<i>"They ate fish after fish. Alvarenga stuffed raw meat and dried meat into his mouth, hardly noticing or caring about the difference."</i><p>Fine detail born out of other survivors of long sea voyages, when eating fish don't skip they <i>"eyes"</i>.<p><i>"Another unlikely luxury are fish eyes, which are a useful source of liquid and of another vital nutrient. Maurice and Maralyn Bailey, a British couple who survived 117 days on a rubber life raft in the Pacific in 1973, did not initially understand why they sought them, Tipton said: "They found they started to crave fish eyes, which is not something one would normally do. It wasn't until after the voyage they realised these are quite rich in vitamin C, which is something you get depleted in when you're adrift, and can of course cause scurvy."</i> [0]<p>I remember reading about the how the Baileys who survived 117 days in the pacific in '73. There is a lot more details in Tiptons, <i>"Essentials of Sea Survival"</i>. [1] Another detail, was solid boat. Had Alvarenga been in a life raft, he would have been a lot more battered and bruised. The Baileys suffered from sharks regularly bumping the raft throughout their ordeal.<p>[0] <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/feb/04/castaway-jose-salvador-alvarenga-survival-expert" rel="nofollow">http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/feb/04/castaway-jose-s...</a><p>[1] <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Essentials-Sea-Survival-Frank-Golden/dp/0736002154" rel="nofollow">http://www.amazon.co.uk/Essentials-Sea-Survival-Frank-Golden...</a>
> <i>Although he didn’t know it, Alvarenga had washed ashore on Tile Islet, a small island that is part of the Ebon Atoll, on the southern tip of the 1,156 islands that make up the Republic of the Marshall Islands, one of the most remote spots on Earth.</i><p>As it took me a little while to find Tile Islet, here's the link on google maps for others' convenience:<p><a href="https://www.google.com.au/maps/@4.6210188,168.7678056,15z" rel="nofollow">https://www.google.com.au/maps/@4.6210188,168.7678056,15z</a>
"Occasionally, the turtles are very tame. I was lying down and thinking about things and then a turtle would hit my boat and attach itself to it and start chewing at my boat," Alvarenga recounted, according to Reuters. "And since turtles are tame I would pick them up and put them in my boat, this is how I quenched my thirst, from their blood, and it did me good as it was a sort of water and I normally ate the turtle's meat."<p>Link:<p><a href="http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/marshall-islands-castaway/pacific-castaway-passed-lie-detector-test-lawyer-says-n72536" rel="nofollow">http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/marshall-islands-castaway/p...</a>
I find it incredible that their drifting sent them in the same general direction that Thor Heyerdahl [0] suspected (and verified in the Kon-Tiki expedition) that one would go without any extra power of their own.<p>The fact that a man who didn't even plan for the trip (or have any provisions) made it out alive even though he was virtually alone for the entire trip (his partner died after 2 months) leads me to believe that Thor was mostly right, and that South Americans did indeed travel to Polynesia and beyond probably more often than we originally thought.<p>What an amazing story.<p>[0] <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thor_Heyerdahl" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thor_Heyerdahl</a>
If you enjoy tales of survival against the odds, I highly recommend Deep Survival by Laurence Gonzales [1]<p>It recounts multiple amazing tales of survival against the odds, then goes into the psychology of what's needed to survive such a situation. Finally, it lists the top 10 traits exhibited by survivors of these kinds of situations.<p>[1] <a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/0393326152/?tag=roadchoseme-20" rel="nofollow">http://www.amazon.com/dp/0393326152/?tag=roadchoseme-20</a>
I am curious as to how he caught these turtles and birds in the open sea while in his no doubt famished shape.<p>"shoved his arms into the water up to his shoulders . . . When a fish swam between his hands, he smashed them shut"<p>Seriously, this needs some mythbusters-style testing.
I'm curious about the long-term health affects from such an experience. The parasites sound particularly nasty. [edit] It would be nice to know if he is expected to recover his physical health or if he is left with chronic conditions.<p><i>raw birds had infected his liver with parasites. Alvarenga believed the parasites might rise up to his head and attack his brain</i>
"23kg (50lb) of sardines for bait, 700 hooks, miles of line"<p>"Without bait or fish hooks, Alvarenga invented a daring strategy to catch fish. "<p>I am confused these statements are contradictory, did I miss something.
One of the absolutely necessary things you should have on board is solar panels, to keep your radio alive.<p>Also, the movie <i>All Is Lost</i> comes to mind.
This kind of thing makes me wonder if there are dozens or hundreds of other cases where people were lost at sea and survived for many months and thousands of miles, but never made it to land so we'll never know.
If you liked that, you may also like "The Story of a Shipwrecked Sailor" by Nobel laureate Gabriel Garcia Marquez.<p>Available from fine retailers of books. And Amazon.com.