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So, imagine heading out to sea expecting to come home a few hours later… and then everything goes wrong. The boat disappears, the weather turns, supplies begin running out, and...
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So, imagine heading out to sea expecting to come home a few hours later… and then everything goes wrong. The boat disappears, the weather turns, supplies begin running out, and suddenly there’s nothing around you but open water. Ocean Surival Stories follows real-life survival at sea, where ordinary journeys become desperate battles against isolation, exhaustion, hunger and an ocean that offers almost no room for mistakes.
From shipwrecks and stranded sailors to lost boats, maritime emergencies and extraordinary rescues, these stories explore the decisions people make when survival depends on what happens next. Every ordeal reveals how quickly conditions can change, what survivors endured while waiting for help, and how some found a way back when the odds seemed impossibly small. But when land is nowhere in sight and rescue may never arrive, what do you do next?
show less
From shipwrecks and stranded sailors to lost boats, maritime emergencies and extraordinary rescues, these stories explore the decisions people make when survival depends on what happens next. Every ordeal reveals how quickly conditions can change, what survivors endured while waiting for help, and how some found a way back when the odds seemed impossibly small. But when land is nowhere in sight and rescue may never arrive, what do you do next?
Episodes & Posts
Episodes
Posts
3 OCT 2026 · Flare On a Wellhead: How Two Men Vanished Then Came Back
A sealed orange-and-black flare canister, thick with barnacles, was found perfectly balanced on a locked inland wellhead cap 1.5 miles from open water - an impossible object that arrived with no tracks and no storm surge. How did marine debris travel into a gated property, and what connection does that single canister have to a night when two men disappeared at sea and then returned?
In this episode, we follow the timeline from a routine maintenance route where Karen Collins discovered the flare to the offshore emergency that began four days earlier; the story traces the Cass Meridian, its owner Ken Jensen, crewman Brett Alonso, and the failed equipment that set events in motion. What gap between reported and actual location turned a solvable rescue into a mystery?
Person: Karen Collins
Person: Ken Jensen
Person: Brett Alonso
Date: September 15, 2022
Location: Coburn Island well site
- The flare canister was discovered on September 19, 2022, sitting on a wellhead cap 160 yards from the nearest tidal creek.
- The well site was more than 1.5 miles from open water and had shown no storm surge in over a year.
- Ken Jensen, age 44, lived aboard the 42-foot catamaran Cass Meridian and had owned it for six years.
- At 00:12 on September 15, 2022, Ken smelled burning fiberglass and found the secondary battery bank running hot due to a crimped connector.
- Ken activated the EPIRB at 00:17, but the device’s last GPS fix was 11 minutes older, leaving the transmitted position about 0.8 nautical miles from the actual fire location. To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.
© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
2 OCT 2026 · Sailor Wades Ashore After Eight Days Adrift: The Lisa Harris Survival
Hungry, exhausted, with two cracked ribs and nearly no water, Lisa Harris walked out of the spartina grass after eight days adrift - and the life jacket clipped to her boat held a hand-drawn map and a note that told rescuers exactly where not to look. An EPIRB that should have sent an immediate distress signal never activated, and a vessel sighted her while underway but kept sailing; how did a marine biologist survive when the equipment meant to save her stayed silent?
In this episode, we narrate the day-by-day breakdown of what happened from Lisa’s departure to her return, covering the storm conditions, equipment failures, and the choices she made alone at sea - and we ask how those choices intersected with the unanswered question about her emergency beacon.
Person: Lisa Harris
Date: August 8-16, 2019
Location: Georgia Bight / near Little Tybee Island
Vessel: 26-foot sloop named Crestline
Injuries: Two cracked ribs
- Lisa cast off at 7:40 AM on August 8, 2019, with a yellow life jacket clipped on the port rail.
- The first knockdown occurred at 2:17 AM on August 9, with a second knockdown 83 minutes later that fractured two ribs.
- On August 9 the port engine failed due to a fuel line working loose, leaving the boat adrift about 40 miles offshore.
- VHF handset had a hairline fracture reducing transmission range to roughly one mile, so radio calls went unheard.
- Jeff Mott, a kayaker, found Lisa at 8:50 AM on August 16 sitting in spartina grass near Little Tybee Island; her EPIRB had never transmitted. To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.
© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
1 OCT 2026 · Dry Lifesaver, Wet Boat: How One Ring Wrote His Survival Story
The dry life ring hanging on a post at Kellner Beach at 6:40 a.m. was bone dry while everything else nearby was wet - a single, inexplicable detail that changed a multi-agency search and led to a man surfacing alive after nearly six hours in the Gulf. How did a fifty-four-year-old charter captain survive five hours and fifty-three minutes in open water with no life jacket, no emergency beacon transmitting, and a capsized thirty-one-foot boat lost to the dark?
