Puerto Ayora - Galápagos
November 19, 1998
Richard Polatty
Galapagos guide and now water taxi owner Roberto Haro is feared lost after his boat went down Wednesday evening, Nov. 18. There was one passenger with him. At about 5:40pm, distress calls were heard on channel 26. Here at the Hotel Galapagos, we listened as the capitania of San Cristobal and Santa Cruz were communicating. 4 boats were in the area that went to Robert's assistance. He still had a portable VHF radio with him and as it got dark, the boats attempted to locate him with lights. He would say if he saw the light or not. Unfortunately, this did not work before his radio battery apparently went dead about 2 hours later. It is unknown what happened except that he was leaving from Puerto Villamil, Isabela en route to Puerto Ayora, Santa Cruz. His last reported position was somewhere near 4 Hermanos Island (off of Isabela).The Scuba Iguana boat went out at about 10:30pm to take fuel to the other searching boats. As of now, 9:00am, Nov. 19, there has been no sign of Roberto. More boats are joining in the search and more fuel being taken out. Even though the weather has been very clear lately, garua started to blow in last night which could hamper the search. Roberto reported also being very cold in the water.
12:40
November 19, 1998Roberto Haro was found near the island of Floreana floating on top of his boat. The reports are that the transom opened up swamping the boat but there was enough flotation to keep it afloat.