I just watched Cast Away on DVD this afternoon and it made me think. Would I last stranded on a desert Island...I would like to think I would. I'm pretty resourceful and full of it, lol...but I really dont know. Just wondered if there was anyone out there who could definitely say YES. I dont think anyone could say yes for certain, but try to prove me wrong. And just for the record 'Stranded' means with nothing but the clothes on your back!

WM

Well I'm not surprised anyone has posted a reply, cos who could possibly answer?

Though I am stunned no one has tried to be clever. Well, well...

WM :)

Ok I'll answer

Quite simply no I think I wouldn't survive on desert island, if I wasn't by myself then maybe but on my own?!?!?

No chance!

I think I could survive for a small period of time... but I'd probably start going nutty after a while without anyone or anything to do... which is what would happen to most people...

provided you know how to start a fire, which is not the easiest thing and would take me a long time to sort... you can produce drinkable fluids... ie not drinking salt water as it'll make you ill... and find food such as fruits or animals you can survive...

all you need is food, water and shelter (warmth)

but its the fact you'd have no contact with anyone and no way to waste your hours that would soon start to crack up your mind!

I could last maybe a few weeks I hope... but without no books, or music or a guitar or SOMETHING to keep me occupied I think I'd definitly loose my marbles!

I think the answer would depend on your definition of a desert island. If it was a rock in the North Atlantic, much like the one in Pincher Martin, then no, I don't think I could. If it was a tropical one where the nights didn't get too cold and there was an abundance of edible plant food then I definitely could.

See here for an explanation of Pincher Martin. (http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/057106809X/qid=1109505659/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_3_1/202-0224324-5898212)

Why does someone have to be clever to say they could survive.

I like my own company I talk to myself (no I am not nuts)

Depends on the island but after 4 children and relationships I would like a go.

Could I take 3 items though.

All I meant by saying clever, was some cocky idiot replying that they were invincible and it would be easy..blaa...blaa.

Ok, lets open this up to new options. Say you could take 3 items, what would they be?

My three items would probably be:

1. Swiss Army Knife
2. A Blanket
3. A Magnifying glass

Hard to decided though, took me about 10 minutes! And number 2 is probably wrong, but I have bad circulation and I get cold fast.

WM

1. My Guitar
2. A few crates of boddingtons
3. A pint glass

I just thought though, I think some people would take a friend or someone, but on retrospect I dont think I would. Now I know that sounds a little mad, but being with someone for a long period of time can send someone a little crazy, I know it would me. I think I would prefere to be on my own. Saying that 6 months down the line I think I might change my mind ;)

WM

I can understand the Guitar, the boddingtons (somehow:loopy: ) but a pint glass??? lol.

As long as I had 10 records, my favourite book (plus the bible & complete works of Shakespear) and a luxury item, I would do fine.

Actually, a friend of mine got to find out: the answer is probably not.

Y'see, a friend of hers read Castaway and was keen to try it out for himself. I think he got sponsorship & stuff and somehow managed to get himself & a female friend of his flown out to an island in the Pacific for a year. The woman couldn't take it any more after a few months out there, so she flew back to the UK. My friend was asked to step in for what I think was the final month or two on the island.

She flew out there and had a great time for a while, but then started to get very ill (she got some sort of stomach bug, I don't think the school of tropical medicine ever managed to work out what it was; it was made worse by the fact that she was strictly vegetarian, so was basically living on rice & coconut and not supplementing her diet with fish & land crabs as her friend was).

Her illness got very, very severe. She spent two weeks having severe hallucinations before she was picked up by the pilot from the nearest island (several hundred miles away) who came to check up on them and bring food every few weeks. Her condition was not helped by the fact that she was stuck on the island with somebody who, in her hallucinatory state, she thought was the devil. Imagine it, a two-week long bad trip. Euurgh.

When she returned to the UK, she was a very changed person; I was living with her at University at the time, and she was not the bubbly exciteable person she had been the year before, she became quite paranoid and withdrawn, and although she largely got over this I think it still affects her to this day; ditto her digestive problems. For a long time, every conversation I had with her somehow ended up at "The Island".

The guy, however, came through his year on the island fine as far as I'm aware (although he was always slightly strange to start with). I believe he's now a kid's TV presenter on Channel 5 or Sky or some other channel that I can't get here.

There was a bit of media coverage of it at the time: I think the two of them appeared on Richard & Judy or its equivalent and on several radio shows (this was in about 1989 or 1990).

My 3 items

1 - my son`s mp3 player and long life batters inside
2 - a big book to read
3 - camera to remember the peace when I get home

My son says don`t forget the crayons and colouring book mum.

No one else though I want to get away from people.

WOW!

