Desert island: how to survive and not panic. main tasks on the path to survival

Image caption The chosen ones will “inherit” a working farm

Would you like to live on desert island?

French authorities are looking for a married couple willing to settle on the tiny uninhabited island of Kemenes off the coast of Brittany. The family, who had lived there for 10 years, decided that it was time to move to the mainland.

The French Coast Guard Agency (Conservatoire du Littoral) announced that it is looking for a replacement for this family and is hoping for volunteers willing to take part in this unusual experiment.

To a desert island all alone, but with your favorite music

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Kemenes is a one and a half kilometer long islet covered with sand, stones and grass in the Molun archipelago at the western tip of Brittany. It is home to seals, seabirds, rabbits and a herd of black dwarf Ouessan sheep.

The only thing the island lacks is inhabitants.

Image caption Local dwarf sheep live on the island

It all started a long time ago. The island was inhabited for at least 1,000 years, but 25 years ago the last inhabitants of Quemenes decided to leave.

The Conservatoire du Littoral immediately bought this island.

Many thought that the agency would simply create another reserve here, but it acted differently. Agency specialists decided that the remaining farm on the island should continue to operate, and began looking for volunteers who were ready to settle there and take care of the farm.

And so, in 2007, David and Soisic Cuisnier got an unusually romantic job: living alone on an island and looking after him.

10 years later, the Cuisnier family, now complete with children Cloe and Jules, is preparing to leave the island.

They began to have disputes with the Conservatoire du Littoral over the issue of rent. And besides, they believe that it would be better for children to live closer to school.

The deadline for applications from applicants for their place has already passed, and now the authorities are considering a list of 20, as it was said, “serious” candidates who are ready to move into the house that will be vacated by the Cuisnier family.

The chosen ones will learn their fate within the next few weeks and will move to the island in early 2018.

If the words of David and Suazik are to be believed, something amazing is in store for them.

“If we had listened to the advice of our acquaintances 10 years ago, we would never have done this,” said David.

Image caption During their 10 years of living on the island, the Cuisniers had two children.

"Moving here was an act of unparalleled recklessness. But it turned out to be an amazing adventure. The farm became a real successful business. Our children grew up. It's unforgettable," he says.

The main condition of the contract with the Conservatoire du Littoral was that the family must earn its own living.

As time passed, the family began to expand their farm. They began growing Mona Lisa potatoes and selling them online. They sent it to customers by mail from the neighboring (inhabited) island of Molen.

They hosted tourists six months a year; They also raised a flock of sheep and collected edible seaweed.

Speaking of algae, the Cuisnier family sees great prospects and plans to grow this algae on a commercial basis.

Back to nature

Another problem was that they could only use the resources that could be obtained on the island itself.

Accordingly, electricity comes only from a windmill and solar panels, and they took water from a well, replenished with rainwater. A dry toilet is installed in the house: instead of water, waste falls into a layer of sawdust, which is then raked out.

Image caption The islanders are not cut off from the world - they have both a telephone and the Internet

“We have demonstrated that it is possible to lead a normal, modern lifestyle using only the gifts of nature. We have all the gadgets we need, even an electric buggy that we drive around the island,” says David Cuisnier.

The only problem they encountered and could not resolve was French laws. The water on the island is officially considered "buvable", not "potable". Both words mean that the water is potable, but without the "potable" classification it cannot be used for food preparation.

As a result, their idea to set up a small factory to produce seaweed-based products never came to fruition.

10 years of adventure

If you spend an evening with the Cuisnier family, you will hear an endless stream of stories about the island, its history, and their adventures here. It’s hard to imagine a more idyllic childhood for seven-year-old Chloe and five-year-old Jules.

Image caption

For example, one day they found four skeletons on the seashore.

The surf washed away the place of their burial. At first, the experts called in thought that these were the remains of French soldiers who died in a clash with the British.

These waters were once well known to the Royal Navy, which regularly launched attacks on the French Atlantic fleet and its base at Brest. Neighbor Island The English called Ouessan Ushant.

“But in the end they [the experts] decided that these were the remains of sailors who had long died at sea,” says David.

Image caption The Cuisnier family became seaweed experts

There are many shipwrecks in these places, for example, Drummond Castle, passenger airliner coming from South Africa to Great Britain and sank in the area of this archipelago in 1896. There were 350 people on board the liner.

Cuisniers also remember a balloon from Ireland. Once Suazik and her children were walking around the island and found a large balloon. Attached to it was a letter from a couple in Dublin who had lost a child to congenital disease.

