# Can you get lost in the jungles of Cozumel **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [February 1, 2018, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-get-lost-in-the-jungles-of-cozumel/807975 "2018-02-01T20:07:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2018, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-get-lost-in-the-jungles-of-cozumel/807975/41 "2018-02-02T16:33:51Z")
> [@k9bfriender](#): > > Is that with proper gear? A machete, boots to protect your feet, long shirt sleeves and long thick pants to prevent getting torn up by thorns and even twigs? > > My impression of this guy is short sleeved t-shirt, shorts, and sneakers. Even equipped like that I could cover several miles a day in the nastiest scrub I’ve ever seen. I might be scratched a bit, but I could cover the ground in an emergency. And I’m no athlete. > [@](#): > > Just a light forest is enough to throw off your direction of the sun by quite a bit. When the sun is lower in the sky, it is blocked by more trees, and you will only have a very general idea of where it is. The only time you would be able to get a good bearing on the sun is when it is high enough in the sky that it would be hard to get a good direction from it. You may catch it from time to time to adjust your bearsing, but if you are also following a path of least resistance through the undergrowth, your line will deviate very quickly. Nonsense. As I said, I’ve bushwhacked through tropical forest many times. You can lose your bearings if its cloudy or at mid day but over a period of several days anyone of normal competence would be able to get their bearings from the sun. I know this from more than 40 years of first hand experience working in tropical forests around the world. When I go off trail and don’t have a compass I make sure to note where the sun is as a fail-safe for finding my way back. _It’s really not that difficult._ And you don’t need to go in an exact direction, just keep heading generally one way (within 180 degrees). > [@](#): > > Note to anyone in this situation, BTW, it is much easier to get your bearings by looking at the shadows the sun is casting, rather than the sun itself. In tropical forests you can tell the direction of the sun by looking at the beams of light that shine through the gaps between leaves. But that wouldn’t be necessary in a forest as short as the one he was in because you could generally see the sun directly through the leaves. I also know this from first-hand experience. > [@](#): > > Also, a bit less relevant to this guy, but more important if you are further north, especially in the winter, is that the sun doesn’t go east to west, it goes southeast to south to southwest. So, if you are walking away from it in the morning, and towards in the evening, then you are actually doing more north-south traversal than east-west. It would be irrelevant in this case anyway since it didn’t matter much which direction he walked, as long as he walked in the same direction every day. > [@](#): > > That is when he was fresh. I can run and leap across areas that are a trudge to walk through. I can’t do that for very long though. > > If I thought I was separated from the group, and thought I knew which way to go, I could make pretty good time trying to catch up. > > Once I realized that it wasn’t going to be just a short sprint, then I’d be much, much slower. > > It wouldn’t be that hard for him to cover a good portion of a mile trying to catch up and find the group. There’s an inconsistency there (not to mention special pleading). If the forest was a tough to get through as claimed, he shouldn’t have been able to get far and should have been found. If it wasn’t so tough to get through and he had gotten far from the group, he should have been able to cover more ground every day when he was lost. Once again, it’s not hard to believe someone could be lost for a couple of days. Being lost for almost three weeks on such a small island is bizarre. > [@](#): > > I’m not saying that this guy should win any orientering awards, he obviously has no business by himself in the wilderness. I am not sure, but I get the feeling that there are those who are actually questioning his story. I’m curious as to what nefarious motives are being imagined. As I said, I am not questioning that he was actually lost for that time. It’s just that the scope of his incompetence really is mind-boggling. It really would be a much simpler explanation if he was actively trying not to be found. But as you say, a motive for this would be difficult to fathom, especially back in 1993 when the story would have gotten less attention than it does now due to the internet. What I’d really like to see is a program called _How Could You Be That Dumb?_ for stories like this one. ---
**Author:** ![harmonicamoon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/65b543/32.png) [@harmonicamoon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/harmonicamoon)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2018, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-get-lost-in-the-jungles-of-cozumel/807975/42 "2018-02-02T16:59:52Z")
> [@Walken\_After\_Midnight](#): > > He wasn’t in a zoo. Okay, I’ve been trying hard to keep it out of the discussion, but it looks like I’m being forced by all of you to post a link to Bear Grylls drinking the water from some wild elephant dung. [Here it is](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R25Eflr0oJ8) - I hope you all find whatever you were looking for by watching it… My point being there are no elephants in Cozumel. Unless at a zoo or a circus. Unless the dung was shipped in and planted there, he would have no access to the poop. Too many holes in this story. Obviously he is full of shit. But it ain’t elephant shit. ---
