Original subtitles

[dramatic music]

*

- Holy cow. The wind's whipping.

- This is insane. It's like a hurricane.

- We're gonna put up a little cabin.

Brooke is completely out of gas.

I've never, ever seen that from her.

- Oh, my God, I got a fish.

- He got a fish!

- There's another one. Don't mind if I get one more.

16 sablefish, whoo!

- We are officially on the verge of being flooded.

- It's easy to see how this place can kick a man's ass.

- The decision to leave is extremely difficult.

*

*

- This is gonna be an incredible challenge.

- We're gonna be dropped off in separate locations,

and one of us has to find the other.

- There they go! - I'm gonna wait on my brother.

- Ohh! - Hopefully he'll be here soon.

- Please come tomorrow.

- I don't know where I'm going, how long I'm gonna be out here.

All I have is a compass bearing.

- It's a needle in a haystack.

Can I even make it to base camp?

- Dad? - Son!

- No way.

- Everything around you

is telling you that you need to go home.

- Please leave me alone.

- If you don't work as a team, it's game over.

- I can't hold the whole thing up.

- $500,000 would be life-changing.

- I know.

- I feel like the life is sucked out of me.

- He's coming. He sees me.

*

*

*

- It's day 17 in the morning.

We slept in quite a bit.

Today we are going to work on the boat.

Maybe Jim has some tweaks to the crab trap.

It's pretty much finished, and then we are,

you know, going to forage.

We're gonna-- we're gonna eat breakfast,

then we're gonna forage, and then we're going to--

no, that's not what we're gonna do.

We're gonna eat breakfast, work on boats, forage--

[bleep] you, man, you [bleep] ass[bleep].

Jim's pissing while I'm doing a [bleep] interview,

just ruined the whole thing.

[Jim laughs]

[bleep] ass[bleep].

- I had to piss.

- Good morning. It's day 17.

*

- We're building a boat designed

for the specific limitations we have here.

We only have a 12-by-12 tarp, so it can't be long,

but we want a boat that can fit two people.

We also have the ocean,

so we want a boat with relatively high sides,

or freeboard, they call it, when both of us are in there

so we won't get swamped with waves.

Ted's been the main guy doing work on it.

He's doing a good job,

but it's taking longer than we thought

because we only have so much time

we can work on it each day.

But I think that is gonna give us the freedom

to be able to find more food.

- A few days ago we ate some fish and some duck,

and we're like, "Man, we're gonna stay out here

till 90 days," and a couple days go by,

and all you got is two pots of shore crabs.

- But I think out in those kelp beds 50 meters offshore

there's probably fish.

*

- Jim, this sucks.

- Just pretty small, that's all.

Can you kneel and rest your butt on the seat?

- I don't know, man.

I feel like the boat's gonna be tippy to the left.

- It's gonna be pretty tight with two people in.

- Two, like, little girls, it would be pretty good.

- Yeah. Yeah, we only have one little girl, so...

- Yeah, I know.

What drives me nuts about Jim is that he's just a loudmouth.

There's times where I just want to headbutt him

and boot him down a flight of stairs.

Maybe that's a good thing about being brothers,

is we're not afraid to--

to just say what we're feeling in the moment

and get past it.

Can't have one without the other, right?

*

I'm gonna install seats,

and I'm just gonna use that net that I found.

If it works, it'll be nice so we can sit and fish

and not get cramps in our legs and all that kind of stuff,

but two of us on seats,

I am a little skeptical

whether the frame should be holding that kind of weight.

It's just risky.

*

I took our tarp down that's a heavy-duty vinyl-coated tarp

that we're gonna use for the cover of the boat,

which is a really exciting moment.

We're getting closer to having it ready to put in the water,

'cause we need more food, it's just that simple.

We can't go on and do the projects that we want to do

without getting some calories in us.

*

- We're really hoping this boat floats

and doesn't just immediately break.

*

*

- Next time somebody asks me,

"What do you do for a living?"

I'm just gonna say, "I build cobbled-together stuff

out of moss and sticks for a living."

