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A boat full of extremely happy people heads for food, family and more food, as Saul and Joe settle in for the last push: five more days, more alone than they’ve ever been.
Three very happy people boarded the boat today: Huenu, Maya and Nick were delighted to leave the island, knowing that ‘eating what we wanted, sleeping in comfortable beds, showering, washing our hair, shaving, calling our families and eating some more’, wrote Huenu, was just an hour or so away.
That leaves Saul and Joe with the entire island to themselves – and I have a feeling that they’re really going to relish the coming days.
But with just five more days to go, why did they quit? While Nick seems to have made the decision to leave on Day 25 some time ago, Huenu and Maya have been adamant that they’re going to push through to the full 30 days.
They say it was a spur of the moment decision, made the night before. Does that mean they thought it through enough?
Here’s Huenu on why she left: ‘To be honest, the fact that we struggled to answer this question was part of the decision to go,’ she wrote. ‘The last couple of days have become even harder than the rest. Almost all my time was spent thinking about that boat ride away from the island and everything thereafter. Quite simply, did I want to continue doing that for the next six days or did I just want to admit I’d had enough and call it quits? To be honest, when I popped the question, it wasn’t that hard to decide.’
After Huenu posed the magical ‘What if we go?’ question, Maya realised that it was simply ego keeping her on the island, which eventually isn’t enough. ‘I know deep down that there is some level of satisfaction by telling the world around me that “I can do this”. And that, apparently, is what is keeping me on this island at the moment,’ she wrote.
Although the group has pledged to donate half of any sponsorships they receive to charity, Maya has promised to donate all her contributions to her chosen charity, the Norwegian Refugee Council.
So, just Saul and Joe left on the island. Saul seemed a little shell-shocked at the sudden amputation of three-fifths of the group, and it looks like he was really wondering if he’d done the right thing as he watched the boat sail away. But my guess is this really gives him the chance for quiet time, living in tune with the Earth’s rhythm, which is what he’s been wanting all along. And Joe is loving the rare opportunity of time on his hands. So aside from some mishaps with rain wetting their wood, I think they’ll be just fine.
