At first I'm going to be searching visually by swimming out a hundred feet or so. I did not mention the skill be cause I didn't think of it, but I am a strong swimmer and more than good enough to swim out and search quite a bit underwater. If I can't find a reef within the first hundred feet I'll wait until I have my first raft built and use it as a platform to get further out and search from. I figure even if there isn't anything good enough out there it's good exercise.
Andrew On the Island
(69 posts) (2 voices)-
The island is about fifteen miles from east to west, five miles from north to south, not of course exactly any particular shape but having a perimeter of roughly thirty-two miles. How much of this do you think you can explore in a day? How thoroughly are you exploring it--swimming out every hundred yards, every mile, every several miles?
I've put you down as a high amateur swimmer.
--M. J. Young
Tue Apr 1 2008 7:02 am # -
Grendel
MemberI plan to swim out and then cut across for a quarter mile or so, then swim back to shore, then skip a quarter mile. I figure that half a mile a day to start with will be my limit, but may get longer as my endurance builds back up. Everything will go faster once I have a raft as well, as I can just pole along for a bit and dunk my head. I'm assuming that the water is fairly clear even this far out, as would be typical for a tropical island on earth. Let me know if my assumption is wrong.
Tue Apr 1 2008 11:05 pm # -
Assuming you mean a half mile of swimming (since a quarter mile of swimming plus a quarter mile of walking the shore equals half a mile, but there's not much point in that), you cover a mile of coastline with no indication of anything like a reef yet.
Yes, the water is clear, and not quite as salty as Earth oceans so it does not so much sting the eyes. However, glare on the surface can be pretty bad, so seeing the bottom from the top is not easy most of the time.
Building a raft is similar to building a shelter, but it's not exactly the same thing. It is evident from your survival skill that you have skill at lashing and knots, but this skill has not been listed on your sheet independently; nor is there a listing for building a boat. Assuming you've never built a boat, we can roll for you teaching yourself that skill, or we can do it based on lashing and see how it floats when you've finished it. What's your preference?
--M. J. Young
Wed Apr 2 2008 8:55 pm # -
Grendel
MemberI figure that the boat building would be a new skill altogether, hopefully with a bonus from lashing and knots since that's how I'm constructing it.
I also planned on dunking my head under the water as I was swimming to cut the glare down and allow me to see the ocean bottom if it rises near the surface. Really I'm looking for a shallow place as much as a reef, and as long as that shallow place is outside the ring of the lava flow I'm not too picky. I figure that a depth of fifteen feet is as much as I can hope to overcome with the materials on hand, and even that may be too much for me.
Fri Apr 4 2008 10:35 pm # -
It takes about a week for you to finish the raft, and it's not the best raft, but it floats, and does so with you and your gear on it.
The same day you launch your raft, the smoke vanishes from the top of the volcano.
You still have not found a reef, although you've only covered about eight miles of coastline, and the coastline is getting farther from your base camp every day.
--M. J. Young
Sat Apr 5 2008 2:13 am # -
Grendel
MemberI'm pretty much going to continue with what I'm doing as far as looking for a reef and day to day activities, with the addendum that I'm going to also be mapping the coastline as I go. I don't expect an exact map but I want to mark landmarks that could be useful such as large bamboo groves, fallen tree's and fresh water.
Mon Apr 7 2008 12:52 am # -
You are awakened early the next morning. You're not certain quite why; it's as if you've been shaken. Your things are a bit knocked about as well.
How are you making this map? Include such details as the materials you are using and the methodology and intended accuracy.
--M. J. Young
Tue Apr 8 2008 3:45 am # -
Grendel
MemberI want a rough outline of the island, not necessarily to scale but at least placing important landmarks like streams, large outcroppings or boulder's, large stands of bamboo or other trees, as well as downed trees. I'm using the one of the notebooks and the pens I brought with me to do the mapping.
I figure that the disturbance was an earthquake, something that I'm definate is a warning sign of volcanic activity. I ask Michael if he felt anything to confirm it, and look around for any downed tree's or disturbed boulders. I'm guessing it was a minor tremor since I didn't get woken up enough to really experience it.
Tue Apr 8 2008 10:12 pm # -
"Yes," Michael confirm, "we had a tremor this morning, not too bad, not hear what it was in San Francisco in--oh, and the smoke has stopped, so I'd say the pressure must be building. We don't have much time left, unless something shifts in a way that lets the pressure out gently."
You've managed to map and examine eight or nine miles of coastline, and have not yet reached the other end. Have you any changes to make to your routine?
--M. J. Young
Thu Apr 10 2008 1:16 am # -
Grendel
MemberAt this point I'm going to step up my coast line exploration and double the amount of coastline I cover in a day. I agree with Michael that something is going to happen soon with the volcano, and if there is a possibility that I can find a way to survive an eruption I would like to try. So I'm also going to begin expanding the raft by creating another couple of platforms. I don't think I ever asked, but are there any other islands on the horizon?
Thu Apr 10 2008 9:04 am # -
There are no other islands in view, and the sea birds seem to congregate around this one, going out within sight to fish and returning.
Your efforts to build a second raft keep falling apart--vines snap, knots slip, the wood doesn't mesh together. After a week of attempts you are no closer to having two than you were when you began.