The couple decided to mourn their lost child by releasing a balloon with his story into the sky. David wrote to them in Dublin and they still keep in touch.

Image caption Idyllic childhood of Cuisnier children

The storms of 2014 dragged on for weeks. One evening, David was returning home through a force 10 gale and noticed a cloud hanging low above the surface of the water approaching him.

“It seemed out of place in stormy weather because it moved very slowly. Only after it hit me did I understand what it was. It was “salt fog” - a cloud of salt squeezed out of sea water by the force of the wind.” , he says.

Difficulties

“Of course, we had serious problems from time to time,” Cuisnier continues. “Once the rabbits ate the entire potato crop. But then we were lucky - myxomatosis started on the island, and out of 2,000 rabbits, only about 100 remained here.”

Image caption Cuisnier even has a pig

“One day Suazik cut off the tip of her finger. The most amazing thing was how quickly the ambulance helicopter arrived. Within 20 minutes she was already being examined by a doctor - which is faster than it would have been on the mainland,” he says.

The Cuisnier family also insists that they are not some kind of Robinson Crusoe. They are not cut off from the rest of the world.

"We live in modern world. From our farm we can see the mainland and other islands where people live. We have the Internet, guests come to us all the time. We were never lonely!” says David.

Chance helped. A New Zealand captain I know was ferrying a small fishing schooner from Vero Beach to Honduras. When I approached him and began to complain that I could still buy something in the twentieth century, but in the twenty-first I can no longer afford it - it turned out to be an expensive century - the captain looked at me like I was a child and literally helped me in two weeks to find the ground under your feet.

We left Vero Beach and headed for Costa Rica. There are a bunch of uninhabited islands in the Southwest Gulf of Mexico. The captain is very experienced - he has been walking around this region all his life. He picked it for me small island, which according to some maps belongs to Costa Rica, according to others - to Venezuela, and according to others - to Holland. That is, no one can still really say who exactly. And if you think what it is unique phenomenon- you are mistaken, the world is full of islands, which, even if they belong to someone, are empty. Come to them and live - in English they even invented a special term for people like me - “ islandsquatters “- in Russian I would probably say “squatters” - a lot of people already live like this - if you don’t believe me, then Google “ islandsquatters "and see for yourself. While you are there saving money for your apartment, people are seizing the islands with all their might.

Well, he unloaded me onto the island, and in a couple of days I adjusted my entire life. Before leaving, I bought a used modular house for the tropics from a German for literally pennies (I gave three Baku pieces). It consists of panels that are screwed together and placed on steel pipes - the house is half a meter from the ground. This is to prevent any tropical living creatures from crawling into it. We dug eight holes, stuck support pipes in there and filled them with cement. The water nearby - a small waterfall a hundred meters from my home - flows constantly.

After that I unpacked, took out the kitchen utensils, assembled the bed and connected the toilet to the portable tank on the roof. The toilet is right in the house, you don’t need to go outside, otherwise you’ll go to relieve yourself at night and some other creature will bite you on the leg - it’s safer in the house.

After that, he dug another pillar and placed a satellite dish on it - double-sided Internet from “ Directnet " - he is anywhere in the North and South America works. Now I have a phone via Skype and the stream is decent - one and a half megabytes per second. It works like a charm and costs a penny - eighty dollars a month without traffic restrictions. Now I can work on the Internet, download videos and chat with friends for free.

The island turned out to be decent; along the shore it was full of pow-pow, coconuts and guavas. You can safely eat them without fear of any chemicals or herbicides. I bought a nice dive kit and spear (cost 48 bucks). I’ll say right away that you definitely need to have on hand the edition of the atlas “Fishes of the Atlantic” (30 bucks at the Barnes and Noble store) - everything is described in detail there, what you can eat and what you can’t - otherwise you can get poisoned out of habit.

I installed a solar oven for cooking. The thing is awesome - google it “ solaroven » at your leisure - it does not require any fuel, it is powered by the sun. It costs one and a half hundred. I bake fish with pineapple in it - both are free. However, you quickly get tired of pineapples - I alternate pineapple with pow-pow.

After settling in, I walked around the entire island - took small plastic tags and took inventory of all the coconut trees - there must be order in order to know exactly where and what is growing. Coconuts are a cool thing, you can make coconut oil from them - I fry fish with it.

Well, in case one of the officials ever comes to see me, I have developed a legend - for the Costa Ricans I say that I am a caretaker from Venezuela, for the Venezuelans - that I am a representative of the Dutch government. In the most extreme case, I have a special corruption fund in my locker - you know, officials are all people, in our time you can corrupt anyone, if you have the desire.