In this episode, you will hear the sequence of events from a calm night that turned violent in twenty minutes to the precise choices that kept James Vaughn alive, and how one dry ring redirected the search nineteen miles away. What did the ring, the storm, and Vaughn’s decisions reveal about survival at sea?
Person: James Vaughn
Age: 54
Boat: 1986 Bertram, 31 feet, named Carol Ann II
Location: Kellner Beach docks / Gulf of Mexico, 38 miles offshore
Time in water: 5 hours 53 minutes
- At 6:40 a.m. on July 10, a fifteen-year-old girl found a life ring hanging on a wooden post near the Kellner Beach docks; the ring was bone dry.
- Vaughn left the Kellner Beach dock at 9:15 p.m. on July 9 with no float plan, no clients, and no one expecting his return.
- Around 11:50 p.m., the wind and swells changed in roughly twenty minutes, producing six-foot swells that rolled the Carol Ann II and threw Vaughn into the water at approximately 11:58 p.m.
- The EPIRB tore free during the capsizing, fell into the bilge and remained dry and silent, transmitting no distress signal.
- Within two hours of the girl's discovery of the dry ring, search-and-rescue assets were redirected nineteen miles west, and Vaughn was later found and taken to a hospital in Chiefland. To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.
© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
30 SEP 2026 · The Perfect Knot, Five Days Lost, One Man Never Found
A bright orange four-person liferaft, salt-scoured and tied to a dock with a textbook cleat hitch, was found alone on Pelican Shelf Island - the knot signaled intent, but the owner had vanished. How did a flawless search-and-rescue operation still end up looking in the wrong ocean for five days after a distress call?
In this episode, we follow the delivery voyage of the 42-foot sloop Idle Wind from Clearwater, the squall that knocked the mast down, the distress call made at 00:44 on June 14, 2011, and the discovery of the raft on June 19; what happened between those dates that left one man never found?
Person: Eugene Tate
Person: Marcus Webb
Person: Person: Art Hess
Date: June 14, 2011
Location: Pelican Shelf Island
- The liferaft was a bright orange inflatable with a four-person capacity.
- The painter line was secured to a cleat with a perfect cleat hitch and correct half-hitches.
- The distress call was made at 00:44 on June 14, 2011, with coordinates read from the chartplotter.
- The Idle Wind was a 42-foot sloop that left Clearwater at 07:00 on June 9, 2011.
- Winds reached 51 knots during the squall line southwest of Dry Tortugas, causing the chainplate fitting to fail and the mast to come down. To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.
© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
29 SEP 2026 · Nineteen Hours, One Pink Sandal: The Marisol Strait's Narrow Margin
A child's pink sandal was found lodged inside a latched electrical housing eleven feet above a tidal flat - on a Tuesday morning in mid‑May 2021 - with no flood damage and the latch fully seated. How did a size four left sandal travel four miles in one direction while its owner traveled nineteen miles in the other, and what does that impossible trajectory reveal about the thin line between survival and loss?
In this episode, we lay out the sequence of events from departure through the four‑minute capsize and the ensuing nineteen hours and forty minutes of open‑sea survival, following the ferry, its crew, and the passengers caught in the sudden squall. What choices, mechanical failures, and environmental facts narrowed the margin between life and death?
Date: May 14, 2021
Vessel: Marisol Strait
Route: Sulphur Point to Dorado Key (Dorado Key)
Passengers on board: 47
Fatalities: 9
- The Marisol Strait departed Sulphur Point at 07:10, eleven minutes behind schedule, with forty‑seven passengers and nine vehicles.
- The squall hit at approximately 07:40, producing recorded wind gusts of 52 knots and accelerating sea build due to the shallow shelf geometry.
- Within ninety seconds of the squall, the vessel listed three degrees; within two minutes the list reached forty‑one degrees; the entire capsize sequence lasted four minutes.
- Bruce Berry surfaced, swam to a child named Maya, removed her from the railing with roughly thirty seconds to spare, and kept her alive inside a survival suit for nineteen hours and forty minutes.
- A pink left sandal (size four, molded daisy on the toe strap) was recovered inside a latched electrical housing eleven feet off the ground on a Tuesday morning in the third week of May 2021, with no signs of flooding on the housing. To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.
© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
28 SEP 2026 · The Dry Notebook: How a Perfectly Dry Logbook Saved a Missing Sailor
Fear and disbelief meet the tide line: a logbook found half-buried in wet sand on Pelican Flats was completely dry, intact with three rubber bands, and it belonged to a man lost at sea whose EPIRB had transmitted coordinates-so how could the paper have survived and the beacon point to the wrong place? This episode centers on that impossible notebook, a firmware error that sent rescuers sixty miles off, and the single object that redirected the search.
In this episode, we follow the timeline from Paul Holt’s departure and precise entries in his spiral notebooks through the activation of his EPIRB and the subsequent search that began on April 7th. We trace how a retired civil engineer’s habit of meticulous recordkeeping became the crucial clue that reopened the case and ask what the dry logbook really reveals about where Paul was and how he survived.
Person: Paul Holt
Date: April 4-19, 2017
Location: Pelican Flats / Gulf of Mexico
Status: Missing at sea; logbook recovered
Event: EPIRB activation at 03:51 on April 7, 2017
- The logbook was found half-buried at the tide line on Pelican Flats and was completely dry with three intact rubber bands.
- Paul Holt activated his EPIRB at 03:51 on April 7, 2017; the signal was received and confirmed at 03:54.
- Paul was 63 years old and a retired civil engineer who kept minute-by-minute entries across multiple spiral notebooks.
- The float plan listed the Dry Tortugas as the destination, roughly 220 nautical miles southwest of Bradenton, with a return date of April 10.
- Carl Jenkins of Seventh District Search and Rescue anchored the search on the EPIRB coordinates, which later proved to be about sixty miles incorrect. To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.
© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
27 SEP 2026 · She Survived 62 Hours: The Raft, The Chart, The Wrong Search
Cold, exhausted, and alone for 62 hours and 40 minutes on an inflatable life raft in 59°F Gulf water, Nancy Hunter survived with a dry handheld radio and a folded paper chart - items no one expected to matter. Search aircraft were over the wrong water while a blue strip of rigger's tape, a chart folded to paperback size, and a radio kept in a jacket all played unexpected roles; how did those small, accidental objects become the difference between life and death?
In this episode, we follow the timeline from the Annalise B.'s departure at Vidor Landing on March 4 to the discovery of the radio and chart at Calloway Cove trailer park on March 19, and trace what the official record of the Annalise B. shows about navigation, weather, and the hours Nancy spent alone. How did routine checks, a sudden midnight wind shift, and an 18-22 foot wave culminate in a survival story shaped by chance?
Person: Nancy Hunter
Event: Capsize of the Annalise B.
Date: March 4 (departure) and March 19 (discovery)
Location: Gulf of Mexico; Vidor Landing; Calloway Cove trailer park, unit 44
Duration: 62 hours and 40 minutes in life raft
- The wave struck the port quarter at 1:47 AM, rolling the 42-foot steel-hull Annalise B. past positive stability.
- Nancy entered the water approximately four minutes before finding the life raft in 59°F water.
- She called for the crew for roughly 40 minutes after getting into the raft with no answer.
- The Annalise B. had been working out of Vidor Landing for roughly two decades and left March 4 around 6:00 AM.
- The orange marine radio with antenna intact and charged batteries was found against the propane riser at unit 44 on March 19. To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.
© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
26 SEP 2026 · She Ties Herself to the Hull: The Paula Vogel Survival Story
A lone woman lashed to an upside-down hull drifted forty miles offshore for nearly four days with a watch that kept running and a radio she keyed every thirty minutes-how did disciplined preparation turn into a fight for survival in 58°F Gulf water? Paula Vogel was a 48-year-old captain and teacher who survived 83 hours on an inverted ketch; what choices kept her alive, and which instruments failed when she needed them most?
In this episode, we present the sequence of events from Paula Vogel casting off in the morning to the moment a search aircraft spotted the inverted hull at 12:51 on Monday; we trace her preparations, the capsize, her immediate decisions, and the unanswered calls she made into the dark to ask how long a watch and a radio can actually buy you.
Person: Paula Vogel
Date: February 7-11, 2019
Location: Gulf of Mexico, 40 miles offshore near Boca Roja Pass
Vessel: 42-foot ketch Cayo Largo
Duration Afloat: approximately 83 hours
- Paula Vogel cast off on Thursday, February 7, 2019 at 06:47 from Sarasota aboard the Cayo Largo.
- A wave estimated between 9 and 12 feet high inverted the ketch at approximately 21:15 on Friday night.
- The water temperature where she surfaced was 58 degrees Fahrenheit.
