Cesar Vazquez loves his son so much that, on the night of Oct. 4, he refused to embrace him. Vazquez’ fishing boat was sinking off Dana Point as he and his 16-year-old son thrashed in the water, lobster nets lacing both their bodies. Vazquez can’t swim, but wouldn’t grab on to his son, Louie, who was trying to pull him out of the angry sea. Vazquez feared he’d drown them both. “In a panic, people grab others and they die, too,” Vazquez said. “I thought, ‘I’d die before I kill my little boy.’ I’m thinking, ‘Okay, here we go – I’m dying.’” It was a terrifying experience that left them both shaking. What began as a routine lobster fishing trip ended when their 28-foot Victoria Bayliner’s motor stopped, leaving strong winds and rough waters free to dash them against the Dana Point Harbor jetty. The boat sank, and Vazquez, his son, and two other passengers escaped with their lives. The San Clemente father and son had gone out about 7 p.m. with two friends of Vazquez’, and caught seven lobsters before their propeller was caught on a line from another fisherman’s lobster trap. It stopped their motor, immobilizing them in the tumbling sea. They were still able to maneuver a little, but within moments the waves had turned them around, positioned them in front of the jetty, them slammed them into it. “We started bouncing (from side to side), then it totally flung us, just swung us on to the rocks,” Louie, a San Clemente High junior, said. “My dad was there holding a light so we could jump on the rocks.” Louie and Vazquez’ friends jumped first. Louie, who had been barefoot on the boat, cut his foot on some barnacles. One of their friends fell close to the water’s edge, then scrambled to the top of the rocks just as the boat came crashing down where he had landed. Leaping to the jetty had been scary enough, but Louie was still panicked, watching his father being tossed around in the boat. They had put out a distress call, and a nearby fishing boat responded, shining a light into the water and tossing out a buoy. Vazquez was trying to hook the buoy with a pole when a passing wave knocked him out of the boat. His son dove in to save him. “I jumped off the rocks and swam, and two seconds after I went, the boat (flipped) over, and the outrigger almost hit me,” Louie said. “I was shaking. My dad was screaming for help. It was really devastating.” Luckily, his father wasn’t far from the jetty – perhaps 10 or 15 feet. He was, however, covered by lobster netting. Louie swam to him, diving underwater to free both himself and his father of netting. Eventually he grabbed the buoy and brought it over to his father to grab hold of. He was practically underneath it, Louie said, and couldn’t pull himself up. Worried by the amount of water he’d already taken in, Louis grabbed his father from behind and swam with him back to the other fishing ship. The crew pulled them both aboard, despite a struggle: They were both still fully clothed and soaked. “It was pretty bad, watching your dad (almost drown) like that,” Louie said. “I was shaking the whole time when I was finally safe. When we were leaving, I saw the bow (of our boat), there was just about 3 feet of the tip out of the water.” Unfortunately, the Harbor Patrol wasn’t able to recover the boat. It’s probably under 40 or 50 feet of water somewhere south of San Clemente, Vazquez said, estimating it was a $30,000 to $40,000 loss. That doesn’t include all their personal belongings: 35 fishing poles, $5,000 to $10,000 of fishing gear, water-proof electronics equipment, and Louie’ shoes, iPod, and wallet. And seven lobsters, of course. Though they still hope to find their boat and recover what they can, Vazquez wouldn’t trade their catch for what he already has: His life and his son. “He’s my hero,” Vazquez said of Louie. “I’m breathing today because of him. He saved the whole family, because the whole family depends on me.”