This is how you can solve your housing problem. It’s not difficult to find a list of islands suitable for housing, and modern technologies allow you to even inspect your future possessions without leaving your home - go to Google, turn on the view from space and in the evening with the whole family plan where to put the house and where the cattle pen - from space everything is fine it is seen. If possible, ask an architect to develop a custom plan based on the terrain. Please make sure that the island you choose has fresh water - a stream or lake. Just in case, take a portable solar watermaker with you - it won't hurt.

If the Caribbean doesn't suit you, go to Pacific Ocean, well, let’s say Apia or Nuku’alofa - and look around - there are a lot of opportunities there. Micronesia is simply untouched virgin land, but what about Micronesia - spin around Tahiti and pick up something for yourself.

Well, if you really want adventure, head to distant Murray.

The most important thing, when you move, do not overload the ship with things - try to adhere to the principle that if this or that item does not fit there, then it is most likely not needed. Don’t get carried away with complex household appliances - if, say, your dishwasher breaks down, there will be no one on the island to fix it. Get used to doing as much as possible with your own hands.

The only thing is, don’t hesitate, otherwise you will be left, in computer parlance, with a Google hole - if everyone rushes in, then there may not be enough islands for everyone.

Postscript: Yesterday I attacked a native woman. She sat on a vine in the jungle wearing a loincloth made of reeds and ate pow-pow. I lured her from the tree with a can of Coca-Cola and dragged her home - whatever you want, savages are savages - they react to cans instantly. The native looks strange - all pitch black, her eyes are narrow and narrow, and her hair is white. All covered in some kind of native hieroglyphs, apparently that’s the custom here. Here I am writing these lines to you, and she is sitting in my corner and looking at the computer pitifully. He babbles something in his native language and reaches out to him. “Ai shi teru” constantly repeats, she tries to kiss, and she looks at the computer. But I constantly hit her on the hands and drive her away from the computer - you know, the technology is in the hands of a savage - a piece of metal, let him go out and collect coconuts so that I have something to fry mahi-mahi on in the evening.

God forbid someone ends up on a desert island. However, if this happens, you need to learn to survive and be prepared in advance. An unprepared or weak person will die.

First you need to calm down, collect your thoughts and look around. You need to come to terms with this situation and not expect help from anyone.
A person can go two weeks without food, but without water he will not live more than 3-4 days. The first step is to look for sources of fresh water, not food. If you are on the seashore, then this should be done as quickly as possible. Under no circumstances should you drink sea water. This is a slow and painful death. Most people die in the first days precisely because they cannot find water. This is the main mistake.

What to do first

Now find safe place for housing as close as possible to fresh water. You shouldn't panic. You need to think clearly. Panic and loss of control in such a situation will immediately lead to your death.

It might sound stupid, but you can make yourself a fictional buddy to talk to. This will help you calm down.
Evaluate your resources. Do you have a source of fresh water? Do you have a telephone, radio, walkie-talkie or other means of communication? Are there other people? People are always good. It will be easier this way. If there are people, then everyone must work together. There should be one goal for each person. A close-knit team will get out of any difficult situation.

Fire. This may seem like a trivial thing on a desert island, but fire is always necessary. He can even just support people morally. Fire is used to distill water, to cook food, to scare away wild animals, etc. If you can't start a fire, don't worry, you can do it if necessary. Life will teach you. For now, read on.

Build housing. Housing should be in a safe, warm, shady area for sleeping, resting, storing resources, and hiding from animals. Try to make housing above ground so that no insects, snakes, etc. I couldn't crawl in there.

Look at the water. Any water source is good as long as it is available and you can purify and desalinate it.
If you find sources of fresh water, it is recommended to boil it initially to ensure it is safe. If you have a special filter, that's great.

If there is no fresh water on the island, you need to distill and desalinate sea water. To do this, you need to find a container and fill it with sea water or even urine in case of emergency. In the center of the container you need to place a smaller container and make something like a funnel. Now you need to cover the whole thing with a lid and keep it on fire. The water will evaporate (steam is clean, drinkable water), hit the lid, condense, and end up in a smaller container. Here you can drink this water and not be afraid of the consequences. This is the purest water.

You can also do this in the sun, but then you will need the widest, flat and not deep surface possible, from which the water will quickly evaporate. However, in this case you will have to wait a very long time.

What to eat on the island

Find a constant power source. There are many edible roots and berries, but be careful! Some of them are poisonous. Eat only if you are confident that the food is safe. Eat little by little and find the right food through trial and error.

