Then
Westerly currents broad warmer waters to the east face of the island creating beaches along the East and most of the North face and even some passable terrain on the west face. The Southeast faces was mostly cliffs rendering a walk around the island impossible. The northeast face had the advantage of a reef.
Duncan’s arrival had been during a major storm. It had slammed him well onto the beach. And while most inexperienced mariners might not have thought of it, Duncan had dropped anchor as soon as he realized he was well and truly stuck. The least he could do was prevent the storm from washing the yacht away. The second thing he did was anchor mooring lines in hopes of preventing further damage. He was mostly successful. At least the yacht didn’t crack in half or splinter apart under the beating. A wooden ship would have. But his yacht was 3D printed from space age materials and double hulled in a honeycombed fashion. Even the glass viewport on the bottom survived.
If he hadn’t been worried about another storm he might have left the yacht right where it was and tried to repair it. But the gash was huge. Prolonged contact with seawater was going to damage some of the yacht’s guts. So instead he built a makeshift winch and sled. A single man managed to pull a 112 foot yacht out of the water and some 50 yards inland. It took him a full week to accomplish - amidst the occasional Maydays and sending up a drone on a tether with an LED strobe light. Once the sled was anchored he set to work over a period of another week to patch the gash in the hull and use the bilge pump to evacuate the water. The next two weeks he turned the yacht into a home. It pretty much had been already.
He had converted one of the bedrooms into a garden with tomatoes, eggplants, potatoes, spinach, cayenne peppers, and zucchini. He had brought other seeds, but found the drain on his water supply already too much. (Another bedroom was turned into a Lab so he could putter around with his postgraduate research. It even included a small cleanroom. But without a working computer …)
After a month with no rescue in sight, Duncan began to accept the inevitable conclusion that he needed to think long term. Duncan understood one thing about combatting loneliness. Allowing himself to be idle, to have no sense of purpose would only hasten his degradation. So he started a To Do list.
+++++++++
Two years later.
Duncan stepped out onto the deck of the yacht. He had since built a dry dock that raised the yacht some 30 feet off the ground. He had replaced the patch in the torn hull with a far better one, sealed all the entries to keep bugs out. He had repaired the solar power, albeit at a reduced capacity. It was still plenty to run the solar distiller. There was nothing he could do about the computer. The storm had knocked that out. It meant that the yacht was more than one man could handle. It would take a small crew and some modifications. But his patch should hold.
He had built a small farm. And he realized early on he would have to protect it from the local wildlife. (He built a greenhouse.) He discovered avocados, kumquats, coconuts, pineapples, and banana. He discovered a wild rice and black beans. He recognized it from some work he had started in Costa Rica. Oh, he still didn’t have a harvest yet. That was a work in progress. For now, his potatoes served as a starch staple.
He built a henhouse, trapped wild chickens and soon had eggs. He caught and began to raise boa constrictors - for food. Finally he discovered wild goats. Those proved hard to catch. It took him a dozen attempts over a year to finally capture several - enough to try to breed them and maybe get some milk.
Some of the many luxuries that Duncan had purchased for the yacht had been scuba gear, fishing gear, spearfishing gear, and amphibious ATV’s. (He was prepared for arctic weather too, but that was for a much later trip he had planned.) From the sea he found a plethora of food. Fish, of course. But also abalones, large crabs easily the size of King Crabs. Eels were a favorite delicacy. He had learned how to make sushi. Of course, with his stock supply of eel sauce a limited quantity, he rationed it carefully. Smoked shark was delicious - and if hunting went poorly for a few days, it was at least some form of meat to eat without killing any of his other critters.
He learned from some native monkeys - which he tried to avoid befriending - what was edible and what was not. He only tried this on rare occasions. The last thing he wanted was a bunch of angry monkeys demanding food.
+++++++++
Now
It had been a hard weak of work and Duncan was taking a rare moment to celebrate. With each day his body had been recovering from years of abuse. He looked better now than he had the day he left port. He had decided to experiment with cooking the octopus he had caught. He had been having troubles with losing crabs out of his traps. Fortunately he had bought underwater video cameras. He had honestly never foreseen this sort of use for them. As it turned out the octopi in the area had discovered that some human had been serving up conveniently packaged meals for them - crabs in cages.
Octopi were damnably smart and figured out how to get into the cages and eat the crabs. So he built a better trap to catch the octopi. The best news was that he had learned how to cook squid and octopus. And he had lemons - and strong citrus would do - plus other ingredients for a marinade. Plus he had a tenderizing hammer and a kitchen to prepare everything in. He had opted for grilling - adding grilled asparagus to the menu - his first batch and another reason to celebrate. Asparagus took 2-3 years to get a crop. His regret? Still no fresh butter.
He examined the sample sheet of paper he had finally milled. He was a little disappointed. He could make writing paper. But figuring out how to get toilet paper … But this wasn’t too far from making a decent napkin, though a little rough and not especially absorbent. Hmm, maybe a flimsy paper plate? He reached out and stabbed at the end of the octopus leg that was skewered like a shish kabob and pulled. A bit sized piece broke off. He pulled the piece and set it on his plate, then marinated again. Almost done.
Then he picked the piece of meat up and started wolfing it down.