Thinking of Castaway, did anyone see the earlier film called Castaway (it maybe based on the book) I watched it years ago and taped it. I loved it but it showed the real struggles. I'm not sure of the actors but there was two of them, a man and a woman. He set up the experdition, she answered an ad in the paper or something. I think they had to get married to actually go. His plants died, she hated him and got sick. They had sex a couple of times I think, even though they didnt like each other.

I would like a copy of the film, but cant seem to find it anywhere. Anyone got any ideas if its still in circulation?

WM

You mean the film with Oliver Reed & Amanda Donahoe? Doesn't seem to be a DVD on Amazon, though there is a video for sale here (http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00004CIGI/sumptionorg-21).

ISTR hearing that the filming was almost as bizarre as the story itself.

It was the book which that film is based upon which my friend's friend was trying to re-enact. I forgot that there was a Tom Hanks film of the same name.

Thanks, I just checked too. Seems it's not available of DVD on any region, but you can get it on Video. If anyone wants an overview on the 1986 Castaway click here :

http://www.scoopy.com/castaway2.htm

I just looked on amazon...they have the video and then there was the same film on DVD. Get this the release date is 2020! Oh my god! Is someone having a giraffe? lol...I only have to wait 15 YEARS! lol.

WM

Oh I forgot to add, I can still purchase the item and wait 15 Years for my £11.99 purchase.

Sorry but this really tickled me. :lol:

WM

Originally posted by WintersMist
I just looked on amazon...they have the video and then there was the same film on DVD. Get this the release date is 2020! Oh my god! Is someone having a giraffe? lol...I only have to wait 15 YEARS! lol.

Yeah, I noticed that as well. I presume it's because that's a rental item or something (though I don't really fancy buying it after it's been rented out for 15 years!), but I had to laugh.

I'm not sure how long I would survive on the archetypical desert island - little sandbar, one palm tree etc.

But given somewhere more like Coral Island, with breadfruit trees and a big lagoon inside a coral reef, all I would need is -

the clothes on my back
a hat
Swiss Army Knife (magnifying glass included)
fishing line and hooks
a few, selected, seeds.
machete
metal pot
rope

Originally posted by WintersMist
I can understand the Guitar, the boddingtons (somehow:loopy: ) but a pint glass??? lol.

lol I'm not going to be drinking boddingtons from the can :P

Does no-one remember a few years ago when there was a series of programs in which celebs were put in out of the way places? Watching Billy Connelley skipping naked in the Antartic was bad but my childhood dreams of desert island survival were dashed utterly. Joanna Lumley on a desert island and the nastier aspects of it, the sheer struggle for food and those sand flies!!!
If I can only take three things they'd be
1. The most comprehensive army survival kit existing
2. The most comprehensive naval survival kit going
3. You guessed it, the most comprehensive airforce survival kit going

I think I would enjoy the challenge but I don't actually like spending too much time alone. I prefer to be with my partner or with friends.
Having said that, I feel I could be disciplined and interested enough to try building things out of the natural resources available, perhaps using my days this way and by searching for food.
I'm not big on killing things so I reckon I'd soon become a vegi, perhaps excepting fish.
If I could take things, I reckon a knife, a survival guide (S.A.S. style perhaps) and the complete works of Shakespeare (as previously suggested). Otherwise I might never have the time to read it, plus it would make good fire paper after I read it a few times.
I would have a go if the chance came up but I would much rather go with my partner and a few luxuries like purification tablets, essential first aid, couple of blankets, a couple of penknives,a couple of pots, inexhaustable matches, spare clothes, a tent and insect repellant and if I had books I could possibly stay forever. Plus my partner used to be a chef and doesn't mind the gory stuff, we'd be fine. :) Bring it on.

lol...I do remember the series of Castaway on BBC1 with those nutters who went up to the scottish isles and made houses and tried to form a community. I loved the Joanna Lumley Castaway too.

WM

Zebra - I like your ideas i'm coming with you and your husband. I'll stay on the other side of the island and borrow a few things now and again, perhaps supper once in a while? lol :)

WM

Knowing my luck, the minute the boat that dumps me there has left, I'd get a painful mouth abcess, heartburn, sciatica and the runs. And there'd be nobody to moan to!!:gag:

lol...thats what would probably happen to me too. I'd fall out of the boat onto the sharp coral underneath, cut my feet up..drag the boat up but loose my grip and the boat would sail back to sea. I get to shore and walk up to the bushes, get bitten by a snake, stung by a killer bee and die. Within 10 minutes I would have perished! lol.....

You're on Winter's Mist.
First night we could have crab or lobster, mmmmm and you can bring the dessert, bananas are fine, they roast quite nicely.
I've got a grea tent with room for about 6 with a mozzie net so early evening is ok.
How about when the sun hits the top of the smaller mountain?
Got it sussed!