Timber!

I starve for a living.

I stink for a living.

It's good work if you can get it.

It's just soaking wet.

What's up, woman?

Right on.

Good luck.

*

The biggest challenge of building the cabin,

you can't go work all day 'cause you have to fish.

- Got some kelp.

Yes, I think I have a fish.

- If you could just work... - Yes!

- You'd get a lot farther,

but the other person would have to fish,

so you only get half as much done.

- Oh! Yay!

Whoo-hoo!

- You'd think two people

could do better fishing than one person,

but you're feeding two people,

so I mean, it's kind of a net nothing.

If you don't catch any fish, it doesn't bode well

for putting a bunch of energy in.

- Ah, yeah, it's a fatty!

[chuckles]

Thank you, Lord.

All right, let's kill him.

He's gonna be dinner.

I know.

If the fishing holds,

we do have a sustainable source of food

to carry us through a cabin build.

If the fish runs out, we have a problem.

*

- Our shelter philosophy out here

is we're just gonna do what we do.

Our whole married life

is living in places that we've built.

Our first home was a 12-foot-by-12-foot cabin

that we built,

no running water, no indoor plumbing.

We both live an extremely rustic lifestyle together.

We've been married 18 years.

Pretty much daily life was roughing it.

We've always lived right on the very fringe of society.

Starting from nothing

and building a home from it,

that's in our DNA.

- Unbelievably cool.

I'm going to start chinking.

It's a good low-energy job for me today

since I don't have a lot of energy.

Grabbing chunks of moss here.

I got a little-- little stuffing stick,

and I'm just gonna be stuffing the cracks.

This cabin project has taken a lot of energy

out of both of us.

Absolutely there is risk of expending a lot of calories

in a build of a cabin,

but at the same time there's a risk

that you are mentally going to burn out in a place

that you hate to crawl into day after day,

wet and miserable.

We feel like as it gets colder and the weather

turns more and more terrible,

being in a warm cabin is gonna be a big deal.

*

- Why build something this elaborate?

Why build something that takes this much energy?

Why not build something simple and focus on food?

It is a gamble.

You wonder if it's all worth it.

When you don't have to crawl

in through a hole in the side of the shelter.

You're not laying on the ground.

You're laying on a bunk.

You got a nice fire going.

Yeah, it's worth it.

You're darn right it's worth it.

I'm kind of dragging a little bit this morning.

I'm just hungry and tired.

This is it.

This is the last--last log.

Going through the front door with the last log.

Yeah, uh-huh.

When in doubt, force it, right?

- Force it.

- Cram it in the cram hole.

*

There we go.

*

So let me take you on a tour.

This is what it's like coming through the front door.

There's where the fireplace is gonna go.

Hopefully there'll be a mantel right across there,

some place to hang your wet socks to dry.

- That is cool, cool beans.

Our cabin.

- I could use a nap.

*

*

- All right, so we're ready

for the maiden voyage of Hope.

The boat we've built, that's what we've named her

'cause she's providing us with some hope,

and we're gonna get out there for the first time,

see if she floats...

- Yeah!

- And see if it'll take both of us,

and we've got our life jackets.

We've got our safety gear all ready.

There's a risk of wetting our gear.

It could give us hypothermia,

all kinds of problems, you can imagine.

So we've got a fire

and lots of wood split in case we took a swim.

Hopefully we won't,

and we're ready to get the heck

out of this freaking cove and do this.

[straining]

*

- Yeah, it floats.

- Floats pretty [bleep] good too.

- Looks not too tippy. Looks pretty good.

Let Ted get in first.

- You sure you shouldn't get in first?

*

- How does it feel?

- It feels really good.

- Yeah!

- Hold on, hold on! - It's okay. It's okay.

- I think I got to kneel. - Okay.

Okay, hold on.

- Pretty small.

- All right, I'm in. How does it feel?

- It feels pretty good.

Yeah!

- Yeah!

We're in our boat!

It's working!

