I know I have been absent from the blog for a couple weeks and needed to catch up on the weekly show thoughts and comments. So in the four weeks I have been absent we went from four participants down to a single winner. This years final four were out longer than last years winner, Allan Kay, but you need to keep in mind that last year the participants started several weeks later limiting their long-term food options to what they could bring in from the ocean. Shelters this season were much more substantial, there was a limited amount of storing meat for long-term consumption and trapping seemed to be at a higher level this year. Yet with the added time and more opportunities for food it seemed that some of the participants were always hungry whereas Alan always had a pot full of food every night, granted it was limpets, bull kelp and seaweed. I still can't figure out where the wolf on the beach footage came from as it wasn't shown in any episode and I've been looking forward to that the entire season. Overall this was a great season and I'm glad Nicole made it as long as she did, we got to see all of the projects Mike and Jose came up with and a hike up a mountain to raise awareness for Military suicide prevention.
“The world breaks everyone and
afterward, some are strong at the broken places” -Ernest Hemingway
“To live is to suffer, to survive is
to find some meaning in the suffering.” -Friedrich Nietzsche
“You're never more alive than when
you're almost dead.” -Tim O'Brien
“Endurance is not just the ability to
bear a hard thing, but to turn it into glory.” -William Barclay
Build Your ALONE Survival Kit? Start Here:
Nicole:
Day
35-
-Hasn't
heard any salmon in her stream since she let the last one go.... now
see why I was a advocate for taking all the fish you can and smoking
them while the getting was good?
Day
37-
-Had a good sized salmon in her gill net but it was eaten by a seal
before she could get to it
Day
38-
-More seal trouble and this time they ripped a massive hole in the
net.
Day
50-
-She moved the gill net and the seals are still eating her fish.
-Going to go check out the bear trail and see if she can steal some
of their left over food. Getting a strong feeling that there is a
mountain lion near her but more that likely its due to her lack of
food/energy and it's effecting her mental state.
Day
52-
-Missing her sons 8th birthday, this is the first time she
has ever missed any of her kids birthdays and you can tell it is
weighing on her heavily.
-Fishing has dried up 100% and her main plant based edibles are all
dead because of the weather turning cold on her.
Day
54-
-Going out on a hike to look for some mushrooms in the forest as all
of her other sources of food have ran out. Ended up finding a single
huckleberry.
Day
55-
-Down to eating just limpets as her only food source.
-Really starting to miss her family since her sons 8th
birthday
Day
57-
-Nicole has decided to tap out after nearly two months on Vancouver
Island. Says she can feel it in her gut that her kids need her and
she is torn because she loves living on the island. In the end she
found out what her limit was and that was missing her kids.
-”I might have MS, but it doesn't have me!”
Jose:
Day 35-
-Boat with outrigger is working extremely well. Headed out to try to
find a salmon run and ends up with a leak in his kayak and forces his
hand back to shore.
-He is going to try to heat the plastic to try to reseal the hole.
Day
38-
-Has
his boat fixed and wants to get his gill net out so he can catch as
many salmon as humanly possible before the salmon run is over.
Day
39-
-He says he was using an approach that he tells his students not to
utilize. He says he was too focused on the boat and trying to catch
the salmon run that he skipped exploiting the resources close to him.
With this acceptance he built a setup to start jigging for fish and
caught a good sized fish pretty quickly.
Day
51-
-Says the night was quite cold due to the humidity and its getting
too cold to kayak because all the time he spends in the boat he has
wet feet.
-Found a large blue plastic container while he was out placing a line
based line in the bay. Ended up being a big barrel with a net that
has a ton of mussels on it (red tide could have potentially poisoned
the muscles and eventually cause death). He decided to go ahead and
eat the muscles and take the risk as he needed the food.
Day
52-
-He had no ill effects after a few hours so most likely the mussels
were not effected by the red tide.
Day
56-
-This
was the final day of season 1 where Allan ended up winning the show.
Day
57-
-Got a couple small fish in his gill net, but he hasn't had a large
meal in awhile. Says its the worst shape he has ever been in his
entire life and called himself a walking bone rat.
Day
58-
-Not a kayak kind of day as the rain would fill his kayak quite
quickly.
-Has a pulley system for his gill net that Is quite interesting and
allows him to check his net when the tide is up.
Day
59-
-When trying to reset his gill net he somehow flips his kayak and
ends up in the cold water a good ways from shore. Current water
temperature is 47 Degrees F.
-He ends up pushing the tap out button while still standing in the
middle of the bay with his kayak and is still there when the rescue
party arrives to help. The first thing that comes out of his mouth is
a n apology to his wife saying he tried.
-100% of his clothing is soaking wet so he didn't feel he could make
it through the night. I would have tried to get a roaring fire and
dried out my clothes but you never know until you're in that
situation yourself.
Larry:
Day
38-
-Hasn't
been filming much lately as he has been pretty board and just tending
the fire.
