by Liz Daube
Staff Writer
When Jacksonville trial attorney Tom Edwards went on a recent trip to Costa Rica, he expected to catch mahi, yellowfin tuna and maybe a few sailfish. Instead, he caught something that was actually pleased to leave the water.
“We first thought it was just a bobber,” said Edwards. “Then I realized it was a man.”
Edwards, 47, and the rest of his tourist fishing party discovered two Costa Rican men floating in the gulf waters at about 6:30 a.m. The men were both wearing life vests, clinging to any debris left from their sunken boat.
“They’d apparently been out in the water for a couple of hours,” said Edwards. “They were fishermen by trade, but we were told they couldn’t swim.”
Edwards said the group was surprised to find the men, who had set out in their boat before dawn.
“In the water, they disappear every time there’s a wave,” he said. “The first thoughts are you don’t believe it. Then you start thinking, ‘Oh, God – how many people are in the water?’ ”
Luckily, Edwards said, the men were fine – just “exhausted and scared.” One man “just kind of laid on the deck for while.” Edwards said the men would have likely drifted into the Pacific Ocean and died if the fishing boats hadn’t stumbled upon them.
“They didn’t even have radios,” said Edwards, who carries a personal satellite beacon when he goes hunting or fishing in case of an emergency.
Another boat took the two men back to shore, while Edwards’ fishing group continued on its way. While he found the incident a little jarring – “The first thing you think is ‘I wonder where our life jackets are’ ” – Edwards said he plans to continue his foreign fishing vacations.
“Adventure is part of it and risk is part of it,” he said, “and I’ve never had the patience for golf.”
Edwards has visited Costa Rica three times already. In addition to fishing on the coast, his tour group went to coffee fields and a volcano. He’s traveled to other locations as well, including Canada to hunt elk and moose. Edwards said the preparation and competitive drive required for such expeditions relates back to the courtroom.
“Preparation is big – when you are hunting or fishing, weather can kill you,” he said. “To be a trial attorney, you have to be a risk taker ... you either win cases, or you lose them.”
Edwards is a partner at the Peek, Cobb & Edwards firm. He is also treasurer of the Florida Justice Association, the organization formerly known as the Academy of Florida Trial Lawyers, and a past-president of the Jacksonville Bar Association. He is married with three grown children. He releases and attempts to revive any sailfish or marlin he catches while fishing – it’s the law.