**Author:** ![Spiderman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiderman/32/230_2.png) [@Spiderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiderman)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2018, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-get-lost-in-the-jungles-of-cozumel/807975/43 "2018-02-02T17:16:54Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > From[this article](https://www.questia.com/newspaper/1P2-32821875/menu-4-fish-1-lizard-1-crab-man-lost-40-pounds) Headline states he had 4 fish, 1 crab, & 1 lizard & lost 40 lbs. In my experience, fish are found in water. Did he find a pond in the middle of the forest, because if it was a stream he could have followed that out. Even if it meandered the island (& by extension the forested part of the island) aren’t that big. Or, did he catch them in the ocean & then go back into the woods at night? :rolleyes: > [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > Here is the (horribly OCRed) text from [a different newspaper article](https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/147950857/) from 1993: This article (well the free preview) states he lost “about 50 pounds”. Is this like the story of the fish that got away that gets bigger & bigger w/ each telling of it? ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2018, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-get-lost-in-the-jungles-of-cozumel/807975/44 "2018-02-02T17:17:32Z")
A man should always know his limitations. Even though I grew up in Alaska and have been through numerous map-and-compass courses in the military and was taught basic survival skills, my sense of direction sucks ass. I could get lost in my front yard. Since I know my limitation in this regard, I never venture off beaten paths, regardless of temptation, unless I’m with a competent guide, like, say, my wife at Costco. ---
**Author:** ![Wilson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/96bed5/32.png) [@Wilson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wilson)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2018, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-get-lost-in-the-jungles-of-cozumel/807975/45 "2018-02-02T18:44:00Z")
I’ve never even been to Cozumel! Or did the ordeal take so much out of me that I supressed the memory? I did lose my hotel room key card on Isla Mujeres once… ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2018, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-get-lost-in-the-jungles-of-cozumel/807975/46 "2018-02-02T19:09:43Z")
> [@Wilson](#): > > I’ve never even been to Cozumel! Or did the ordeal take so much out of me that I supressed the memory? Weren’t you lost on an island with Tom Hanks once? ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2018, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-get-lost-in-the-jungles-of-cozumel/807975/47 "2018-02-02T19:13:34Z")
> [@Spiderman](#): > > Headline states he had 4 fish, 1 crab, & 1 lizard & lost 40 lbs. In my experience, fish are found in water. Did he find a pond in the middle of the forest, because if it was a stream he could have followed that out. Even if it meandered the island (& by extension the forested part of the island) aren’t that big. > Or, did he catch them in the ocean & then go back into the woods at night? :rolleyes: Cozumel, like the Yucatan, is made of limestone. This means that there would be little surface water and probably no permanent streams. (I could believe he would have trouble finding drinking water in this kind of terrain, but the articles don’t seem to mention thirst as one of his major problems.) Limestone erodes easily which would make the terrain more difficult to walk through, but not impassable. The fact that he caught some fish implies that he made it to the coast, but it’s unclear how many days it took him to get there. The [Blue Land Crab](http://blog.playapalms.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/bluecrab_street.jpg) in my experience is abundant on many Caribbean islands even away from the coast and they are considered good eating. They might have been less tasty uncooked but still they should have been a plentiful food source. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2018, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-get-lost-in-the-jungles-of-cozumel/807975/48 "2018-02-02T19:32:37Z")
Another basic survival tactic if lost in the woods is to break branches and throw fresh leaves on the ground as you move along. This will enable you to see if you are returning to where you’ve been before, as well as enable searchers to follow you. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2018, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-get-lost-in-the-jungles-of-cozumel/807975/49 "2018-02-02T19:36:38Z")
Green and black iguanas are also found on Cozumel and would be good eating. They can be pretty fast but I’ve caught small green iguanas by hand. ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2018, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-get-lost-in-the-jungles-of-cozumel/807975/50 "2018-02-02T20:35:45Z")
Everyone talks about food, but the real killer in survival situations is hypo|hyperthermia and dehydration. What was this guy drinking for 3 weeks? This story doesn’t add up. There are plenty of places in the world where you can wander off the path, get turned around, and never be seen again. Cozumel doesn’t seem to be one of those places. I mean, sure, you could wander off and trip over a branch and smash your head open and then some hiker finds your picked skeleton a year or two later. Or fall into a cenote. But if you can walk, on Cozumel all you have to do is hit a beach, and then pick a direction. ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2018, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-get-lost-in-the-jungles-of-cozumel/807975/51 "2018-02-02T21:17:14Z")
> [@Lemur866](#): > > Everyone talks about food, but the real killer in survival situations is hypo|hyperthermia and dehydration. > > What was this guy drinking for 3 weeks? That part’s not so hard. It’s a rain forest, it rains. Trees have leaves and there are other places where water collects. Not optimal, but water would be the easiest of his foragings. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2018, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-get-lost-in-the-jungles-of-cozumel/807975/52 "2018-02-02T21:44:03Z")
> [@k9bfriender](#): > > Not optimal, but water would be the easiest of his foragings. What are his other three agings? Okay, that would have worked better with spoken conversation… ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2018, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-get-lost-in-the-jungles-of-cozumel/807975/53 "2018-02-02T21:52:26Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > What are his other three agings? I believe it is 4 legs, 2 legs, 3 legs. ---
