Your whale-watching experience
took a dark turn.
The last thing you remember
is that your boat capsized
and you woke up alone
on this god-forsaken island.
You can’t see any food sources around you
and the guided tours only leave
on the weekends.
It’ll be at least seven days until
someone finds you here.
On the bright side,
you have options for collecting water,
but is that enough to keep you alive?
Water is crucial for keeping you alive,
but food isn't far behind.
After three days of only consuming H2O,
your body will start to use up
its fat stores.
The metabolic reaction
to break down the fats
will increase the acidity in your blood
and your kidneys will be working
overtime trying to filter it all out.
This can have devastating impacts
on your health,
leading to chronic kidney disease
and diabetes.
But when your options are water or death,
you'll want to be prepared.
Without having any food for days,
you are deficient in nutrients,
vitamins and minerals.
And if you think that you’re hydrated,
think again.
You get about 20% of your daily water
intake through food.
So you have to drink a lot more
than you normally do to compensate,
at least 2 to 3 L (0.5 gal to 0.8 gal).
You're on a desert island,
so it's time to get creative.
Try to collect rainwater
with any container you can find.
Of course, a bowl would be ideal,
but you might need to resort to taking off
your favorite pair of jeans
and stretching them out
to catch whatever rain you can.
Lucky you, you found fish near the island.
You might think
that you scored yourself a meal,
but not so fast.
Fish is high in protein
and requires a lot of water
in your body to break it down.
This time it might be
best to squeeze the raw fish into
clothing or fabric to extract water instead.
If you’re surrounded by nothing
but seawater,
not all hope is lost.
You can turn it into fresh water.
You need to find a sail,
a windbreaker and a few rocks.
Lay the sail where the dry
and wet sand meet.
Trace its triangle shape
and dig a trench
about 60 cm (24 in) deep inside it.
Place the sand you excavated
inside the traced triangle.
Keep digging until you have about
5 cm (2 in) of water inside the trench.
Make a divot in the mound of sand
and lay the windbreaker down to form
a makeshift bowl.
On top of that,
put the sail and heavy rocks on the edges
to hold it in place.
At the center of the bowl,
put another rock directly above it.
When the sun beats down,
instead of evaporating
the trapped water will condense
and drip onto the windbreaker.
Voila.
Desalinated water that is safe to drink.
Finding freshwater creeks or streams
can save you some hard work,
but you still need to purify the water
since it can contain
bacteria and viruses.
Running the water through your sock can
can help to remove any sediment.
If you have a plastic bottle,
collect the water and place it onto
a reflective surface,
such as aluminum.
Make sure it's in direct sunlight.
Let the bottle sit for six hours
if you’re in a humid, hot environment.
In cooler weather,
it could take up to 48 hours to purify.
Finally, you've been rescued.
After a week of just drinking water
you'll want to hit the buffet,
but hold on.
You didn’t survive all this
just to be killed by ingesting massive
amounts of food.
Since your body needs time
to readjust going back to solids,
you should eat slowly.
If you stuff your face,
you can develop
refeeding syndrome.
Eating rapidly after being malnourished
can potentially overwhelm your body
and kill you.
This was intense,
but would you be able to pull through
without food and water?
How long could you stay alive?
Find out here.