Teen Survives 49 Days At Sea Aboard A Luxuriously Appointed Floating House

Source –  An Indonesian teen miraculously survived for close to 50 days while floating on a flimsy shack in shark-infested ocean waters, according to reports.

Aldi Novel Adilang, 19, had the lonely job of manning a floating fish trap 80 miles off the coast of Indonesia’s North Sulawesi, when strong winds ripped the hut from its mooring in July and sent it floating into the Pacific Ocean.

The raft the young man was stranded on is called a rompong. The teen had been contracted for six months to light lamps around the hut with a power generator nightly to attract fish. Every week, the owner would send someone to collect the fish in the trap and drop off a week’s worth of food and fuel.

I’m not going to sit here and take away from the fact little Aldi was able to survive 49 days at sea. It’s impressive, but part of my job as a blogger is to call a spade a spade. And if we’re being honest, in terms of being stranded at sea, Aldi had it made.

For starters, he signed up to man a post EIGHTY miles off the coast of Indonesia. So it’s not like he wasn’t used to being alone. He already knew how to fish and he had a roof over his head, he was just thrown off guard when he started drifting. The worst thing that happened to him was shark citing.

The guy had a fucking generator and a wood burning stove aboard a floating house people are acting like he’s the kid from Life of Pi. His boat is nicer than my apartment.

“After he ran out of the cooking gas, he burned the rompong’s wooden fences to make a fire for cooking,” said Mirza Nurhidayat, Indonesia’s consul general in Osaka. “He drank by sipping water from his clothes that had been wetted by sea water.”

At one point during his 1,600-mile odyssey, the young man was circled by a shark, but all he could do was pray it would go away, he told the TribunManado news site. He ate fish and read his Bible daily.

Finally, on Aug. 31, the bulk carrier Arpeggio caught a signal from the teen’s radio while passing him in the waters off Guam. He was taken aboard and given food and a haircut.

Am I crazy for thinking that this isn’t that bad? Yeah, he drifted 1600 miles, but he had everything he needed to survive. He didn’t even have to get wet if he didn’t want to.

Stores like these always make me wonder how long I could survive in a similar situation and I can say with confidence that I could’ve lasted twice as long as Aldi. Now if I was IN that water, that’s a different story. I’d give myself two hours and if I didn’t see anyone I’d cut my leg, take a deep breath and inhale some water. But if I was aboard that floating palace I think I’d be just fine.