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June 23, 2018 will always be a day that experienced fisherman Noel Samuels and his family will remember for a lifetime.

That was the day he and two others set out from Whitehouse, Westmoreland to do their life's work; but their boat's engine died and they drifted for 25 days.

Samuels said the ordeal was devastating, and even though he had drifted away before, there were days they questioned whether or not they were going to make it.

He told THE WEEKEND STAR that they ended up on the shores of Belize where they spent some days in hospital because they were dehydrated and hungry.

"A God one can tell you how we survived because food finish early and we went 17 days without water. Little rain fall one time and we caught some water in a blue canvas but it was not even enough. When we were at the hospital, they were searching for our veins and could not find it because of how dehydrated we were," he said.

After making land, they were found by Belizeans who carried them to hospital.

WAS ROUGH

"During that time all I thought about was getting back to my family. Wi sleep but it was not a comfortable sleep. I have three children and during that time it was rough because mi big son did a tell him mother seh me a come home even though people did a seh mi dead," he said.

He said that even though he was cared for by Belizean doctors and nurses, he was quite perturbed that they had to pay their way back home for something that nature did.

He said that as fishermen who are risking their lives daily to feed their families, they need to get support from the Government when these things happen to them.

"I had to pay for my own ticket as a CARICOM national. I pay for my ticket which is US$646 (approximately J$84,000) because I had to go to Panama before I arrived at Jamaica," he said.

Samuels explained that they had to contact family members to remit the money.

"I don't understand how we are paying taxes and getting licence and all and when these things happen to us, we are the ones who have to pay to come back home," he said.

He said coming back home was one of the best things that could have happened to him, but even then, that was a stressing process.

"They (Belize) had to give is a one-day passport to come back home and when we arrived at the Sangster International Airport, we had to call our family members to come and find us. My mom had to come and identify me. Dem ask how many brothers me have, how many sisters; bare things and it did work out," he said.

The 20-year sea veteran said that many times people fear going to sea and sometimes, when they leave on a Wednesday, they do not return to their families for a week.

But he has not given up fishing because it feeds his family.

Now, before taking on a day's work, he maps out his way and ensures that he knows where he will end up in the event that something similar happens.