First anniversary of a new life

Xicu des Moliner

Formentera, August 15, 2025

A few days ago, several WhatsApp groups received a message from one of the participants that read: “This Thursday marks a year since you saved my skin, and that’s why I want to invite you all to have some beers together at Es Ram starting at 7:30 PM.”

It was a message from Xicu des Moliner, the fisherman from La Mola who came close to losing his life during one of the strongest and most sudden storms anyone can remember on the island of Formentera, exactly one year ago.

Yesterday, we all came together to celebrate the first anniversary of Xicu’s new life, and I honestly don’t think I’ve ever been to a birthday party where the smiles on people’s faces reflected such joy and pride in looking at one another. A story with a very happy ending — the story of a group of people who did the impossible to save a good man’s life and bring his llaüt, Cristina, back to shore.

With this blog entry, I’ll try to give a brief summary of the events that took place between August 14 and September 10 of last year, but more than anything, I want to share what, from my point of view, we experienced yesterday afternoon at Es Ram — a small, big-hearted group of people from Formentera.

A look back at what happened a year ago

In August 2024, Formentera lived through one of those episodes that becomes permanently etched in the island’s collective memory. On August 14, a sudden and violent storm hit the island, catching boats, fishermen, and locals off guard. Among those at sea was Xicu Torres Costa, “Xicu des Moliner,” who had gone out fishing on his llaüt Cristina. The storm capsized his boat and sank it within minutes, leaving Xicu adrift for seven long hours, clinging to a piece of wood from his own vessel, until he was rescued by his friends and neighbors, who didn’t hesitate to dive into the sea to look for him. That evening, the whole island of Formentera breathed a sigh of relief: Xicu was alive.

But the story didn’t end there. What seemed to be a total loss — the sinking of Cristina — turned into a second miracle less than a month later. On September 10, the llaüt unexpectedly and mysteriously reappeared at Es Ram, completely intact, as if it had never touched the sea floor. No one knew at the time who had recovered it or how it had arrived there. The reunion between Xicu and his boat was filled with tears and a deep sense of shared gratitude across the island.

Happy Birthday

Yesterday was the day Xicu invited us all to celebrate his new life, and even though I didn’t arrive much later than the scheduled time, Es Ram was already full of familiar faces, with Xicu welcoming each one of us with a handshake and a hug.
A large table full of food and drinks was set up on the flat ground above the cliffs, offering both Xicu’s gratitude and stunning views of the calm sea and sunset over the cliffs of Es Cap de Barbaria.

When the time came, we all shouted the “Happy Birthday” song together, of course, and there was a cake with a single candle — the number 1 — which he quickly blew out before we could take too many photos.

Among the guests was Adán Escandell, the one who eventually found Xicu in the middle of the sea that August 14. After 7 hours at sea, he pulled him onto his boat and brought him back to land — so that a year later, we could joke with him that, as a fisherman, Xicu was probably the best catch of his life.

Something to remember

There was a shared feeling among all of us at yesterday’s celebration — a sense that we each, in our own way, were part of this anniversary, part of a story we’ll never forget. A story so beautiful, so full of meaning, that someone someday really ought to turn it into a novel, a documentary, a film — anything, really — because it’s a story that deserves to be told and never forgotten.

I’m proud to have been invited to yesterday’s party and, in some way, to be part of this community of good people from Formentera.