you can buy it in Amazon
FOLLOW OUR CASTAWAY STORIES ON INSTAGRAM
FOLLOW OUR CASTAWAY STORIES ON FACEBOOK
FOLLOW OUR CASTAWAY STORIES ON YOUTUBE
—
{ 0 comments… add one now }