-Going
to attempt to make a spoon, his spoon turned out pretty well and he
added a little hook on the opposite end to taking his pot lid of the
pot when its hot.
Day
40-
-Making limpet stew
-Daily agenda is, cut firewood, check traps, process any food, make a
fire, boil water, cook any food, eat dinner, make some tea, wait for
darkness, craw in sleeping bag and go to bed.
Day
42-
-It's a struggle to get up in the morning as time is barley dragging
by
Day
46-
Just sitting here watching the world go by! Says he goes to bed
dreaming about and wakesd up thinking too bad I'm still here.
Day
51-
-Still bored and still doing his daily routine
-Starting to worry about his wife and wondering what she is doing
back at home.
-Wrote her a very sweet I love you message on the beach to be
televised nationally, can't get more romantic than that brother.
Day
53-
-Getting some decent size hail in his camp, he seems to be wearing
his headlamp and keeping it on 24/7 these days.
Day
54-
-Not much going on thanks to the rain and cold weather but ends up
finding a dead mouse to eat for dinner.
-Doesn't want to eat slugs due to the potential of getting a brain
eating amebia, but I'm pretty sure that you cant get those from
eating a slug.
Day
57-
-Getting sick of the sound of the ocean and prefers the sound of rain
now.
-Fish are simply not biting for him now as the water is getting
colder. So he decided its time to just quit fishing and is not just
going to eat whatever he finds on the shore. Now he is saying his
situation is sheer hopelessness as there is no hope to have a better
food supply.
Day
58-
-Says
his will has been broken and he has had enough. Starting to have a
bit of a breakdown in his spirit, looks as though he will be taping
out very soon.
Day
59-
-Seems
to be in a little bit better mental state but I foresee a tap out
coming soon. Says he is going to burn all of his fire wood, eat a
little and just go home then he has a moment of clarity and decides
to get his head back into the game!
Day
60-
-Starting
to talk to the potential $500k Check that he can see he is just a
little ways away. “You go till you die if you don't have a tap out
button right?”
-Giving
his editorial of his journey on the island so it would seem that
David will be this seasons winner as it looks like they are preparing
the audience for his departure.
-Resolves
to me a more positive person after this experience.
Day
65-
-Larry
ends up tapping out on day 61 and breaks down a bit mentally as the
crew arrives to pull him out of camp. Says he tapped because he was
going to die due to a lack of calories. Says he did his best and left
it all out there.
David:
Day 35-
-Has a nice little seesaw setup with that log.
-He is getting pretty good at catching fish and crab theses days.
Three decent sized fish in one quick setting.
-Tough break on loosing the fish on the stringer, that's why I always
anchor mine to the shore to keep them fresh and in the water.
-Lol Canadian Eagles don't recognize that he is a patriot and are
stealing his dinner.
Day
36-
-Caught
a couple fish to use for crab bait and as he is casting it out to
fish he lets go and loses his line. He then instinctively follows it
into the water which is apparently cold (50 F which to me isnt that
cold I have done several swift water rescues in with shorts and a t
shirt).
Day
51-
-Has
mink running around his camp and they are not in the least afraid of
him.
-He
is looking for new fishing grounds within his cove area and is
looking for additional resources. Ended up finding a tidal pool with
several crabs which made for a great day of fishing and a huge pot
full of crab.
Day
53-
-Getting warm is the activity, It has turned a little cold out so he
is having a bit of a lazy day curled up in his sleeping bag in the
shelter.
Day
54-
-Needs to make a few pitch sticks. Found the mother load of spruce
resin and was able to come up with over a pound of spruce resin.
Using an old shell to melt the resin and then adds the ceder bark to
the pitch to get a very flammable fire starter.
Day
57-
-Found himself a large nail and made himself a a pink handled prison
shank.
-Caught himself a large fish and it looks like a good 5lbs or more of
fish and another 30 minutes later he catches one more and into the
pot they go!
Day
58-
-Starting to get really lonely and says he needs a hug as he explains
Pavlov's hierarchy of needs.
Day
59-
-Isolation is starting to get to him and he is missing basic human
interaction. Starting to wonder how long is long enough.
Day
60-
-Starting to have a ton of aches and pains on a daily basis.
-While fishing he has a fish that is trying to get away and he jumps
to save it and ends up hurting his knees on the rocks he jumped on.
Day
61-
-His knees are starting to hurt pretty bad, this seems to be a trend
this year as Justin also had a knee injury on his climb up the
mountain on day 22 of this season.
Day
66-
-Doesn't have any fat reserves left, but doesn't want to disappoint
his kids as he has no other way for them to go to college.
-Caught himself a decent sized fish for his last meal on the island.
-Camera crew comes out under the guise of a routine medical check to
tell him he has won the competition. Then his daughter starts
sneaking up on him from behind to let him know he won!
-Gets to give his daughter the grand tour of where he has been living
and what he has been up to. He and his daughter get to take her first
helicopter ride to finish their experience off together.
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