Living the dream, one couple abandoned their day jobs to live in a tropical island hut. Both surfers Marjolein and her partner An moved to a remote tropical island and have been living off the land.
In the documentary Exploring Alternatives descriptively titled Couple's Impressive Self Reliant Life on a Remote Tropical Island - Off Grid Living, the couple detail what their lives have been like since. They've completely been living off the grid, finding their own food and water.
"We live on a tiny island in Indonesia. The island we're on is about 5km in diameter and there's no villages or roads... so all the transport is done by boat with wooden boats handmade locally," Marjolein said. "We are completely off-grid. What I love most about living here is the sense of independence. We can provide our own electricity, our own water, our own food and that's pretty cool."
While working at a surf resort, they decided to quit and fulfill their dreams. Marjolein built the house herself using skills she acquired from woodworking. They had to get power tools from the mainland.
Couple Live On Remote Island
"All the other [building materials] that need to come from the mainland, have to come with a ferry that comes once a week," Marjolein said. "Then we have to pick it up from the ferry but the problem is that we don't have any internet or 4G or phone reception here."
However, there's one drawback to living on a remote island, and it's kind of obvious. The couple has a difficult time getting a cell phone reception on the island.
"To actually order stuff from the mainland, we have to drive out with our small boat, find some better signal try and send a message to the shop on the mainland," Marjolein said. "[Then we] hope that they're online wait for a reply and yeah... that can take days just to order one little thing. So that's why things don't really go so quickly here."
Living so far out, it can be difficult to get supplies that they need at times. Likewise, the couple has battled deadly snakes, which are a threat on the island. Sometimes, it can also get a bit lonely.
"Since we live so remotely it can definitely get a bit lonely at times and that's not always easy," she admitted. "I would say for me that's definitely one of the biggest challenges of living here."