You round the end of the island and are making your way back the next week when you find a bit of a reef--not much, nothing like the thousands-of-years coral reefs people explore, but the beginnings of coral and barnacles clinging to a rock outcropping on the slope, about fifty yards off shore, maybe fifty feet long and five or six wide where it roots on the floor.
--M. J. Young
Thu Apr 10 2008 7:25 pm # -
Grendel
MemberI want to create something semi-permanent to leave behind so I'm going to start working on a large sign. I want to cut a hole in the coral that I can put a post into. I will bind ten long bamboo poles together with vines and use them as the post. I will have to dig the coral out with my utility knife while holding my breath, so I know it will take a while. I plan on making the hole as deep as possible but at least a foot deep and packing the edges with the cast off coral to steady the pole. At the top of the pole I'm going to create a sign made out of bamboo slats that I split with my knife. Each slat will be thin but I should be able to bind them together with strips of vine. Instead of paint I'm going to have to carve into the bamboo. Once I'm done with the sign and post I'll have to decide what to write on it.
Sat Apr 12 2008 2:28 pm # -
It may be that my experience is warped, because I never dealt with fresh bamboo; however, every bamboo rod I ever had (and I've had quite a few) was mostly hollow--sections between eight and fourteen inches long with solid spots at the joints. If that experience is correct, then splitting bamboo will give you hollow half-pipes.
As I say, you might know something about bamboo that I do not (such as that the core deteriorates rapidly when it dries?), but I'm inclined to think you can't easily make flat strips of bamboo that way. If I'm mistaken, show me something that says so.
Although you have no problem getting down to the reef, it crumbles away when you chip into it. The knife does not seem the tool for the job, or else the coral is not dense enough to hold.
--M. J. Young
Mon Apr 14 2008 12:50 am # -
Grendel
MemberI did leave out an important step when I talked about making my sign. What I have to do is split the bamboo in half then dig out the joints. Then while the bamboo is still fresh you cut partially into the inside and then flatten it with a large rock. Let it sit for a day or so and while it dries it will harden into it's new shape. It doesn't make perfectly flat slats but they are a lot better than a half pipe of bamboo.
Mon Apr 14 2008 11:49 pm # -
Cool. Have you done this before? It sounds like you either have skill in woodworking that doesn't appear on your sheet, or you've got knowledge in the area from which to learn the skills. Which do you suppose is the better description?
--M. J. Young
Tue Apr 15 2008 5:16 am # -
Grendel
MemberI really don't have much of a skill in woodworking but I have played around with bamboo before since there was a stand of bamboo out back of the house I lived in when I was a kid. Me and my brothers tried a bunch of stuff with it, including trying to create a tree fort out of it. The stuff we had was very thin and green and didn't work too well, but I know that there are older bamboo patches that get thicker and taller when left alone. I'm assuming that the patches I've found on the island have been there a couple of years at least and haven't been cut back year after year like the one I had to work with as a kid.
Tue Apr 15 2008 10:37 pm # -
I'll give you a 1@4 low amateur skill in build with bamboo, placing it at T2@1.
Unfortunately, you have a terrible time getting the bamboo to cooperate. You feel like it was easier to work with the stuff when you were little, which makes very little sense, but that's how it feels.
Where are you working on this, relative to such landmarks as Michael's camp?
--M. J. Young
Thu Apr 17 2008 3:33 am # -
Grendel
MemberFor the sign and the pole I'm working in the camp, since I can always load them on my raft and take them over that way.
Since the reef didn't work out too well I'm going to start trying to build another raft a couple of hours a day while also looking for a cave of some kind. Actually, I'm looking for something very specific. I want to find a cave that is near an old lava flow without being in it's path. I'm hoping for a place that will hopefully be safe from an eruption, such as a cave in the side of a cliff on the coastline.Sat Apr 19 2008 8:07 pm # -
That night you are awakened in the darkness. The world is shaking violently. The moonlight has been occluded, but a red glow in the sky shows you your immediate surroundings.
You hear what sounds like it might be a battle cry coming from the direction of Michael's camp.
--M. J. Young
Sun Apr 20 2008 7:15 pm # -
Grendel
MemberI grab my zatoichi and run up to his camp. When I'm about fifty meters out I remember that he's borderline paranoid (probably well over the border actually) and heavily armed so I shout "Michael, it's Drew, don't shoot!" Hopefully he hears me and decides to hold his fire rather than going for the shoot first, ask questions of the survivors method.
Mon Apr 21 2008 11:33 am # -
You move into view of Michael's camp. You can see lava flowing down the mountain, and Michael charging toward it, swinging a large object that looks something like an oversized crowbar with a spiked end.
Hot gas fills your lungs. There is a searing pain, and you feel your consciousness slipping from you.
--M. J. Young
Tue Apr 22 2008 6:50 am # -
Grendel
MemberI think I know what Michael is doing but I don't feel right just leaving him to it. Also, I pretty much know that there's no chance of me surviving since I never managed to create a boat big enough to get off the island. I try to follow him as best I can and hopefully get a quick, if not painless death.
Wed Apr 23 2008 12:39 am # -
You take a few steps up the slope, lose consciousness with your lungs searing, and (I should get a flexibility rating from you, but it's not urgent) we need to take this to a new thread, Andrew the Wanderer.
--M. J. Young
Wed Apr 23 2008 3:23 am #
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