*

All right, we're paddling in our boat.

It still needs a little tweaking,

but that's why we do a maiden voyage,

just to see what else it needs.

This is where the fish seem to be biting.

Do you want to get your rod ready?

- Yeah, I guess.

[bleep], everything's pretty challenging to do

in this tiny little space of terror.

*

- We did a trip, like, years ago.

It was in the Northwest Territories,

Mackenzie Mountains,

and I'd never even paddled a rapid before,

and I went out there, and after that I was just hooked.

Jim and I got into expedition and canoe tripping,

but then this is a whole other level.

*

- So far no bites.

No sign of fish.

*

Well...

no fish.

It's getting dark, man.

Time to call it quits.

*

- We are safely back at camp

after the maiden voyage of Hope, our boat.

I guess I should be in better spirits about it

because it floated quite well.

It did handle both of us

with tons of freeboard on the sides,

but I don't understand how it's possible that,

like, we could be there fishing

and didn't catch one fish, man.

- I don't know, man.

- I don't know if it's given us

a whole new lease on life, Jim,

but it's definitely an asset.

- Yeah, absolutely.

*

*

*

- When we get back, we'll write a book,

"The Vancouver Island Diet."

- Yeah.

- All you do is you eat--

you eat half of a seasonless fish per night,

and that's it.

- And drink water. - And drink water.

And you can have some snails too

if you want, but don't overdo it.

[laughter]

*

It's gonna be time to go fishing pretty soon.

Hopefully that's lucky.

*

- All right, here, fishy, fishy.

We need fishes.

We did not eat fish yesterday.

Really would like to have a fish to eat tonight.

- Mm-hmm.

- Saw the sea lion on the way out here.

- Oh, yeah? We got this sea lion that hangs out.

He's scary because sometimes he gets kind of close,

and I don't like that,

and he does it when you're not looking.

- Whoa! - Holy cow, there's Sneaky.

- Yeah, Sneaky, man. - There he is.

- Holy cow.

- Wow, that was pretty close.

- Yeah. I'm kind of scared

he's gonna just come flying

out of the water right up at us.

Wow, that was really creepy, man.

- Man, where'd he go? I don't like this.

I don't like when he plays this game.

He just watches us all--

when we're out there, he just watches us.

He's just--and I like watching him too,

except when he gets close.

I don't like when he gets close because they have big teeth,

and you can tell he's definitely a large animal,

and I don't want to be near him 'cause I don't know.

I don't know anything about those things.

They look plenty playful and cuddly, but so do bears,

and bears can tear you to pieces.

*

- Look at that--oh. - Oh, boy.

- What was that all about? - I don't know.

A little ways out, good.

Sneaky, you stay over there.

*

- You getting any nibbles? - Nothing.

Yeah, I'm not getting any action over here anymore.

- No. It's so slow now.

*

Wow, man, skunked.

Like, very few bites.

- Yeah. - I don't like that.

*

Sure would love to get out farther.

- I'll tell you what-- where I think would be

some really good fishing

is that point right over there.

- Yeah, you never know what might be hanging out

right near that channel.

- Mm-hmm. I think it might be worth it.

- We just might catch a fish. We'll see.

We'll have to try it soon though.

If you're no longer getting fish,

we have a little bit of reserves left,

and then it's a countdown just to see how long we can last.

I hope we don't get to that point.

*

*

*

- Good day.

We got big plans today

to make massive progress on the cabin.

We're gonna karate chop that thing.

We're gonna be in there before you know it.

*

- Brooke wants to do the fireplace

'cause she's got an idea of what she wants

and how she wants to do it.

- The fireplace will be built out of rocks

straight from the ocean, the flattest rocks I can find,

and it'll be built up probably three feet high

to reflect the heat away from a wooden teepee

that will stand over top of it as--

to act as sort of a chimney.

No way of getting around it, rocks are heavy.

*

And low-energy people shouldn't haul rocks,

but what can you do?

Whew.

- She's always pushing herself,

but we're both burned out a bit.

