This week we established Survivor Island – Kid Style.

While on a hike on Carriacou, we spied an uninhabited island that deserved a closer look. The adult dads took off for an exploratory mission to White Island to investigate. We needed to make sure the island was safe and investigate the Lion fish population.

The island looked to be perfect for the event.

The island passed the initial investigation for the purpose so we presented the case to the kids.  We teamed up with Aphrodite, another kid boat for a total of 5 kids aged 8-14. We borrowed another dad from UJam’n to make sure we had we had the supervisory basis covered adequately.

Goal – Let the kids figure out how to survive 24 hours on an uninhabited island on their own. They had about 6 hours to prepare and a set budget of $100 EC (about $50 CAD) to work with. Input from adults was very minimal.

The plans were made and presented to the adult advisory counsel and approved. Shopping begins – this should be fun….

• 24 eggs
• 8 wieners
• 2 cans of beans
• Loaf of bread
• Jug of juice
• Bag of peanuts

$10 EC left for emergencies….. Not sure that is enough food for 3 meals for 5 hungry kids, but…. It is survival camp.

The Island had some structure on it previously but abandoned some time ago. This gave the kids some starting point from which to build a shelter. The site was chosen to provide nice off shore breezes that would minimize insect impact. Very important to avoid mosquitoes, fleas and flies and associated nasties that go with them.

Can you pick out the major character attributes for each of the kids? If you know our kids, this picture is really funny…..

• Kate – Git ‘er Dun – Boys can you help here?
• Kara – Amazing Acrobat
• Chris – Plan, Stress, Plan some more
• Niko – Cool Beach Dude
• Kat – Explorer extraordinary – is that bird excrement?…. wait, that shell moved…..

Anyone know how to tie a knot that will stand up to 20 knot South Caribbean trade winds?

In the end, they came up with something to keep the wind and rain off of them….. not sure about the beach critters.

Dad inspection resulted in a shrug…… We were observers only…..

Meanwhile….. a couple of the dads took turns fishing. We are going to eat well! There might even be some left over if the kids were still hungry after their beans and wieners….

These are some very heathy examples of the invasive species of Lion fish. They have poisonous spines and stings can be very nasty so caution in working with them is necessary. On the positive side, we are helping the reefs by doing our part to control the population of this invasive species. Furthermore, they are delicious!

Meanwhile, back at Survivor Camp, fire was the next essential task. The kids were given a flint and steel – no matches, no lighter.

The effort was exhaustive and time consuming.

….. however, this WAS survivor camp….. It took about 2 hours, but in the end, the fire was started. They vowed to not let it go out for the remainder of the adventure….. regardless of the cost.

Dinner cooking over the open fire.

Amazing how good a can of beans can be when you are hungry…..

Adults had generous portions of Lion fish with some baked beans heated survivor style.

Kids dinner was a little more basic with some beans, wieners and bread. Very adequate for survivor camp. Note the big bag of peanuts in the centre of the table. There may also have been some sharing of Lion fish off the record.

Then the excitement begins…… The hermit crabs came out for dinner too…. At first there were a few……..

Then they came by the hundreds….. they could smell our food….

After the initial herd of crabs eased a bit, the kids enjoyed a special treat sent along by Deb, a sympathetic mom on Aphrodite…. S’Mores!!  And LOTS OF THEM.

Lets just say, there wasn’t any complaining going on here.

Tummies full, they settled down for a short nap. The accommodations were adequate against wind and rain, but there definitely was some trepidation surrounding the hermit crabs.

The fears proved to be unfounded as the hermits stuck to the edges of camp on their way to/from the beach. We wisely kept the food tied in a tree away from the sleeping quarters.

The nap was short as they were not going to let that fire go out. There was a full compliment of fire watchers by about 4:30am and in the morning, there was a nice fire for breakfast.  Scrambled Eggs and a few left over sausages for breakfast and then camp was packed down.

We arrived back in Tyrell Bay Carriacou to our floating homes and most of the kids promptly caught up on some sleep.  Some dirty cloths, dirty kids but all healthy and no injuries.

Casualties:

• At least 3 holes in a dinghy from inexperienced use of a very sharp new dive knife (Saphira Blue’s Dad)
• Small head injury as one of the dads miscalculated the low hanging branches in camp.  Minor but worthy of mention 😉

We declared success and agreed another run at this would be beneficial for all.  The search for the next site for Episode 2 of Survivor Island – Kids Style has begun.