I believe miracles happen every day. Not necessarily in a religious way, but more in a defeating the odds kind of way. When Angelica Gaitan, 46, was found at sea, it was just one of those miracles. (1)

Woman Lost At Sea Found

Found unconscious and suffering from hypothermia off the coast of Colombia, Angelica said, “I was born again, God did not want me to die.” (1)

Angelica was in the water for eight hours surrounded by sharks. As she drifted in and out of consciousness, she realized time was running out. When she spotted a fishing boat, she found the strength to reach up her arms and wave. She caught the attention of two fisherman, Rolando Visbal, and friend Gustavo. (1)

Fishermen Save Woman Lost At Sea

They first thought she was a trunk. “Gustavo warned me to be careful with the trunk and I began to turn about 15 degrees to the right, then to my surprise the trunk moved. I thought it was something supernatural,” says Rolando. They pulled her from the water with a lifebuoy 1.2 miles off the shores of Puerto Colombia. (1)

Angelica seemed unresponsive, according to Rolando who said she was so weak she would have drowned had they not arrived at that moment. She said nothing when they pulled her onboard.  The fishermen tried to speak to her, and offered her water, but her response was simply to cry. “So it turns out that I didn’t catch any fish that day either, but I fished a life. I think this was God’s purpose,” says Rolando. (1)

Perfect Timing For Discovery

Rolando says problems with his engine caused them to head out onto the water later than planned. This little glitch in the matrix helped them find Angelica. “If we hadn’t had the problem with the spark plug on Friday, we would have gone fishing that day and the woman would be dead at sea,” he says. (1)

Woman Lost At Sea Victim Of Abuse

Meanwhile, events leading up to her discovery remain unclear. Angelica says she suffered from domestic abuse and tried to flee from her abuser. Her daughter Alejandra Castiblanco disagrees with this story. “We don’t know who attacked her, or how she ended up in the sea,” she says. (1)

Her daughter says after years of heart trouble and a heart attack her mother’s mental health had deteriorated. Since 2018, her family believed Angelica lived with her brother in Ecuador. (1)

20 Years Of Suffering

“For 20 years I had a toxic relationship,” says Angelica. “The abuse began in the first pregnancy, he beat me, he violently abused me. In my second pregnancy the abuse continued, and I could not get away from him because the girls were small.” (1)

“Many times I reported it, but the police took him away for 24 hours and when he was in the house again, the assaults returned,” she says. “The day I decided to leave the house was after a brutal assault. In September 2018 he broke my face and tried to kill me. Thank God I managed to escape.” (1)

Woman Lost At Sea Attempted Suicide

Angelica who lived in a refuge at the time of her disappearance planned to kill herself. “I did not want to continue with my life. A lady lent me money for the tickets, and I took a bus directly to the sea,” she says. (1)

She remembers being on the shore when she decided to jump. “I wanted to end everything, I had no help from anywhere not even from my family, because this man kept me away from my social circle, that’s why I didn’t want to continue living,” says Angelica. “I let it take me and hoped that this nightmare would soon end.” (1)

Her daughter and sister are raising funds to bring her home to Bogota where she can be “taken care of by family”. (1)