How would you survive if you were stranded on an island?

Answer 1

You pretty much have to search the island for all means of food and shelter.

You could survive on an island by drinking coconut milk. Eating the citrus fruits from the trees. Also with the coconut, you can get the coconut oil on and rug it on your skin to prevent sun burn.
Fish if you can and hunt to get meat. Make a rod with materials around you. You can spear for fishes too.

You should try to look around the island and search for human made products that could be useful. Like a tin can. You then can boil water in it.
Find or make a place of shelter and start a fire.

Answer 2

Ways to survive while stranded on an island would be to find a sustainable food and water source that will likely hold out till rescue comes. You would want to find a natural shelter, or build one from items from the environment, in the absence of natural shelter. You would find a source of igniting fires extremely useful. You can take food from the beaches and waters surrounding an island. You might find that your environment is abundant in coconuts, crabs, and other aquatic creatures. Some crabs and small fish make good bait for still bigger fish. You need to make some kind of physical protection for yourself, perhaps a spear or primitive ax or hammer. You have to be imaginative and resourceful to survive and thrive in any situation or any environment you may find yourself in.

Answer 3

For this question I'll assume you mean a somewhat tropical island, and you're stranded there due to a boat or plane wreck.

First off, find any other survivors and start to salvage whatever you can from the wreckage. Take luggage to sort thorough later, bottled water, any food items you can find etc etc. With a little ingenuity many items you find can be used to better your chances of survival.

Next, tend as best you can to wounded survivors and try to find a place to establish a camp. Look for a relatively sheltered location, but not too far inland. Stay near the shoreline so you can signal for rescue and avoid what is probably the more dangerous area of the island (the middle). Be sure you are out of the reach of the tide too. Set up the beginnings of a shelter, using leaves, sticks, and any materials you find from the wreckage.

Put time aside early on to try and locate a source of fresh water on the island. If there are living things there other than you, there has to be some somewhere. When you find it do NOT pollute it, (ie use the restroom far far away from it).

Try your hand at fishing and foraging. There have to be some wild edibles around. Maybe try rigging some traps with thin wire if you have any.

Build a signal fire and be ready to throw damp leaves and such on it to create a billowing plume of smoke at the first sign of a passing ship/plane. Also arrange rocks along the shore in a pattern or message that nature couldn't naturally form. Take anything reflective from the wreck and use it along the shoreline too. If you're lucky enough to find flares, use them very very sparingly.

Go from there, and hope for the best.

Answer 4

Your question is a bit of an oxymoron. A desert island has nothing to do with deserts. It simply means that the island is uninhabited by humans. If there is a human living there, it is no longer a desert island.