The first occurred a week ago last Saturday night (August 21) when a crew member reported to the bridge of Carnival's Holiday, sailing in the Gulf of Mexico, that he heard someone in the water yelling. It was so dark that no one or no vessel could be located using the ship's searchlights, so the captain ordered several lifeboats to be lowered and search the surrounding area. Eventually, in what the crew reported to be near zero-visibility conditions, they spotted two people in the water and brought them aboard. As they were being treated in the ship's medical facility, they told how they had been on a 23-foot fishing boat which caught fire and capsized earlier that day, and that there were three more people, including a 10-year-old boy, in the water somewhere. The crew continued their almost impossible search and about 90 minutes later, brought all three of the others to safety aboard the ship. Later on Sunday, the five were transferred to a Mexican Coast Guard vessel and taken back to Cancun, and Holiday returned to New Orleans as scheduled on Monday morning. 

The other rescue, even more amazing, also occurred off the Yucatan Peninsula the next evening. Four men who were clinging to an overturned outboard motorboat were spotted and taken aboard Norwegian Cruise Line's Norwegian Sea. They had been in the water for twelve days. The story of their survival was miraculous. They had left their home in Roatan for a few of days of fishing in the Gulf of Mexico, and their boat capsized on the second day of their trip. One of the men couldn't even swim. Their boat had drifted some 520 nautical miles during their time in the water. They had only seen one other ship which passed them during darkness without spotting them, and they had given up hope of being rescued. Then about 7:00 on Sunday evening, the attention of a crew member on the bridge of Norwegian Sea was caught by the sun reflecting off the watch of one of the men clinging to the overturned boat, and that prompted Norwegian Sea to maneuver closer and finally rescue them. They stayed aboard Norwegian Sea until it made its regular call at Roatan on Wednesday. They arrived home to their overjoyed families some 17 days after they had left for a few days of fishing.

Summarized from the full articles which were carried in the August 24 & 25, 2004 editions of Cruise News Daily. 

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