Shane Hogan made his move to save his father, plunging into the depths and preparing to overcome his greatest fear: the Ocean.
They were heading to America by sea—a perilous route that began in their home country of Jamaica,moved toward the island of Haiti, then the Bahamas, and finally directly to the United States.It was a dangerous journey; the boat was incredibly small, and the probability of capsizing at this time of year, with frequent storms, was nothing short of suicide.
But he didn't have much time. So, he accepted the challenge.
He and forty others, mostly women and small children, squeezed themselves into a tiny boat. They prepared for the trip, and at first, it seemed they would have a calm journey. They stopped near the island of Haiti. Shane got off the ship and wandered slightly nearby. A few armed men, who didn't look like they belonged to the army, approached the ship. Shane and the other passengers were terrified, but one of the smugglers went over and spoke with them, and they went their way. It was a strange and terrifying experience.
After three grueling days and nights on the water, they reached the Bahamas. Unlike in Haiti, the smugglers had to be extremely careful here. They entered a mangrove forest. The smugglers warned everyone about the mosquitoes and the alligators within the mangrove swamps. After a short rest, they moved quickly. Fortunately, no one was harmed in the mangroves.
With less than a hundred kilometers left to Florida, everyone was happy, thinking they were about to arrive. But this was truly the calm before the storm. Black clouds gathered, and terrifying lightning strikes began. A waterspout was forming. Everyone panicked.
The smugglers quickly handed out life jackets to all the passengers, but three people, including Shane, received nothing. The priority was the women and the smaller children. No one protested.
A little time passed, and it seemed the storm might have moved on. However, further ahead, monstrous waves rose up. In the first encounter with the waves, only one person fell from the boat, and the others were safe. But the second wave was more horrific and caused the boat to capsize. Fortunately, because the Florida Coast Guard had anticipated such an event, they arrived and saved everyone except for two people. Most were able to save themselves from the trap of death and drowning because they knew how to swim.
But as for those two people:
One was an elderly man—one of those who hadn't received a life jacket—who had passed away from suffocation.
And the second was Shane. He had never once set foot in the sea. After the capsizing, because he lacked a life jacket, he sank rapidly. They searched for him, but they couldn't find him or his body. Everyone believed he had drowned and that the sharks had taken his remains.
But this was not the end for Shane, because...