Minus' Solution to

Deserted Dessert Island
Posted July 7 - 13, 1997

Bonnie and Denise take the raft to the island together.
Denise paddles the raft back to the mainland.
Denise picks up Annabel and they paddle to island.
Annabel stays on the island, and Denise takes the raft back to the mainland again.
Denise gets out of the raft and Chuck gets in and paddles to the island by himself.
Chuck gets out of the raft and Annabel gets in and paddles back to the mainland by herself.
She picks up Denise, and they travel to the island again. Now, all four can dine and digest as they please.

When the four friends decide to return to the mainland, they will need the raft to hold the weight of the second-heaviest and the lightest. That will be the combined weight of Denise and Bonnie, which will be 145 + 98 = 243 pounds. They will exceed the recommended weight limit of 230 pounds by 13 pounds. (Let's hope the raft is made of hefty rubber!)

Alexander Williams [awilliams@vacationtime.net] knows a thing or two about cooking for hungry sharks. He came up with a slight variation to Minus' recipe, but it's still every bit as tasty. Minus also liked how Alexander got around the travelers' weight problem. Hmm...are you a travel agent, Alex?

Annabel and Denise go across and Denise comes back across. Chuck then goes across by himself. Annabel comes back across. Then Annabel and Denise go across again and Denise comes back to pick up Bonnie. Bonnie and Denise go across; now all four are across.

After eating all the sweets, and they attempt to come back the same way they went across, the only time the weight limit will be exceeded is when Bonnie and Denise go across at the end; the weight limit will be exceeded by 13 pounds. However, after Annabel and Denise go across the second time, Bonnie could go across by herself; Annabel could come back, and Annabel and Denise could go across together again for the third time.