Garrett and Thom’s Pagan Adventure

Garrett and Thom are making final preparations for their trip to Pagan (rhymes with “toboggan”) island. They plan to stay 2-4 months Robinson Crusoe-style on this uninhabited volcanic island 175 miles north of their home in Saipan.

The island was inhabited by 40 villagers until a volcanic eruption in 1981 forced their evacuation to Saipan. The cone still emits steam daily and occasional trace amounts of gas. For more information on Pagan visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pagan_Island and Google Earth has a great satellite image.

The seas between Saipan and Pagan have been rough the past month and as soon as they quiet down Thom and Garrett will ride up on a fishing boat to be dropped off on the beach with their equipment and supplies.

They’ll have plenty of fresh bananas, papaya, mango, coconuts, citrus fruits, guava and taro to eat. They are also good at catching fish with rod and reel from the beach. There are feral goats, pigs, cows, and chickens for the catching. And they will be supplementing their island diet with rice, canned food, and military MRE’s. They plan to catch rainwater for drinking but have also made a campfire distiller that they can use to purify the well water or even seawater.

Garrett has been home-schooled for three years and will continue his 8th grade studies on Pagan. They’ll be living in tents and have a screen house for eating in and doing school work.

They will be in daily radio contact with Mindy and Brooke. Saipan’s Emergency Management office will continually monitor the radio on a dedicated channel in case of any emergency. If they do have an emergency there is a helicopter on Saipan that can leave on short notice and get them to the hospital on Saipan or Guam in just a couple of hours.

Believe it or not both Thom and Garrett are looking forward to living without roads or sidewalks, telephone, TV, electricity, running water, or any other infrastructure. Pagan also rhymes with “what’s wrong with their ‘noggin’? “

They will each keep a journal of their adventure and are looking forward to sharing their stories when they return.