water water everywhere but not a drop to drink

The wife and I were playing what if again. The question was simple. What if you crash landed near a small island and the plane sank then you swam to a near by island.

The island had no fresh water but plenty of vegetation for both food and shade. Having no fresh water also meant there was no game for food the only meat would come from what ever fish and or insects you could catch.

luckily I knew the answer to this one. Well part of the answer anyway. The no game animals there is nothing to be done about. protein will have to come from bugs witch being a tropical island there are plenty of. the no fresh water is a little harder to take care of but for those who need to know this is What I found that explanes it better then I could.

How to de-salinate seawater

SO lets hear everybody else's ideas. yes swimming back out to the plane and striping what you need is permissible.
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fixed title spelling

[edit on 12/5/07 by masqua]

Hopefully, you managed to retrieve your garbage bags from the plane. Stick them over a branch of a leafy tree and leave them in the sun for several hours. When you come back you will have a small amount of water, collected from the evaporation of the leaves. It will be a bit brackish, but could be the difference..

You can suck the pulp from nonpoisonous plants for moisture. Rainfall collection (with trashbags) will probably also be a lifesaver.

As there is vegitation on the island, there must be some form of water in the soil. The trick is getting it out.

Dig a hole about 2' square, about a foot deep. This is easy enough to scrape with your foot with little energy loss. Place a collection device of some sort in the middle of the hole. Stretch a bin bag accross the hole. Anchor this all around the edges. Place a small stone in the centre of the bag just above the collection device, making a dip.

This little set up encourages evaporation from the ground. As it evaporates, the water trickles into the cup. Lots of these set up around the island, creating one form of usable, clean drinking water.

Edited to add this looks just like the set up in your link, but mine is designed for situations with no access to salt water. Guess I'll have to check links before posting

[edit on 12-5-2007 by PaddyInf]

You should beable to move away from the beach and find drinking water in the ground.

You can always use a crude form of steam distillation if your dealing with salt water. Of course that means having a fire. It also means waisting alot of energy.

Like others said, you'd have to get your water intake from plants. There is a few ways that they described.

If you could get a fire going you cook catch those little critters that hide under the rocks close by the shore, crayfish and such. Boil them up.

Drinking you own urine would be recommended. Slows down moisture loss, as you'll only really lose moisture by perspiration, plus you get to retain those minerals and such that in your pee. You'll be needing to keep as much of them as possible if your going to be on this island for a while.

Every ware? I think you meant everywhere?
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[edit on 12/5/07 by masqua]

Originally posted by Johnmike
Every ware? I think you meant everywhere?

Grow up. We all make mistakes. It's the point of the post that counts, not the grammer.

Originally posted by stumason
Drinking you own urine would be recommended.

But urine has salt in it. And if you drink it it would pull water out of your body. And the less water you have in your body the less urine you'd have to drink, and eventually your going to be dropping dead without fresh water, correct?

Originally posted by PaddyInf
It's the point of the post that counts, not the grammer.

True, but good grammar makes the post look better.

[edit on 12/5/2007 by enjoies05]

Thanks for catching that Johnmike. I was in a hurry so I didn't double check. For the sake of pride thow I will blame it on spell check Ya thats it spell check did it. its out to get me. Wares that tinfoil hat LOL

I did a mod edit on the title. It's something else we're good at.



Now... back to the topic.

The island if it's more than a postage stamp will also likely have birds. Even the most barren rocks in the world have birds on them. I know of no birds that are poisonous but some birds aren't very tasty at all. That seagull will look mighty tasty after a few weeks of fish.

While camping on the Padre Island National Seashore a few year ago, a friend showed me how to find water that was fairly fresh. Padre Island is a very long barrier island that's been created since the last ice age. It's made up mostly sand dunes. We dug about 100 yards from the seashore on the leeward side of the dunes and struck water that was brackish but for the most part fresh. My friend said that the desert condensation hole trick really works quite well on the island.

The thread title is actually a misquote of The Rime of the Ancient Mariner

by Samuel Taylor Coleridge:

Day after day, day after day,
We stuck, nor breath nor motion ;
As idle as a painted ship
Upon a painted ocean.


(And the Albatross begins to be avenged.)

Water, water, every where,
And all the boards did shrink ;
Water, water, every where,
Nor any drop to drink.

Sorry, I have a mental illness that forces me to correct literary misquotes. The more trivial, the fiercer the compulsion. Put it down to denying ignorance.

All the best, and a good exercise is survival (the question, not the poem).


.

Originally posted by crgintx

The island if it's more than a postage stamp will also likely have birds. Even the most barren rocks in the world have birds on them. I know of no birds that are poisonous but some birds aren't very tasty at all. That seagull will look mighty tasty after a few weeks of fish.

Excellent point! (And a virtual "WATS" from me!)

I have an old military survival manual that suggests, when adrift in a boat at sea, using inedible fish as . . . gull bait.

You tie a square knot, and arrane it on the gunwail, with the fish below the knot, with the idea that the bird lands and pokes his head into the rope, and then you snap the line taut.

They also show using a fishing hook and line in the bait. It shows how to make a sliver of wood or piece of wire into an off-center hook, that will twist sideways into the gulls throat, when it reaches the end of the line.

I think there's a copy of the manual online free.

Thanks for the post!

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[edit on 12-5-2007 by dr_strangecraft]

Originally posted by enjoies05

Originally posted by stumason
Drinking you own urine would be recommended.

But urine has salt in it. And if you drink it it would pull water out of your body. And the less water you have in your body the less urine you'd have to drink, and eventually your going to be dropping dead without fresh water, correct?

You'll also be losing salt through perspiration. At least you'll retain salt in your body, which you do need to stay alive. I don't know if a fish and bugs diet could provide enough salt for you, I've not checked....

I'm wondering how much of the lost salt can be replaced by the sea water. I've been trying to find the answer but have failed so far so if anybody else knows the answer please share.

I don't believe salt water would be advisable for lost salt replacement but I'm just not positive. It would be great if it could because you could use the salt that you destill from the drinking water

I just learned this trick from Survivorman Les Stroud the other day:

Say you were unfortunate enough not to have scavenged anything resembling a pot, cup, metal shard of the plane, or anything else to boil water in. You can use a conch shell. Just wade out to shore, hunt for the biggest conch shell you can find, fill it up, put it over your fire, and boil your water.

This next part is my own theory:

Now, taking the knowledge you can bouil water in a conch shell, and some problem solving skills, imagine that you have no waterproof windbreaker or sail or trash bags. You don't even have a dang-ol' knife, but can make fire the real old fashioned way. Find as long and broad a waxy leaf as you can. Suspend the broad stem-end over a conch shell of boiling seawater, and the other end, the pointy tip, down into another conch shell. The boiling water vapor should condense on the underside of the leaf and drip down into the 2nd shell.