Okay, I know it's cliche, but out of curiosity, I was wondering if, hypothetically, you wanted to go and live on a beautiful, deserted tropical island by yourself for the rest of yur life, is it possible to find a small island that no one else has claimed? I know it's such a cliche fantasy these days, what with Castaway, The Beach and Survivor selling survivalism to the masses, but what if? What if you knew you could do it, that something inside you desparately needed to be totally and completely self-sufficient, to live the life humans have lived up until the last couple of centuries? Could it be done? Could you disappear and live out this dream, the ultimate test of ones' own strengths? Any thoughts on this?
Posts: 3 | Location: Santa Rosa, CA, USA | Registered: 08 May 2001
You gotta wonder, don't you? Where is that 'Swiss Family Robinson' 'Gilligan's Island' 'Survivor' middleground? Is life on an island all it's cracked up to be?
There's definitely lots of interest in the topic. I just ran a Yahoo search, which turned up over 1,000 close matches, and then I've heard of plenty of other organizations that sell islands - not just beachfront property mind you, but entire islands.
Wild, isn't it?
Posts: 924 | Location: Eugene, OR, USA | Registered: 18 December 2000
If you find a desserted island and go live on it then let me know! Watching all of these shows has made my yearning for quiet and solitary beach living even greater. Maybe we could split an island? you get the left side, I get the right?
-born from the experience.
Posts: 810 | Location: North Vancouver, BC, Canada | Registered: 28 May 2001
Couldn't do it. As gooey/piney/yearny as I get whenever I see those programmes, and the whole concept of it is both exciting and mad, I reckon I'd end up the latter... If I was born on one, and knew of no other world and its modern conveniences, etc. sure, but bein' a 21st century gal I simply wouldn't survive! Music. Media. Company. Conversation. Besides, the very nature of islands, being y'know, isolated, keeps 'em all the more idyllic, so that when you do get there y'go, 'wow, this is so beautiful, it's so remote, I'm really getting away from it all'! If I lived on a desert island [dessert island, now that'd be interesting though would definitely require company!], I'd probably go, 'mmmm, polluted urbanity, whereartthou?'... I'd love it for 'the challenge' aspect, for a 'while', but rest o' me self-sufficient life, nup.
Posts: 73 | Location: Brisbane, Australia | Registered: 01 March 2001
I think it would be possible to survive on a deseted island. I think the basics of survival, water, food, shelter would take on a whole new meaning. I think personal hygiene and appearance would evolve into a practical rather than pleasing endeavour.
Many countries have deserted islands. The Philippines has 7,107 islands, Indonesia over 10,000. Its just a matter of getting to one. My buddy and his girlfriend jumped onto a freighter in Indonesia and just took a chance as to where it would end up. The island it stopped at was sparsely populated and looked like something out of a movie, the only other westerners, the standard German couple, that one meets in every 'uninhabited' place .
Another option if you're not into total loneliness would be to stay with a jungle tribe. I've visited the Mentawai tribe on the island of Siberut in Indonesia for 10 days. They live deep in the jungle and make long houses on the banks of rivers. The main thing for a westerner would be boredom. These folks have figured out how to fish, hunt monkey / pig and day to day its a very casual lifestyle.
it's certainly possible and done still today. there are both a lot of uninhabited places for sale and many far-away-islands around which even greenpeace has forgotten about. but the whole question is a cliche. there are so many small dots spread all over the pacific where people just can't understand this western robinson-dream. once you've had the luck to stay a while on one of those remote islands i'm sure this question will fade to just another hollywood-nonsense. the people there give you a hard time thinkin about a reason why to run away from them. check your maps on places like chuuk, yap, pohnpei, kosrae, phoenix, line, northern cooks, eastern french polynesia and all the freaky places in between no one around us has ever heard of. have fun. mark
Of course it could be done, but would I want to? No way! I couldn't stand the loss of books. I've been a bookworm since I started reading in kindergarten and can't imagine life without books (new ones, old ones, sweet ones, smelly ones). I think my obsession with reading is a product of being an only child...obviously evidence that I couldn't survive without my papery friends.
Posts: 11 | Location: Wisconsin, USA | Registered: 31 July 2001
I like my books, my computers, my pubs... I prefer to jaunt away from it all, not barricade myself completely!
Could I live without books and libraries and what-not? I suppose I could learn to. Would I want to? Helllllllllllllll no! It'd probably be lovely to check out a desert island for a while, but knowing me, I'd just start wondering what made everyone decide to desert it in the first place.
Posts: 924 | Location: Eugene, OR, USA | Registered: 18 December 2000
though would definitely require company!], I'd probably go, 'mmmm, polluted urbanity, whereartthou?'... I'd love it for 'the challenge' aspect, for a 'while', but rest o' me self-sufficient life, nup.
