A Peruvian fisherman who was rescued after 95 days lost at sea told CNN that his faith and his desire to see his family again kept him going – along with a diet of cockroaches, birds, fish and the occasional turtle.

By Michael Rios and Jimena De La Quintana, CNN

Published Mar 19, 2025 9:26 AM EDT | Updated Mar 19, 2025 9:26 AM EDT

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This handout picture released on March 15 by the Peruvian Navy shows Peruvian fisherman Maximo Napa, 61, receiving medical attention upon his arrival in Paita, Piura department, Peru. (Photo credit: Peruvian Navy/AFP/handout/Getty Images via CNN Newsource)

(CNN) — A Peruvian fisherman who was rescued after 95 days lost at sea told CNN that his faith and his desire to see his family again kept him going – along with a diet of cockroaches, birds, fish and the occasional turtle.

“Firstly, it was my faith in God. Because I spoke to him for many days. Because I let him know how important my family was. My mother, my brother, my children,” Máximo Napa Castro – who goes by the name of Gatón – said in an interview with CNN’s Jimena De La Quintana.

Keeping hope alive wasn’t easy. His morale dwindled along with his food supply. It reached a point where he thought he didn’t want to live anymore.

“I even got a knife three times. Three times I got the knife because I couldn’t take it anymore,” he said. “But I told myself: Calm down, Gatón. You can do it. You can do it.”

He said he had packed enough supplies to last him a month. And after those first 30 days at sea, he was ready to head back to land. But that’s when his boat’s motor stopped running. He tried many times to get it to work again, but to no avail.

From there, he knew he had to ration the few scraps of food and water he had left, hoping it would last him long enough for someone to find him. But after another month or so, his rations ran out. So, he turned to drastic measures.

Peruvian fisherman Máximo Napa Castro speaks to CNN. (Photo credit: CNN via CNN Newsource)

“After January and February, that’s when I started eating roaches and birds, various kinds of fish that happened to jump into the boat.”

He said he had to hunt those birds in the middle of the night. Around 1 or 2 a.m. they would rest on top of his boat and fall asleep. Once they did, he got a club, snuck up behind them and “pop.”

“I didn’t want to do it but I didn’t have a choice. It was my life.”

At one point, he even had to hunt a turtle – not for its meat but for its blood since he didn’t have anything else to drink.

Not long after that, a hopeful sign finally arrived.

He was about to fall asleep inside his boat. But just 30 minutes later, he heard a loud voice screaming his nickname: “Gatón!”

It was a rescue worker on a helicopter.

“That’s when I said (to God): You did it! You did it!”

The people on board the helicopter gestured to him that another boat would arrive soon to take him home.

After about an hour, as night fell, he finally saw the lights of the boat. He was going home.

“It was something sensational,” he said.

After those excruciating 95 days, he now says he has a newfound appreciation for life.

“I will tell my story worldwide, so the world knows that God is everything in this life, that we put our hand on our chest and fill ourselves with love, give love. That is what we need here on Earth.”

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