How I Will be Surviving Off-Grid

On my trip I will at times be away from grid electricity for weeks. I have many electronic gadgets needed to sustain me and record the trip. This includes a computer with external hard drive, two video cameras, two digital SLR cameras, VHF radio, and flashlights with AA batteries.

I have a flexible marine-grade solar panel which will charge all of these things. It can be mounted on the top of the kayak in full sun all day. The batteries for my cameras can be charged in a couple hours. My computer charges much more slowly, about 10% increase in capacity per full day. But this is enough for me to download photo and video files onto the hard drive.

That takes care of the electricity, but I also need food. Thankfully, I will be moving at trawling speed all day so I expect to catch lots of fish. I also have a crab trap which adds weight, but hopefully the crabs and prawns it catches will displace a greater weight of freeze dried food I’d otherwise have to bring. The rest of my diet will consist of seaweeds, native plants, packages of freeze dried food cooked on a small alcohol stove or campfire, olive oil, lots of extra rice and quinoa to throw in for good measure, Quaker oatmeal packets, dried fruit, walnuts and cashews, raisins, and a bunch of Clif bars (one per day to keep me going). Also, I’ll bring onions and garlic because I like them. I have no intention of starving on this trip. But I’ll miss my daily Greek salad and avocado.

Protecting my food from bears will be an issue, especially with onions and garlic and fish residues everywhere. I can’t hang it up a tree a long ways away and discover in the morning that a bear ate my food, because then I won’t have any food. What I plan to do is go against conventional wisdom and defend and sleep with my food, or at least close enough to the tree it’s in that I will hear any bears. I’ll have my bear spray and flashlight ready to go beside me. Bear spray is 100% effective if you can spray them in the face. What I want to avoid is sleeping in my tent in bear country because if one crashes my tent then I can’t get out and spray him, but with a tarp I can easily get myself sorted out. Sleeping without a tent will present problems with bugs, so I’ll take a good bug jacket and try to sleep in that. We’ll see how it all works out.