Observe what the animals eat. It's most likely safe. Create traps and catch animals. All animals can be eaten. Be sure to catch fish. You can always find a stick, fishing line can be made from clothing, and a hook can be carved from wood.

Try to make contact. Build a large, unnaturally shaped element using bright colors and shiny objects. Using a walkie-talkie or telephone, if available, contact everyone you can. Even if you don’t find rescuers, people will definitely report you. Make a sign out of stones or dig a sign on the ground, visible from afar and from above. These distress signals will help you escape if they are noticed by others. If you can make a bright flash or explosion, do it all the time when you see planes, helicopters or ships. Use mirrors, fire high altitude, flashlights, fireworks and anything else that might attract attention.

If you know you will be rescued, just relax. You've done everything. Support yourself and rest while waiting for help. Try to relax and make the best of this scary time. If you have someone to have fun and play with, then good. If there is someone to bury, bury it. There are all sorts of situations in life.

Never give up. Desperate actions can be fatal to you and others with you. There are no mistakes or weaknesses to be made here. Willpower is what allows people to survive without food for several weeks. Without the will to live, you won't last even three days.

Undoubtedly, each situation is unique and requires an individual approach. Take time to think about what you have, who is with you, what you need, what you can do, and so on.

Warnings

Never drink salt water as a last resort. Salt dehydrates you and makes it worse. It's better not to drink at all. Relief can only come for a while. As a last resort, drink urine. However, do not store urine in a bottle. Only fresh urine is sterile. Later it can no longer be used. In addition, you can only drink the first passage of urine. You should not drink your own urine a second time, as this can lead to kidney failure. You need to make a desalination plant. You should get pure water, leaving behind the salts and impurities. Otherwise, the effect will be even worse than when drinking salty sea water.

Do not eat jellyfish or fish that are inflated, have spines, beaks, etc.
Avoid eating snakes and other brightly colored animals, as they may be poisonous.
Rub the leaves and taste their juice. If it burns your hands or tongue, it is most likely poison.

Things you'll need to survive on a desert island.

Knife. The knife is the most versatile tool ever invented. You can do almost anything with a knife. Also find stones to sharpen it.
Toothbrush or floss. Don't forget to take care of yourself and brush your teeth. Toothache is one of the worst. You can flatten wood to make a toothbrush.
Cloth. Find warm clothes or make your own from animal or tree skins.
Water and food respectively.

Now you know what to do if you find yourself in a similar situation. We hope this doesn't happen!

Who hasn't heard of the famous Robinson Crusoe? A man who lived on a desert island for almost 20 years and also started a fairly good farm. As for me, I would probably sit on the ocean shore and cry. And in 20 years people would find my bones in this place. But anything can happen in life. And I decided to ask what to do in such extreme conditions.

How to survive on a desert island

If you wake up near water on an island, don't panic. If you run along the shore and tear your throat, it will do nothing. But getting interested in predatory animals or some tribes of cannibals is as easy as shelling pears. And preferably go somewhere into the shadows. Then the sun will not burn your skin. What else should you do first:

calm down;
determine your location;
find fresh water and food;
build temporary housing for yourself;
stock up on signaling equipment.

If you succeed find a river or stream, You can also try go with the flow. Perhaps it is will lead to local residents . If not, then you will have to survive on your own. Construction of a hut depends on your construction skills. During the day He must protect from the scorching sun, A at night from the cold and rain. Also need make a fire. If you have a lighter, you are lucky! And if not, then you need to try yourself in the role primitive man And make fire from stone or dry wood.

Fire is very important. At night, it will drive away wild animals, and also help prepare food and keep you warm. On the island for food may come berries or roots. But you shouldn’t try unfamiliar plants. You need to look for something familiar, like bananas or coconuts. Insects can also be eaten. But this is already an extreme case. If there is no fresh water reservoir nearby, then you can collect water using leaves of tropical plants. And if you don't want to spend 20 years on an island like Crusoe, prepare dry leaf torches. Or you can put a big word HELP on the beach.

People who survived

Defoe did not write his Robinson from his head. Existed a real man - pirate Alexander Selkirk, who, due to a quarrel with the captain of the ship, was forced stay on a desert island. He lived there for 4 years. He tamed wild goats, ate fish, fruits and turtles, sewed clothes from goat skins and almost forgot how to speak.

A Spanish sailor Pedro spent on the island for almost 10 years, of which I was alone for 3 years. There was no fresh water on the island. But he was saved by turtles, from whose shells he made bowls for himself to collect rainwater. He made fire from stones he found on the seabed.