Westerly currents broad warmer waters to the east face of the island creating beaches along the East and most of the North face and even some passable terrain on the west face. The Southeast faces was mostly cliffs rendering a walk around the island impossible. The northeast face had the advantage of a reef.
Duncan’s arrival had been during a major storm. It had slammed him well onto the beach. And while most inexperienced mariners might not have thought of it, Duncan had dropped anchor as soon as he realized he was well and truly stuck. The least he could do was prevent the storm from washing the yacht away. The second thing he did was anchor mooring lines in hopes of preventing further damage. He was mostly successful. At least the yacht didn’t crack in half or splinter apart under the beating. A wooden ship would have. But his yacht was 3D printed from space age materials and double hulled in a honeycombed fashion. Even the glass viewport on the bottom survived.
If he hadn’t been worried about another storm he might have left the yacht right where it was and tried to repair it. But the gash was huge. Prolonged contact with seawater was going to damage some of the yacht’s guts. So instead he built a makeshift winch and sled. A single man managed to pull a 112 foot yacht out of the water and some 50 yards inland. It took him a full week to accomplish - amidst the occasional Maydays and sending up a drone on a tether with an LED strobe light. Once the sled was anchored he set to work over a period of another week to patch the gash in the hull and use the bilge pump to evacuate the water. The next two weeks he turned the yacht into a home. It pretty much had been already.
He had converted one of the bedrooms into a garden with tomatoes, eggplants, potatoes, spinach, cayenne peppers, and zucchini. He had brought other seeds, but found the drain on his water supply already too much. (Another bedroom was turned into a Lab so he could putter around with his postgraduate research. It even included a small cleanroom. But without a working computer …)
After a month with no rescue in sight, Duncan began to accept the inevitable conclusion that he needed to think long term. Duncan understood one thing about combatting loneliness. Allowing himself to be idle, to have no sense of purpose would only hasten his degradation. So he started a To Do list.
+++++++++
Two years later.
Duncan stepped out onto the deck of the yacht. He had since built a dry dock that raised the yacht some 30 feet off the ground. He had replaced the patch in the torn hull with a far better one, sealed all the entries to keep bugs out. He had repaired the solar power, albeit at a reduced capacity. It was still plenty to run the solar distiller. There was nothing he could do about the computer. The storm had knocked that out. It meant that the yacht was more than one man could handle. It would take a small crew and some modifications. But his patch should hold.
He had built a small farm. And he realized early on he would have to protect it from the local wildlife. (He built a greenhouse.) He discovered avocados, kumquats, coconuts, pineapples, and banana. He discovered a wild rice and black beans. He recognized it from some work he had started in Costa Rica. Oh, he still didn’t have a harvest yet. That was a work in progress. For now, his potatoes served as a starch staple.
He built a henhouse, trapped wild chickens and soon had eggs. He caught and began to raise boa constrictors - for food. Finally he discovered wild goats. Those proved hard to catch. It took him a dozen attempts over a year to finally capture several - enough to try to breed them and maybe get some milk.
Some of the many luxuries that Duncan had purchased for the yacht had been scuba gear, fishing gear, spearfishing gear, and amphibious ATV’s. (He was prepared for arctic weather too, but that was for a much later trip he had planned.) From the sea he found a plethora of food. Fish, of course. But also abalones, large crabs easily the size of King Crabs. Eels were a favorite delicacy. He had learned how to make sushi. Of course, with his stock supply of eel sauce a limited quantity, he rationed it carefully. Smoked shark was delicious - and if hunting went poorly for a few days, it was at least some form of meat to eat without killing any of his other critters.
He learned from some native monkeys - which he tried to avoid befriending - what was edible and what was not. He only tried this on rare occasions. The last thing he wanted was a bunch of angry monkeys demanding food.
+++++++++
Now
It had been a hard weak of work and Duncan was taking a rare moment to celebrate. With each day his body had been recovering from years of abuse. He looked better now than he had the day he left port. He had decided to experiment with cooking the octopus he had caught. He had been having troubles with losing crabs out of his traps. Fortunately he had bought underwater video cameras. He had honestly never foreseen this sort of use for them. As it turned out the octopi in the area had discovered that some human had been serving up conveniently packaged meals for them - crabs in cages.
Octopi were damnably smart and figured out how to get into the cages and eat the crabs. So he built a better trap to catch the octopi. The best news was that he had learned how to cook squid and octopus. And he had lemons - and strong citrus would do - plus other ingredients for a marinade. Plus he had a tenderizing hammer and a kitchen to prepare everything in. He had opted for grilling - adding grilled asparagus to the menu - his first batch and another reason to celebrate. Asparagus took 2-3 years to get a crop. His regret? Still no fresh butter.
He examined the sample sheet of paper he had finally milled. He was a little disappointed. He could make writing paper. But figuring out how to get toilet paper … But this wasn’t too far from making a decent napkin, though a little rough and not especially absorbent. Hmm, maybe a flimsy paper plate? He reached out and stabbed at the end of the octopus leg that was skewered like a shish kabob and pulled. A bit sized piece broke off. He pulled the piece and set it on his plate, then marinated again. Almost done.
Then he picked the piece of meat up and started wolfing it down.