Interesting to note here that Martel plays with the notion of time in many ways. He has brought in characters that have changed the time frame from present to past, meaning the narrator retelling Pi's story and then Pi's story as it continues. But there's a more subtle yet interesting way that time is being used.
By telling us that Pi's ordeal at sea lasted 227 days (p. 239) and reinforcing that as seven months, Martel can then mention instances out of the timeline, such as when he catches a turtle, or watches the sharks, without needing to bring in any time frame references other than what would be required to imply the presence of the tiger, and Pi's hold on the lifeboat. Though there is a natural continuation of story as the food supply runs out, or earlier, when the hyena, zebra, and orangutan were still alive, aside from that, there is only the ocean, a boat, a raft, a boy, and a tiger.
Clever, and it also serves another purpose, that of reinforcing that one day would be much the same as another at sea when one is drifting without direction. Now what's that tell us about life and time?
The Lost Children: A Charity Anthology