Ninety-seven percent of the world’s water is undrinkable. 

Too salty, the water doesn’t allow for human life to live on it. So if you found yourself stranded, in the middle of the ocean, the chances of survival would go down, day after day.

When one man found himself stranded for 90 days, he knew survival was unlikely. The fact he had made it that long, he and his dog, was miraculous. 

But what came next, surpassed that.

Australian Timothy Shaddock, 54, and his dog, Bella, had set off for a fishing trip from the Sea of Cortes, also known as the Gulf of California, near Mexico.

Shaddock said that Bella became his companion by accident.

“Bella sort of found me in the middle of Mexico, she’s Mexican, she is the spirit of the middle of the country. And she wouldn’t let me go.”

I tried to find a home for her maybe three times, and she just kept following me onto the water,” he said.

After a few weeks on the water, a sudden storm caused the electronics on his ship to stop working. While Shaddock had food, he was unable to cook anything and shortly had to rely on raw fish and any rainwater he could collect.

Shaddock and his dog, Bella, as they were rescued.

Shaddock said that there were ‘many, many, many bad days’ at sea. But, he also said that he found some days to be good.

“The energy, the fatigue is the hardest part,” he said. “I would try and find the happiness inside myself, and I found that a lot alone at sea. I would go in the water too, and just enjoy being in the water.’”

“There were many, many, many bad days and many good days,” he said.

The best day, however, started with a helicopter. It was flying alongside a tuna ship that was in the area, when the pilot spotted Shaddock’s boat.

As Shaddock looked up, a drink fell into his boat, tossed by the pilot, who then flew away, later returning with the tuna ship.

The boat was found “more than 1,200 miles from land,” said Grupomar, the company that owns the tuna boat.

“Thank God for putting us in the path of a man who could have died,” said Grupomar’s owner, Antonio Suarez.

Video showed the tuna boat cruising up on Shaddock’s boat, and when the captain says ‘hi, sir’, an emotional Shaddock tries to hold back tears, saying, “Hi sir, thank you, thank you so much.”

On land, Shaddock, who had lost quite a bit of weight and was now heavily-bearded, talked to reporters.

I’m feeling alright. I’m feeling a lot better than I was, I tell you.”

“To the captain and fishing company that saved my life, I’m just so grateful. I’m alive and I didn’t really think I’d make it,” he said.

Despite the harrowing months alone on the water, Shaddock said he’d “always be in the water.”

“I don’t know how far out in the ocean again I’ll be, you know, but I think I just love the nature,” he said.

Watch below for a look at the amazing rescue!

Sources: CNN | Daily Mail | My Positive Outlooks