- She transmitted her position every 30 minutes through the first night using a portable VHF in her left pocket.
- At 12:51 on Monday afternoon a search aircraft from Sector Saint Petersburg spotted the upside-down hull with Paula lashed to the keel. To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.
© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
25 SEP 2026 · Sailor Spends Nine Days Invisible at Sea: The Holly Dalton Ordeal
A woman drifted alone for nine days after her mast collapsed in 41-knot winds and 19-foot seas, carrying a sealed waterproof bag that later washed ashore with a pencil log of dwindling marks - and a single word: Tuesday. How did a clean PLB signal, seven passing commercial vessels, and a simple transcription error combine to leave Holly Dalton invisible in plain sight?
In this episode, we follow the sequence of events from Holly’s departure and the mast failure to the failed search and the discovery of the waterproof bag on a Tillamook County beach, asking how procedure and small mistakes stretched nine days into a fight for survival.
Person: Holly Dalton
Date: January 8-17, 2019
Location: Pacific Ocean off the Oregon coast
Event: Liferaft abandonment after mast failure
Person: Peggy Arndt
- Holly activated her personal locator beacon at 1:17 AM on January 9, 2019.
- The mast failed at approximately 11:40 PM on January 8 during 41-knot winds and 19-foot seas.
- Seven commercial vessels passed within visual range of Holly’s raft in the first 24 hours after abandonment.
- A night-shift technician transposed two digits in the longitude, placing the PLB coordinates 43 nautical miles east of Holly’s actual position.
- On January 19, Peggy Arndt found a sealed waterproof matchbox-sized bag on the northern edge of Tillamook County containing a laminated card with seven rows of pencil marks and the word "Tuesday." To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.
© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
24 SEP 2026 · The Chess Clock at Sea: How a Nameless Current Broke Three Men's Fate
A cold subsurface current moving perpendicular to every chart pushed three men into a forty-nine-hour drift where one dial stopped and the other kept running-literally. A tournament-grade chess clock taped shut washed up face-up, one side frozen; who pressed its button before letting go, and what does that frozen click reveal about where the men went?
In this episode, we tell what happened from departure to recovery using the survivors’ gear, the vessel tracks, and the oceanography paper that no chart had adopted; we trace the timeline that led to one man pulled hypothermic after 49 hours and two minutes and two men never found, and ask how an unnamed current redirected the search.
Person: Raymond Lewis
Person: Art Neville
Person: Travis Cole
Date: December 9-11, 2019
Event: Packer sank; Celia Jane found aground nine miles southwest of Pelado Island
- The chess clock was a mechanical tournament-grade double-faced clock in a black plastic casing, taped shut at the battery compartment.
- The crossing was planned as roughly two-and-a-half hours; Raymond was recovered 49 hours and 2 minutes after departure.
- The Celia Jane’s chartplotter recorded the Packer taking on water 18 minutes after leaving the marina and deliberate course corrections starting at 06:25.
- An oceanography article described a winter subsurface counter-current moving northeast to southwest at potentially 2-3 knots, appearing unpredictably each December.
- Marine Patrol Officer Dennis Pruitt found the Celia Jane aground on a shell bank nine miles southwest of Pelado Island two days after departure. To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.
© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
So, imagine heading out to sea expecting to come home a few hours later… and then everything goes wrong. The boat disappears, the weather turns, supplies begin running out, and...
show more
So, imagine heading out to sea expecting to come home a few hours later… and then everything goes wrong. The boat disappears, the weather turns, supplies begin running out, and suddenly there’s nothing around you but open water. Ocean Surival Stories follows real-life survival at sea, where ordinary journeys become desperate battles against isolation, exhaustion, hunger and an ocean that offers almost no room for mistakes.
From shipwrecks and stranded sailors to lost boats, maritime emergencies and extraordinary rescues, these stories explore the decisions people make when survival depends on what happens next. Every ordeal reveals how quickly conditions can change, what survivors endured while waiting for help, and how some found a way back when the odds seemed impossibly small. But when land is nowhere in sight and rescue may never arrive, what do you do next?
show less
From shipwrecks and stranded sailors to lost boats, maritime emergencies and extraordinary rescues, these stories explore the decisions people make when survival depends on what happens next. Every ordeal reveals how quickly conditions can change, what survivors endured while waiting for help, and how some found a way back when the odds seemed impossibly small. But when land is nowhere in sight and rescue may never arrive, what do you do next?
Information
| Author | OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENT |
| Organization | OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENT |
| Categories | Documentary , History , Self-Improvement |
| Website | - |
| creators@obomedia.com |
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