We need to not work so hard.

She just carried, like, 75 pounds of rocks up here.

Stubborn, stubborn woman.

She's gonna blow out something,

and that'll be it.

- [sighs]

*

- What are you doing?

- I've been adding rocks.

- Let me carry the big ones, please.

- Well, I've been doing it for an hour.

Why don't you just keep doing your thing, and I'll keep--

- 'Cause my thing's a lot lighter than yours,

and I don't want you to blow something out.

- Only blowing out my energy. - That too.

- That's what's blowing right now.

- Just take it easy.

- I'm gonna carry a few more.

I'm just gonna keep going as long as I can.

- She is pushing herself farther than she should.

And this place will just beat her down

if she doesn't watch herself.

[dramatic music]

*

*

*

- Oh, my God.

The worst part of the day is upon me, Ted.

The part of the day where my wet socks

go on my wonderfully dry feet.

Oh, God. Oh, oh!

Cold, wet socks.

*

- We'd like to take the boat out today.

- The boat is pretty awesome.

I mean, it's actually pretty quick.

Given the resources we had, some trees and some wire

and only a 12-foot tarp, it's pretty amazing,

but we're thinking that it's just gonna be too small

to go big distances, too small for two people,

so we're gonna rig it up for one person

and just kind of fish closer,

just the kelp beds just offshore

that we can't quite reach when fishing from shore.

So I'm really excited about it,

and I think it's a really awesome little vessel.

- That's it.

- Good luck. - Thanks.

Where should I try fishing?

- I don't know, man, maybe just over by that kelp out there.

*

- It takes a lot of time to get food,

but the key is just be patient and keep working.

I fish.

Ted forages.

Maybe I catch nothing, but Ted gets enough.

Of course, you got to split that food between two people,

but at least there is some food as opposed to none.

*

Well...

no fish.

Time to call it quits.

Go work on some other stuff.

Oh, that took a lot out of me,

but another test run of the boat going solo.

I'm starting to get worried about this boat

not providing us with more fish.

- Yeah.

- We're not getting enough food out here.

- How much longer can we go like this, Ted?

- I don't know.

- Ten days?

- We need to eat more.

We just-- it's as simple as that, man.

- I feel like we're in the [bleep] or I am anyways.

Like, I just--I just feel like I'm being tortured, you know?

- Yeah.

- It's a slow starve, is what's happening to us.

*

We're starving to death.

*

*

*

- We're getting kind of a late start today.

I think both of us are just really getting tired,

really worn out

from lack of food.

We didn't have any fish yesterday.

We had none the day before,

and it's really catching up with us.

Today we would really like to explore

a different place for fishing.

*

- All right, so we're headed off on our hike to the new,

potentially good fishing spot

all the way around the cove.

Got to work with the tide,

and it's starting to rain on us,

but hopefully it'll work out well today.

*

It's pretty rough walking,

but at low tide you can circle around

and get to a point where the inlet really pinches down.

It could be a great fishing spot.

*

We better watch the tide pretty darn close

while we're out here.

- Yeah. - If we get stuck,

it's gonna be a horrible walk back.

- Yeah, it sure will.

Soon as that tide starts coming in,

we've got to keep an eye on it.

- Yeah. This looks doable right here.

- Right through there?

- Yeah. It's gonna be rough with these fishing rods.

*

- Damn it, I'm stuck.

*

- There you go.

- Holy cow, Sam.

You're killing your old man.

- We're almost there. - I sure hope this is worth it.

*

- How about you start fishing here?

- All right.

*

The tides are not very good.

*

We have to come back before the tide starts coming back in,

or we'll get stuck.

I mean, that could-- that could kill you.

If we can catch a fish, it would be worth it, wouldn't it?

Oh, my God.

Damn if he didn't take my bait again.

There is a sneaky damn fish here.

I'm getting really pissed off.

*

Oh, bitch.

*

Oh, this is frustrating now.

Tide'll probably change soon.

- It's still going out, but it's definitely slowing down.

- Yeah.

