Publications
Partners
The 10 islanders have all hit the halfway mark! But are they too short on energy and team spirit to celebrate?
You’d think that making it half way through this awesome endurance challenge would have produced a little celebration, but it’s a mark of how weak they’ve become that although most mention it their journals, there was no group acknowledgement of their achievement.
Does it perhaps also reveal how little they’re doing together as a team any more? Matt writes about how after the ‘breakfast’ fire they retire to their respective camps for the day, and Nick says: ‘Sometimes a whole 24 hours will pass before I even see one of my fellow participants. We’re cocooning ourselves, slowly but surely.’
Nevertheless, the countdown to 1 May has begun, and counting down rather than up is good for their spirits. But you have to ask: if they’re this weak, tired and hungry now – and making no attempts to improve their food situation – they’re only going to get worse. Can their bodies withstand another 15 days?
Jono for one says he’s made the decision to leave before the 30 days are up – he’s just not sure when. He and Saul are spending around four hours in the water every day catching fish, which must be taking a major toll on their bodies. (Probably for that reason, they’ve decided to fish in the mornings only, skipping the evening session – so that means even less food.)
And according to Nick, one of them thinks he has ‘trench crotch’ from being in the water too much! But he’s not saying who.
As always, Angi and Lisa have hatched a new plan – they want to document the shocking state of the ocean around them, and try to do something about it – what that is remains to be seen.
Joe is also keeping busy with a new woodwork project - hopefully we’ll see a photo soon. He’s his usual upbeat self, with his journal not giving much away. He’s actually in an interesting situation: as the group’s doctor, he CAN’T leave the island, which frees him from the indecision and stay-go mental wrestling that all the others are enduring.
Maya and Huenu seem to taking strain in the last day or two, and they write about the mental pep talks they’ve giving themselves to keep going.
Well, soon I head out to the island again to collect more news. I wonder whether I’ll come back alone …
