Real-life castaway: ‘He’s not afraid to die’

IAN Argus Stuart is the first man to have holidayed on this island - and he will probably be the last. The millionaire’s idea of a holiday is a little different.

Ian Argus Stewart spends 11 days on Hunga Tonga island Ian Argus Stuart desert island.jpg

THE earth under his feet could have disappeared at any moment, but if he was going to be washed to his death in the middle of the South Pacific, this British millionaire couldn’t think of a better way to go.

Hailed as a modern day Robinson Crusoe, 65-year-old adventurer Ian Argus Stuart spent 11 nights alone as a castaway on the world’s newest and most solitary island, Hunga Tonga, on what may just be the most extreme holiday of all time.

The island first appeared in December 2014 after an underwater volcano erupted, causing an expansion which forced land mass upwards. But the island’s time above the sea is limited; according to experts it could sink back into the ocean at any minute due to its weak composition.

It is located more than 3500 kilometres from Sydney and stretches just 500 metres across. Mr Stuart likens this eerie, treacherous place as “lunar landscape”.

Hunga Tonga island from the air. It could be swallowed back into the sea at any moment.

“There’s quite a bit of danger,” he told news.com.au after being dropped on the tiny speck back in May.

“This place, the sea is so rough it’s insane, I got dragged into the sea and luckily I managed to pull myself out.”

“There’s nowhere you can get lifted up, there’s no helicopters or anything like that. [But] if I had to choose somewhere to die I’d rather be at the top of that volcano than in a hospital with tubes in me.

“I found a cave to shelter in. I was there until the sea damaged it. The island is disappearing in the sea day by day.”

He fought rough seas and survived on “extremely limited resources” including seagull eggs and squid during his time on the island.

“They’re big, they taste pretty much like any other egg,”

This lake on the island, “is not a lake anymore as the sea and the volcano crater have both joined together. The island is disappearing into the sea day by day,” said Mr Stuart.

Without even a dinghy to save himself should the island sink back into the sea, and unable to swim, he felt it best to keep his latest adventure a secret from his wife.

“She knows I just do this sort of thing, she gave up years ago,” he said.

“She puts up with it, she probably is concerned but at the end of the day she knows I’m OK.”

Of being unable to swim he said, “For me it’s pretty OK, it’s like most things in life, balancing the odds. I’d rather drown than be eaten by sharks.”

The adventure was organised through specialist travel company Docastaway, which finds remote islands and provides opportunities to adventurers wanting a true “survivor” experience.

“They’re still deciding whether I’m a nut case and just crazy.”

Mr Stuart is an exception to the rule — the company uses him as a “guinea pig” to test islands for their ability to maintain life.

“We are sending him to the most dangerous islands, he is our guinea pig,” Docastaway founder Alvaro Cerezo told news.com.au.

“We test the islands through him, he’s not afraid to die.”

The surface of the island looks like something out of space.

Ironically, Mr Stuart flies first class before being dropped by fishing boat and left to fend for himself.

He told news.com.au he travels light; he carries no food and only a plastic sheet to catch water, plus two or three bottles of the stuff.

“[The water] is normally still sealed up by the time I leave, you can distil sea water,” he said.

“I also use a plastic sheet to catch water and a dustbin becomes a water tank.”

But he says anyone can do it, whether they’re cashed up or cashed out.

“Once you’re on the island you’ve got no hotel bills, you can’t go shopping, it’s actually not expensive. It’s no more expensive than spending a fortnight anywhere else. Anyone can do it, provided you can catch your own food and make your own shelter.”

See, there’s always a catch.