SakshiLand At Last
One day while he was in his boat, he saw a group of birds passing over his boat when he looked straight he saw a piece of land. Surrounded by water all around, the size of the land was similar to a football field. Initially, he thought of it as a product of his imagination but despite that, he decided to trust his eyes. It was going to be risky because if it was nothing more than a hallucination, there was a chance of his going stray in some other direction.
Making The Way
First, he did away with the buoys so that his boat does not float back or withdraw and steered right in the direction of the green filled island. The tiny island was looking wild and forlorn. With no anchor no doubt he was running the risk of getting his boat capsized, but it was worth it.
The Tile Islet
In a matter of an hour, he reached the land. In order to get to the place he got down in the sea and began swimming towards the ground. “I held a handful of sand like it was a treasure,” he reminisces. The island he got down in was Tile Islet which was a member of Ebon Atoll that itself constitutes Republic of the Marshall Islands. He made a right choice because had he ignored it as an illusion, he would have kept on moving to the northern side of Australia past Papua New Guinea in direction of Philippines.
Back To The Land
After 438 days of the continuous ordeal, he was again back to the land. The man who had covered around 6,700 miles (10,782.6 km) alive was facing problem in standing properly. He was weak, bony, sunburned but happy. Despite his weakness, he ran through the trees and screamed as loud as he can. He thought the island had nobody on it but again he was wrong!
No Man Around
The date was January 30th, 2014 when Alvarenga stepped on the land after so many months. He was too lost in himself to realize if anyone could be staying on this land. As he sprinted into the forest he saw a beach house and also a man aerating some coconuts. The beach house was owned by Russel Laikidrik and his wife Emi Libokmeto. Alvarenga had never felt so much happiness when he did after seeing the couple on the island. On the other hand, Emi thought that he had come here after having fallen off a ship but in no time she registered his pathetic condition.
Doubtful
Having a visitor on this remote island was not something that they could swallow. She suspected something was grossly amiss. Furthermore, the pathetic appearance of visitor consolidated her doubt. He looked extremely malnourished with a shabby beard, unkempt hair and swollen ankle. Alvarenga himself hesitated from looking into her.