Doggone it.

I need to catch this bait-robbing fish.

- I actually did just get a hit.

- Yeah?

- See that?

- Oh, hey!

Oh, oh, oh, oh, no!

- No! - No way!

- No, there goes my first fish.

- Oh, my God, Sam.

- No way. - Oh.

- I cannot believe that.

- You should have just stomped on him.

- He was already down the s--

I woulda just-- I woulda gone right in.

- I tell you what, if it wasn't for bad luck,

you'd have no luck at all.

*

Wonder how long we're gonna be able to stay out here.

Nothing easy about it, that's for sure,

but this is an incredibly unique opportunity,

spending a lot of time with my son.

There'll come a day when he'll get married, have children.

He'll be settled down in a different part of the country,

and then who knows how often we'd be able to see him.

So spending this time with him is just...

invaluable.

*

Got one, Sam.

- Yes! - A nice, big greenling.

- That is what I am talking about.

Get him away from the shore.

[laughter]

- Oh, man, how about that?

*

All the fish we've caught so far has been by me,

and Sam, he hasn't caught a fish yet.

- Hmm, I'm gonna try a new spot.

- You know, Sam is honestly a very good fisherman.

I've seen him catch fish when other people don't.

I think he's being an awful good sport about it.

I think he wishes he could contribute

to our food a little bit,

but sometimes that's how it goes.

- Any more luck? - Yeah, I got one more.

- Nice.

Aww!

It does kind of bother me that I haven't caught any yet.

I don't get it. I mean, back home, you know,

we go fishing, and we're competitive.

Like, we're both turning in numbers,

and now here we are out here, and I can't get anything.

- Got another one, Sam.

- Nice!

- Get any more bites?

- No. - Huh.

Right there where you are

is where I caught that first big one.

- Well, it is frustrating. I like catching fish.

I'd like to be walking back with a stringer of fish.

That would be phenomenal,

but I don't--I don't know what's going on.

I have no idea what's going on.

- I think the tide has turned.

- Oh, we can't get caught out here though.

Let's go ahead and get out of here.

- Well, at least we're not gonna go hungry.

- Yeah, we got a few days' worth.

I mean, what would I be doing if you weren't here?

- I know, what would you be eating?

- Nothing. I wouldn't be eating fish, that's for sure.

*

*

*

*

- Good morning.

It's pretty chilly out.

It was a really harsh night last night.

Rained pretty much all day yesterday,

capped it off with strong winds and some thunder,

but very cold.

- This food situation sucks, eh?

- Yeah.

- It's plaguing us, man.

- This morning we're just headed out

to the cove to try to do some fishing.

- Do you really think we're just--

our bodies are gonna shut down out here?

- Of course, if we're not eating enough, man.

Of course they will.

*

Hopefully we get on some fish.

We don't exactly have the yummiest food in hand,

and fish is definitely a treat out here,

so I do want to get a trotline set today.

That's what we're gonna do without further ado.

*

I'm just at our fishing spot,

and I'm going to set a trotline.

Easier said than done.

My hands are really frozen,

and it's really annoying to try to work them,

but I'm gonna give it a whirl.

I'm gonna tie some wire around this rock

and make a loop in the wire at the end,

and then I'm gonna tie my line to that.

That's what I'm gonna throw into the ocean

with all my hooks on it, and then I'm gonna

tie the line back to, like, a tree branch

or something up here on shore.

*

Somebody has to throw the rock,

and somebody has to have, like, slack

and hold it high,

and then depending on where the hooks are,

we'll, like, tie it up in the tree.

Setting a trotline isn't really as easy

as you might think

'cause there's so many hooks and line that can be tangled,

and then all over the rocks there's barnacles

which can cut your line, and the hooks need to be baited,

and then on top of that there's cracks in the rocks,

and your line gets caught and everything,

so here we are starving hungry in the pitch black again.

- One, two, three. *

Oh, [bleep]!

*

*

I'm really hoping it doesn't get infected

because infection could spell the end for us out here.

