The ocean alone can tell

When Mercedes Alcocer said goodbye to her husband Miguel on that hazy morning of September, she would’ve never imagined that it would be the last time she would see him. Miguel had gone on a sport fishing trip with a group of men from the Yucatan Rotary Club, all of them residents of the city of Merida, in Mexico.

That morning, Rafael Cervera and his nephew Raf; Ivan Rosado and Francisco Gongora, outgoing and elected president of the Rotary Club of Merida; Angel Garcia; Miguel Portillo, president of the Montejo Rotary Club; Alonso Hernandez, vice president of the same group; Raul Dominguez, director of the Marden Academy and the sailor Angel Perez set sail from the Villa Dorada navy at the Progreso Port. They left at 4:50 in the morning on a boat called the High Ball IV. They were going fishing in an area called “3-30”, which was two hours away from the coast. To this day no one knows what became of them.

Miguel left his house and said that he would return at six in the afternoon. When night fell and Mercedes didn't know anything about him, she started calling the other wives to ask if they knew anything. A group of women went to the port from which the ship had departed. Nothing. After 24 hours an intense search began.

Ships from the Mexican Navy participated in this work, as well as small aircraft and helicopters from various agencies, such as Pemex (Mexican Petroleum), and many private yachts. Since the men were known members of the community and engaged in several local events and volunteer work, numerous private boats and helicopters belonging to the local media participated in the search. Everyone in Merida knew about the case and was trying to help.

Mercedes's brother was part of the group of local boy scouts, she walked the beaches with their help in search of a clue... any piece of the ship in question. The search covered not only the Yucatecan coastline but also extended to practically the entire Gulf of Mexico, even up to Tamaulipas, but no traces of the boat were found, nor of the crew.

The fate of the High Ball IV that disappeared off the coast of Progreso in 1986, remains a true mystery for many, and a legend for those who are immersed in the maritime and fishing activity of this port.

This September marks 35 years since the men left their homes... their wives... their children.

For months the relatives of these nine men did not lose hope, they contacted nearby embassies and even made a trip to Cuba to explore the area and inquire among the local authorities. Mercedes says that one of the wives, who preferred to remain anonymous, went to visit a psychic in the city of Guadalajara. “The psychic, who was unaware of the case at the time, commented that she saw a man, and that the ghost of her husband claimed that the boat exploded, and that they were all deceased. That could bring you some peace, if you believe in such things” said Mercedes

The operation grew, searching by land and sea for the missing, even with the help of the United States Coastguard. However, these efforts were unsuccessful.

The disappearance of the yacht was never clarified, and because of this, several hypotheses have arisen. The most plausible one says that the shipwreck could be due to an explosion in the ship's engine room. "But if this had happened, traces of the ship would have remained or the corpses of the crew members, or some of their belongings, would have appeared" Mercedes thinks.

Another possibility was that a group of drug traffickers would have assaulted the ship to use it in an operation, which led to a change of course. According to fishermen in the area, the boat was seen getting fuel and food and setting sail for Campeche "escorted" by another ship. It was also mentioned that they could have been attacked by one of the many foreign shrimp boats that illegally enter Mexican territorial waters with the lights off.

Some people said that one of the passengers could have had a problem with the others and after a fight, he would have killed them and fled with the yacht. It was also said that these people had financial or love problems and chose to leave their families and live abroad. Talking with Mercedes, this hypothesis is impossible. “How could nine men with families and small children have planned to disappear at the same time?”

Another version that circulated was that they could have been detained by Cuban spy ships and taken to prison on the island, held captive to date.

Mario Esquivel, one of the search coordinators, reaffirmed the hypothesis that the boat exploded at sea due to an accumulation of gases in the engine compartment. Apparently the High Ball IV had a sister ship, an identical boat that had exploded in previous years.

"It was even commented that it could be aliens who kidnapped them, but whatever it was we never heard from them again. For many years I kept an album with photos so that if Miguel returned, he could see what he had missed" Mercedes mentioned .

Regardless of what you choose to believe, today, almost 35 years after the disappearance of the High Ball IV and of its nine passengers, what happened on September 10, 1986, remains an unsolved mystery.