Lobster it is! It just so happens I have plenty of bananas, and i'll bring a few coconuts so we can have hot coconut cream in our coffee after. Dont worry I have found coffee beans, been busy grinding all day.....;)

WM

That's great, I found some wild herbs on my daily expedition so we can flavour it all up and serve in plantain leaves.
Could we borrow your bucket for the coffee please, ours has tomorrows breakfast swimming in the bottom of it at the moment.
Incidentally, I don't know if you saw any of those chocolate drops on the ground today - don't eat them, it's baby monkey poo!

i wouldn't survive by myself, i might have a chance if someone was with me especially if they could take care of the 8 legged beasties

The group of people who ttried to spend a year on the island of Taransay [sp] up in Scotland was a huge con. The island is not far from the Isle of Lewis and I've got a couple of friends who live up there. The local fishermen were forever ferrying 'luxury' items out to the poor little castaways and the fishermen got paid by the so called castaways!!.

it still made good viewing

As long as the island had fresh water and something (almost anything) to eat and some kind of shelter (a 5* hotel for example) I would be quite happy, I love my own company.

Well bugger me with a fish fork! I'd go to if the hotel was there too! :D

Originally posted by WintersMist
Well bugger me with a fish fork! I'd go to if the hotel was there too! :D

Unfortunately by the time you go there I would have declared myself supreme ruler of the island.
My fanatical followers would welcome you and treat you as a fellow (though lesser) god until the day when you sat on my royal sun-lounger/throne next to the "swimmingpool of contemplation", they would be outraged and have to throw you into the nearest convenient volcano.

OH REALLY! Well it just so happens that I am Empress of a neighboring island. I have brought my army with me and we plan to take over your swimming pool of contemplation! I do not fear you volcano as I have sent men to make it dormant! They simply put the cork back in.

My name is Empress Coconut! Remember this when yoiu kiss my feet for mercy!


:hihi: :hihi: :hihi: :hihi: :hihi: :hihi:

War it is then !

My men (and women) are sharpening some sticks as we speak.

Your bones will make an interesting focal point for my living room, not to mention a fabulous conversation piece.

Prepare to be smited in the most horrid fashion.

Originally posted by Phanerothyme
I'm not sure how long I would survive on the archetypical desert island - little sandbar, one palm tree etc.

But given somewhere more like Coral Island, with breadfruit trees and a big lagoon inside a coral reef, all I would need is -

the clothes on my back
a hat
Swiss Army Knife (magnifying glass included)
fishing line and hooks
a few, selected, seeds.
machete
metal pot
rope

Wot! No Rizlas!? :P

Nomme

Ahhhhh the stick sharpening plan of action! How foolish of you to disclose this information. I'm friends with the God of Fire and have already instructed him to cast bush fires upon your precious twigs! (wicked laugh)

How do you plan getting my bones? As I can shapeshift within a second. Beware of the consiquences my dear, dear, friend!

Hmmmm your head would look particulary nice in my royal chamber, perhaps above the bed......

We shall see!

Let the battle commence!!!




lol, lol, lol

WM

Luckly my skills with Photoshop are second to none and a very believable picture of your goodself in bed with Osama Bin Laden, together with a map pinpointing your house, as currently on it's way to George Bush.

You can guess the rest.

I look foreward to a quick tour of your house by missile-cam.

Toodle-pip.

Funny I have the same picture of you, on its way top George Bush too!

We shall have to wait and see!

WM

I can comprehensively say I would die within days of being stranded on a desert island. I can begin to starve if I've not been shoping in a while.

If I could take three things they would be:

1. Ray Mears
2. Something Ray Mears thought we might need
3. Something else Ray Mears thought we might need

Originally posted by nomme
Wot! No Rizlas!? :P

Nomme

Oh bugger.

Here I am on my desert island with no Rizlas for 3000 miles. Oh wait here's a pack

- no, they're soaked in seawater


I'm off to look for a suitable chunk of wood to carve into a pipe....

Originally posted by jackthedog
1. Ray Mears
2. Something Ray Mears thought we might need
3. Something else Ray Mears thought we might need

I wouldn't trust Ray, he would kill you in your sleep to use your intestine as a washing line and your skull as a bowl of some type.

Well if it was a tropical desert island id be surviving no probs, if it was one of them in the arctic circle or some place where it rains all year id probably die of bad weather.
On a tropical island it would be great! fishing, hunting, gathering then chilling on the beach all day! even better if thers "fridays" around :D

I am very manipulative! So, I know that I would last on a deserted island! I would do whatever is necessary for me to survive, and if that means resorting to the possible option, cannibalism, I would do it! Mums always told me to try everything once!! The only way I would resort to cannibalism, if there were no other source of food on the island! If you ever watched Survivor on the telly, just go by their motto, OUTWIT, OUTPLAY, OUTLAST! Those are 3 words that will help you to survive!! Oh, and one more thing, I am a woman, but don't let that fool you, girls are just as likely as guys to survive under harsh conditions!!:D