Andorran man Ian Argus Stuart spends 11 days as castaway on newly formed volcanic island off Tonga ^Featured

Ian Argus Stuart, a former entrepreneur, travelled to Hunga Tonga island with the help of a fishing boat and a travel company specialising in "castaway" experiences.

The island, which is about 65 kilometres south-west of Tonga's capital, Nuku'alofa, formed in January after a large underwater volcanic eruption.
"It's fantastic," he told ABC News Digital.

"Within the last year, I've been on [other] volcanic islands — one with very sharp lava rocks, one with big boulders — and I expected something like that here.

"The reality is nothing like it. It's made up of grit and lava ash compressed together. When you try to climb the volcano, it comes off on your hand all the time.

"It's an amazing place. It must have been what the world was like when it first started."

Mr Stuart said he spent most of his time on the island trying to track down food.

"A good part of time you're organising. I don't take food with me. "Obviously, being a volcanic island, it is a little bit more difficult than most. I made up fishing lines but all I caught was squid. But, you know, beggars can't be choosers.

"I climbed the volcano three times, took photographs everywhere. I would have liked to have stayed longer but the fishing boat had to pick me up on the way back."

Modern day Robinson Crusoe

Mr Stuart brought some water with him, but there was none on the island.

To get around this, he improvised a water capture system out of a plastic sheet and a rubbish bin. The unstable nature of the island — which scientists say may disappear at some point — also caused problems.

"I was on the seaside and I got washed into the sea because the ground gave away under me," Mr Stuart said. "Luckily, I managed to crawl my way out. I don't swim either."

On the first few nights, he said he spent the night in a cave on the island.

"It just had one entrance [but] after four or five days, it had two entrances. The backside opened up to the sea by eight metres — I don't mean eight metres long, I mean eight metres high.

"A pretty big bit of it had disappeared it that time."

Scientists are interested in volcanic islands because they provide an opportunity to study the emergence of life.

Birds, whose droppings are key to creating soil, are beginning to make Hunga Tonga their home.

"There's hundreds and hundreds of newborn chicks on the island now. The place is swarming with birds," he said.

"It's amazing, you've got life already starting there. There's green shoots even just three months on."

Looking for another adventure

Mr Stuart said he had always been drawn to the outdoors and adventure.

"I suppose it's doing something different. I've had the biggest ships, the biggest houses, the biggest cars. That's fine, but then what? Doing something like this is challenging yourself ... and it's different," he said.

"I couldn't have a job and live in the city. I like to be out in the open.

"I've spent my life in places like the Kalahari Desert, the Belgian Congo, single sailing — anything where there's a bit of excitement.

"Looking for the next challenge is always difficult. What do I do next?"

He said he had not told anybody about his trip because of the potential risks.

"I thought ... it'd be nice to see what it looks like — a landscape that has just been formed," he said.

"[The island] is what the world would have been like billions of years ago."

In March, the ABC published the first pictures of the new island, taken by hotel owner GP Orbassano.

While he says he would like to return to Hunga Tonga, Mr Stuart is on the lookout for another adventure.

"If I had to choose somewhere to die, trust me, I'd rather die doing that than in some hospital bed," he said.

"I think all of us would, actually."

Source: ABC News