**Author:** ![Wilson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/96bed5/32.png) [@Wilson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wilson)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2018, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-get-lost-in-the-jungles-of-cozumel/807975/54 "2018-02-02T22:14:49Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > Weren’t you lost on an island with Tom Hanks once? No, but I once was Tim Allen’s nextdoor neighbor… ---
**Author:** ![Crazyhorse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crazyhorse/32/31_2.png) [@Crazyhorse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crazyhorse)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2018, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-get-lost-in-the-jungles-of-cozumel/807975/55 "2018-02-02T22:15:30Z")
The fact that he managed to get so far away from his group so quickly indicates he began in a cleared area with a path. How he managed to push deeper and deeper into thick undergrowth without realizing he must be going the wrong way is a mystery. Underground water is plentiful all over the region and there are openings to the underground springs all over the place. Falling into one of those openings is more likely to be a problem than going thirsty. If there was any rain at all which is pretty much a given in July it also pools in crevices in the above ground rocks which are everywhere. As noted if he found the beach at all he was home free. He could walk the beach until he reached civilization no matter what sunlight or other signals he overlooked. If he got to the beach and then turned around and walked back into the jungle he was really trying for a Darwin award at that point. It is fairly hostile terrain especially if he wasn’t prepared for it. Wearing boots and packing a machete it isn’t very difficult at all but I could see someone in flip flops and shorts getting really torn up with thorns and stung by all manner of insects. The fact is a small Mayan kid could walk right through there even wearing flip flops though. I would be much more worried about snakebites than getting lost. ---
**Author:** ![CBEscapee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b19c9b/32.png) [@CBEscapee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CBEscapee)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2018, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-get-lost-in-the-jungles-of-cozumel/807975/56 "2018-02-07T03:04:53Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > Rain in the tropics generally occurs in the form of heavy but brief thunderstorms that may last an hour or two tops. The rest of the day, especially the morning, is partly cloudy to sunny. Even in August there is an average of 10 hours of sunlight per day on Cozumel. Given tropical weather conditions I’m certain that over a period of several days there would have been ample sunlight for a competent person to travel in a consistent direction. My family is from the coast of Jalisco. The area shares the same rainy season as Cozumel. There are times during the rainy season, June through October, when it can be overcast for days at a time if there is a tropical weather formation near the coast. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2018, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-get-lost-in-the-jungles-of-cozumel/807975/57 "2018-02-07T04:28:16Z")
> [@CBEscapee](#): > > My family is from the coast of Jalisco. The area shares the same rainy season as Cozumel. There are times during the rainy season, June through October, when it can be overcast for days at a time if there is a tropical weather formation near the coast. A couple of days is not three weeks. Like I said, being lost for a couple of days wouldn’t be that strange. Being lost for nearly three weeks takes massive incompetence. And even when it’s overcast, the general direction of the sun can usually be told especially early in the morning and later in the afternoon. And that would be all you would need. He didn’t need to navigate an accurate course of 270 degrees, all he had to do was walk generally east or west. ---
**Author:** ![CBEscapee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b19c9b/32.png) [@CBEscapee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CBEscapee)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2018, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-get-lost-in-the-jungles-of-cozumel/807975/58 "2018-02-07T13:31:42Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > A couple of days is not three weeks. Like I said, being lost for a couple of days wouldn’t be that strange. Being lost for nearly three weeks takes massive incompetence. And even when it’s overcast, the general direction of the sun can usually be told especially early in the morning and later in the afternoon. And that would be all you would need. He didn’t need to navigate an accurate course of 270 degrees, all he had to do was walk generally east or west. My point was that the rains don’t always follow the pattern of afternoon showers as you mentioned. Just trying to fight ignorance is all. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2018, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-get-lost-in-the-jungles-of-cozumel/807975/59 "2018-02-07T16:19:03Z")
> [@CBEscapee](#): > > My point was that the rains don’t always follow the pattern of afternoon showers as you mentioned. Just trying to fight ignorance is all. I never said they did: > [@Colibri](#): > > Right. It **rarely** stays overcast all day long in a tropical forest. > [@Colibri](#): > > Rain in the tropics **generally** occurs in the form of heavy but brief thunderstorms that may last an hour or two tops. Bolding mine. At the height of the rainy season in Panama in October and November we can get drizzling rain and overcast skies for a few days in a row. But not more than that, and as I said you can normally at least tell which direction the sun is rising or setting even when it’s overcast. “Not being able to see the sun” is no explanation for how the guy could have been lost for 19 or 20 days. “Not understanding how to walk in one direction using the sun as a guide” is. ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2018, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-get-lost-in-the-jungles-of-cozumel/807975/60 "2018-02-07T16:22:21Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > “Not being able to see the sun” is no explanation for how the guy could have been lost for 19 or 20 days. “Not understanding how to walk in one direction using the sun as a guide” is. It’s hard. I keep trying to put myself in that position, without knowing everything that I do know, and trying to figure out how I would do. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-get-lost-in-the-jungles-of-cozumel/807975.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-get-lost-in-the-jungles-of-cozumel/807975.md?page=4)