2 Men Feared Dead Are Rescued on Island : West Anacapa: The pair had been in a boat that crashed against rocks. After a two-day ordeal, they finally got the attention of passing boaters.

Two men feared lost at sea were rescued Saturday after surviving a two-day ordeal on West Anacapa Island that included eating raw sea-gull eggs and scaling a 250-foot cliff to scream for help.

U.S. Coast Guard rescue teams picked up Bill Matlock, 29, and Jerry Chavez, 25, at West Anacapa Island on Saturday morning after boaters heard their cries.

Matlock, a Camarillo resident, and Chavez, from Los Angeles, said they were hungry, sunburned and dehydrated, but otherwise felt fine.

“We’re lucky to be alive,” said Chavez, rubbing a heavy growth of beard as he gobbled chocolate chip cookies from a vending machine at Oxnard Airport, where he was dropped off by rescue teams.

Coast Guard officials said Saturday they thought the two men had drowned and were considering calling off the search by about 50 Coast Guard members in five boats, two helicopters and two planes.

“We suspected they were in the water because of the high seas,” said John Lane, a rescue swimmer with the Coast Guard. “They’re real lucky.”

Chavez and Matlock, who both work as airplane mechanics for Continental Airlines, had set off from Channel Islands Harbor on Thursday on Matlock’s 22-foot motorboat, the Traci Lynn, for an afternoon fishing trip at Anacapa Island.

Anacapa, which lies 11 miles southwest of Oxnard, is the most popular of the Channel Islands because of its proximity.

Matlock’s boat was dashed against the rocks on the south side of West Anacapa Island, near Frenchy’s Cove, after the fuel pump broke down, Matlock said.

“We couldn’t do anything,” said Matlock, who was trembling slightly Saturday as he waited for his wife, Traci, to pick him up at Oxnard Airport. “We ended up drifting right up on Anacapa. The waves destroyed the boat.”

The two men jumped into the 13-foot waves with nothing but their life jackets and a piece of rope, Matlock said.

After they managed to swim to Anacapa Island, Matlock said, he spelled out HELP with pieces of his boat, but it was washed out by the tide hours later.

Chavez then decided to scale a steep cliff to look for help, but he got stuck about 100 feet up, he said.

“It got dark on me,” Chavez said. He couldn’t see where to put his feet, and the cliff was so steep that he didn’t dare move. So he spent hours clinging to the side of the cliff.

“It was the longest night of my life,” Chavez said.

On Friday, Matlock--who had stayed closer to the ground--climbed to Chavez and guided him down by telling him where to place his feet.

The two spent Friday night sleeping on a cliff, although they got up occasionally to run around and do pushups so they could stay warm, Chavez said.

Although there is a ranger station four miles away on East Anacapa Island, the two men could not travel easily through the hilly terrain. And although they twice saw helicopters passing overhead, they were unable to attract the Coast Guard’s attention.

The two men were rescued Saturday afternoon after they scaled a 250-foot cliff and yelled out to a passing boat full of divers.

Neither of the two had any experience in rock climbing, but Chavez said they felt they didn’t have a choice.

“We had to climb like spiders, it was so steep,” Matlock said.

Chavez, the first to reach the top about 11:15 a.m. Saturday, bellowed for help.

Coast Guard rescuers said they were amazed that boaters were able to hear Chavez from so high up, but Chavez wasn’t surprised. “I was screaming my head off,” he said.

During their time on the island, the pair ate raw sea-gull eggs, clams and seaweed. Chavez even stuffed some raw clams into his jacket as a memento.

“The sea-gull eggs weren’t too bad,” said Matlock, as he fished out his soggy wallet to buy a candy bar at the airport Saturday.

Since Oct. 1, the Coast Guard station at Channel Islands Harbor has launched rescue operations for 13 boats. Of those, only one, the 41-foot fishing boat Vil Vana, has not been found.

The Vil Vana disappeared off Santa Cruz Island on April 9 with seven men aboard. No sign of the men or the boat was found, despite an intensive search.

When Matlock and Chavez returned to the mainland Saturday, they quickly called their families.

“I called my Mom in Colorado,” Chavez said. “The timing would have been terrible if something happened, what with Mother’s Day and all.”

Times staff writer Jim Herron Zamora contributed to this story.