Cook Islands Fisher Lost At Sea For A Week Describes His Ordeal

Matthew Theunissen Journalist

A Cook
Islands fisher lost at sea for a week was knocked out of
his dinghy twice during relentless storms and violent
seas.

Apiuta Apiuta, also known as Pone, from the tiny
island of Pukapuka, was spotted by a New Zealand Defence
Force aircraft team and plucked out of the ocean by the crew
of a Taiwanese fishing vessel last Thursday.

Before he
goes home to the Cooks Islands, Apiuta was visiting relieved
relatives in Auckland, where he explained to RNZ what
happened.

Apiuta said he spent the day playing in a
volleyball tournament on the powdery white sand of the tiny
coral atoll of Pukapuka.

However, he was anxious to
get his dinghy out before it got too late so he could catch
a feed for his family and others in the community. In his
haste, he forgot to take his torch or his lifejacket. This
would prove to be a very bad mistake.

“I was catching
a few fish until I had around six or seven fish in my boat,
I thought, I’d catch another one,” he said.

It
was after he’d hauled in his ninth fish that the outboard
motor started playing up and, eventually, went completely
dead.

“It was getting darker, the sunset [had] already
dropped.”

He drained the motor and replaced the fuel
but it made no difference. He had two oars and tried to haul
his way to shore, but the wind was too strong and he started
drifting from the island.

“I could see that the men on
the island were looking for me, I could see them with their
lights. I didn’t take a torch with me.”

Apiuta had
around three litres of water, pocket knife, a pair of
long-nosed pliers, a bucket and the rest of his fishing
gear.

After his first chilly night, he could no longer
see the island. He ate a little of one of the fish he had
caught the previous day, then the weather turned.

“The
sea was rough – really rough – and the wind, very strong.
Waves were breaking into the boat,” he said.

He spent
lots of energy using the oars to ensure the boat didn’t
capsize. The storm lasted four days, he said.

“The
waves that hit me, twice fell off the boat.”

The rain
was near constant, too, so at least he was able to collect
drinking water in his bucket. But it was so cold.

“It
was cold every day; day and night.

He was only wearing
shorts and a T-shirt.

However, he said his survival
instincts kicked in and he refused to be defeated by his
situation. And for some of the time he had
company.

“There was this one bird that flew on my boat
and stayed with me the whole day. It’s a bird that we call
in our language tākapu. That bird stayed with me the whole
day until the next morning,” he said. “To me it’s like a
good sign.”

He said he spoke to the bird.

“I
said, ‘go find his friends and fly me back to the island’,”
he laughed.

On the seventh day the unmistakable sound
of an aircraft overhead – an RNZAF P-8A Poseidon.

“I
was so happy when I first saw it. I was very
happy.”

The plane was blinking its lights so Apiuta
could be sure he’d been spotted.

That evening he was
picked up by a Taiwanese fishing vessel. The crew took him
straight to the kitchen and fed him noodles, which he
enjoyed very much.

Apiuta was then able to make a
phone call from the vessel to his anxious partner, who
passed on the happy news to his mother and siblings in New
Zealand.

His sister, Tina, said she always believed
Apiuta would make it, but getting the phone call confirming
he was still alive was overwhelming.

“I ran to mum’s
room – mum was sleeping – and we started crying together.
And then his son called at that exact time and had a
conversation when mum and they both started crying on the
phone together as well.”

The family wants to thank the
New Zealand Defence for the way they carried out the
operation to bring Apiuta safely
home.

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