*

*

*

- It's cold this morning.

Doesn't feel like when we got here.

There were days when we got here that I wore my t-shirt.

*

I'm a bit tired.

*

What's on the agenda for today?

We're gonna work on the cabin this morning.

I'd love to sleep in there tonight.

A lot to do, better get at it.

*

- [humming]

*

We're back in the woods.

We need poles for the fireplace for our cabin.

We are both just exhausted.

We got to get this cabin done.

So you're taking them over the hill then?

- Yeah. - Oh.

- Whoa. - Oh, boy.

- [laughs]

Go ahead. - Warning.

- [high-pitched] Go ahead. - Nuts in danger.

*

- Does that look about center,

or does it need to come your way a little?

- I think it needs to come my way.

- What do we have to get done to move in?

- First the tarp, let's get the tarp on.

- Are we in the home stretch, do you think?

'Cause if we put the tarp on,

we'll be cutting wood in the rain if we don't make it in.

We're kind of committed once we do that.

- I'm committed to being in there tonight, man.

My spirits would be dashed if we're not in there tonight.

*

- Here's our dilemma with the cabin right now.

We're ready to put the roof on and move our stuff over,

but it has went from beautiful, sunny day,

to now it's just dark and ominous and moody.

[thunder rumbles]

Moving in the rain,

could be pretty awful.

- Are we committed?

- Yeah, I want to do it.

I don't want to be in that place anymore.

*

Wow.

*

- Once the cabin's done,

we're gonna tear down the first shelter.

We're gonna use a lot of the poles

out of that for our bunks.

*

It has went from a beautiful, sunny day

to now it's just dark and ominous and moody.

[thunder rumbles]

And it looks like we're gonna get pounded with rain

in 20, 30 minutes.

- Everything that you do out here is a risk.

It's a calculated thought process

to get from one thing to another.

- I'll figure this out in a minute.

Just get all four corners up.

- You just have to weigh your options and make your choice.

*

You also can't just sit on the bench

and think about it for too long,

or you'll never get anything done.

This is so unbelievable.

It got really dark and ominous,

and now look at it.

It's like fairy tale land. It's beautiful.

Bringing back memories of day one,

built this day one.

I'm proud of this shelter.

- Honey, blue sky.

- I know! I saw it!

It's a good day for moving.

*

Yeah, basically you just fill in the cracks

with the smaller stuff.

It's a lot of work.

Energy is something that is in completely short supply here,

so we definitely don't need to make more work for ourselves.

- We are so close to moving in.

I'm gonna go over, and I'm gonna grab the fire.

I'm bringing my fire.

*

[blowing]

- You got to see the inside.

Oh, my goodness.

Wow, that's really throwing off some heat already.

- Yeah, it feels pretty good.

*

- Looks like a Christmas tree exploded in here.

- I know.

*

- I feel like the cabin was absolutely

the best decision we have made.

It will allow us to just come in at the end of a long day,

and if it's pouring rain, you can sit on a bench

and be dry and be upright,

and there's no leaks.

He's carving our initials into the hearth, the mantel?

I don't know what you call this thing.

You feel secure, and you're dry,

and it's a much happier environment.

So far that risk has paid off.

It's not a losing game right now.

- Add a little more homey touch.

- I think it's pretty endearing after 18 years.

He's carving my initials in the mantel, yay.

- Later on, I'm gonna give her a tattoo.

- Ah, whoo! - It's gonna be my name.

It's gonna be on her cheek like a prison tattoo.

It's gonna be awesome. - I'll take it.

*

We are in the cabin tonight.

We worked our butts off today,

and we're in on our own bunks.

We can walk around.

We got head space, unbelievable.

*

- Ahhh!

Heard flame sound,

and I look up, and the chimney was on fire.

- Every fish we've eaten out here has been my dad.

I have not caught a single fish.

- Yes!

- This is called a yellow brick.

This is how you quit.

- It's gonna be really exciting to check out the crab trap.

It looks like the float is not floating.

No!

The float sunk.

No!

*