VLADIVOSTOK, February 13, 6:30 /ITAR-TASS/. The Pacific Ocean since the times of Thor Heyerdahl has become more of a desert, Russia’s prominent traveller Fedor Konyukhov says.
He is in the middle of the ocean now, on board the Turgoyak (solo row boat), 1,000 miles from Fatu Hiva Island (the Marquesas Islands).
On Wednesday late in the afternoon he said during communication with Moscow that he managed to catch a small squid.
“Back in 1947, on Thor Heyerdahl’s raft jumped tuna, and his crew collected baskets of flying fish and fried them; I can only dream about such profusion,” Konyukhov said.
“Nowadays the Pacific Ocean is a desert, there are no flying fish, and thus no tuna, dolphins or sharks. I keep daily notes, but I do not have much to register there,” the traveller said.
Konyukov said he had covered 70 miles on the previous day. The wind in the region is stable, from the east, 15 knots, the waves are 2-2.5 metres high, the boat goes very quickly.
Fedor said he was fastened to the boat with a security belt all the time not to drop overboard. “It is very complicated even for a good swimmer to catch up with a boat in a stream, so I’d rather not take risks.