Is a modern person ready to leave cozy apartments, delicious food, a soft bed and hot coffee for loneliness on a desert island? Let's assume so. Each is the master of his own life. Any action of an adult is considered to be adequate and deliberate.

Let's say he finds himself on an island and has to spend a year there. These will be days of survival, overcoming, patience and composure.
A sufficient number of things that would be enough for long period time, it is impossible to take to the island. Due to the fact that half of them will be lost, and half will be useless.

Minimum Required

In the modern world, we have come up with components for quickly starting a fire, protection against insects, various antibiotics and painkillers, and personal hygiene products. From these you can put together a real “tourist kit”.
But there are other tasks that will have to be solved every day - this is the search for food, drinking water and a safe place to sleep.

Let’s assume that a person ends up on an island without a ship, plane, etc. crashing, that is, completely consciously. Let’s let him think soberly so that there is no panic, which is absolutely useless to do on the island. This will not bring any benefit and will only get in the way.

4 main tasks on the path to survival

So, let us remind you that our “test subject” has the required amount of medicines that must be saved, small supplies of water and food that will quickly run out, and matches for making a fire, which are also short-lived. And besides this, it is accompanied by three important problems: finding drinking water, starting a fire, obtaining food and building a shelter, and hundreds of other problems of adaptation.

This is the order in which tasks should be arranged. Starting with water.

Water

Finding a permanent source of drinking water on the island will be a huge success, which will ensure a comfortable stay in uninhabited spaces. You should look for it among the fallen coconut fruits; to do this, you must first find an old fallen palm tree trunk. It is possible that people once lived on the uninhabited land and, perhaps, have already found a source. This option cannot be ignored and, with patience, you should look for it. Moreover, we are unlimited by time.

The presence of rocks on the island is an advantage. Crevices are likely to hold rainwater that can be collected. Using available materials, you should build vessels into which water will flow when it rains. Perhaps these are the main activities for collecting water in survival conditions. And the main rule for the island is not to drink sea water!

Fire

The next important step is to learn how to start a fire yourself. To do this, it is best to resort to the method of starting a fire by friction and use the most dry foliage. Having started a fire, you need to save it - for this it is better to immediately take care of having a large amount of firewood on hand, as they burn out quickly. After this, we will be able to boil the collected water, killing the infection in it, heat-treat food, smoke it in order to preserve it for some time.

Food

But in order to preserve and heat-treat food, it must be obtained. This is the third task for survival.
The first thing you will find on the island are palm and banana trees. Most often they grow along the shores of islands. Small insects with bright colors should be avoided; there is a high probability that they are poisonous. But the larvae, which are located under the bark of trees, may well dull hunger, since they contain a sufficient amount of protein.

A considerable number of birds live on the island. Without finding a way to catch them, their nests with eggs laid will be quite suitable. Rats and mice are common inhabitants of the island. They should not be disdained in survival conditions. Perhaps this is where the island's gifts are limited. It is possible to diversify your menu in the conditions by getting used to hunting in the ocean. You can start with the simplest and not very filling “dish”, due to the meager presence of meat, with hermit crabs. Catching them is quite easy, especially at night.

At shallow depths there are enough young sea urchins, which are also edible if you carefully remove their needles. By making a spear, preferably with three prongs, there is a chance of catching fish. The ocean is full a huge amount shellfish, which are also edible. But some of them are poisonous. Unfortunately, there is no way to determine this visually, so this type of food should be treated very carefully.

Housing

Having organized your life activities on the island in collecting water, lighting a fire and obtaining food, you should think about spending the night. “Shelter” is necessary in order to shelter from rain and direct sunlight. The risk of animal attack on uninhabited land is minimal.
The main task is to provide maximum shelter from the sun, rain and wind, so you can limit yourself to a canopy and a bed. A canopy is quite easy to weave from palm leaves. The bed should not come into contact with the ground, preventing insects and moisture from the ground from penetrating to the person.

So, we have indicated that for survival it is necessary to exclude panic and fear. Soberly define the tasks - this is searching for water, making a fire and getting food. Next, build a canopy that will protect from the sun and rain.

It was not for nothing that we provided our survivalist with minimal means of protection against insects, a small amount of water, food and matches for the first time. In fact, without this it is quite difficult to survive on the island. A minimal injury that takes a long time to heal in tropical conditions can result in death. Any fruit eaten can be poisonous. The idea of spending some time on the island is very dangerous, and without a minimum set of medications and protective equipment, the chances of successful survival are close to zero.

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