Jeff Flake takes tech executives on survivalist trip to Marshall Islands

Jeff Flake had a fish on the end of a spear, and the sharks circling him in the blue waters of the Pacific knew it. 

The former Republican senator from Arizona was on his fourth survivalist expedition, this time with a group of tech executives from Utah-based Podium, which offers cloud-based software for businesses.

While a member of Congress, Flake became known for his quirky, "Robinson Crusoe"-style trips to the remote Marshall Islands, starting in 2009. He even participated in a 2014 Discovery Channel show there with fellow Sen. Martin Heinrich, D-N.M.

Flake said the shark moment was one of many that stood out from his most recent trip to Jabonwod, a deserted spate of land that is part of the islands.

The group arrived on the island with few supplies. They had desalination pumps to purify seawater to drink, pole spears and snorkel gear to catch fish, a magnifying glass to start fires, and some machetes, which they used to hack open green coconuts for their milk and meat. They each had a hammock. 

Flake said the group spent their days in the water catching fish, and, at night, they trekked into the island’s jungle interior, hunting and trapping massive coconut crabs. 

On the first day, the group caught a sizable grouper, one of the most substantial meals they had during their five days on the remote island. By about the third day, the low-calorie count started to wear on the group, Flake said, but testing limits is part of the allure of a survivalist trip.

“You're weak and hungry, but you're all sitting around the fire splitting up what small fish you're able to spear or what crab you're able to catch or the coconuts and it is a true team-building exercise,” he said. “You find out what you're made of.”

Flake said he wondered how the tech executives would fare as survivalists going into the trip, but each person quickly found a way to contribute.

“I worried that there would be one or two that might not want to really participate, might want to stay in the hammock all day or not pull their weight, but everybody seemed to find something that they were best at and do it well,” Flake said.

Some excelled at efficiently cracking coconuts, others took to fishing, Flake said. One person in the group ended up administering first aid when a coconut crab hunt resulted in some bad burns.

“We were trying to smoke out a coconut crab from its burrow and a coconut dropped on the ground and splashed the burning coconut oil on his leg and he had some pretty severe blisters from that,” Flake said.

The trip functioned as more than an extreme attempt at team building. Flake said the executives at Podium were interested in assisting residents of the Marshall Islands, who are at risk of being displaced by rising sea levels associated with climate change.

“They said, we do technology. We can't do much about climate change, our little company, but we can help the population be prepared for life elsewhere,” Flake said.

Flake said the company paid to ship about 30 MacBook Pros to Ebeye, one of the more densely populated islands in the Marshall Islands, to set up a mobile computer lab. The company is now working with officials on the island to offer coding courses to residents, Flake said.

“I've long believed that we've got to, particularly Republicans, acknowledge that climate change is happening and that we need to do more,” Flake said. “We ought to work with the international community when we can. Countries like the Marshall Islands, they see it up front and it matters to them, more than it does perhaps us.”

Flake had a mixed record on climate change when he was in Congress, earning only 8% on the League of Conservation Voters’ environmental scorecard, but the one-term senator touted his introduction of revenue-neutral carbon tax bills in the House and Senate.

“As Republicans and conservatives, we believe that markets matter and incentives matter and if you want less of something you tax it,” Flake said. “In this case, if you want less carbon, you tax it.”