The Miraculous Green Light

I was half asleep being rocked back and forth gently as the ocean waves lapped against our boat. The night had been rough, lightning cracked all around us in hot, white, long strands of electricity. The sheets of water crashed over us and the wind threatened to rip us out of the boat and out into the sea. It was calm now and finally we were relieved to get some rest before we carried on. A warm breeze blew softly now. I looked around lazily checking around us, I decided all was well and fell back to sleep...

I was thankful we all woke to a clear night, the stars twinkled brilliantly above our heads like diamonds against a black sky. A huge full orange moon lit the ocean for miles.

There were four of us , Jimmy, Tim, Topher (short for Christopher) and myself, Jack Marsden. We decided to steal my dad’s boat and head out to sea one Saturday morning. We planned to search for an area we found in an old book I found in my parents' attic. The soft leather-bound book was tucked inside the attic eaves. It was dated 1801,and contained hand drawn maps to an island !

We knew if we asked permission to explore the area we would be told no, so we unanimously voted to head out and take our licks when we returned home. We did however leave a note explaining our mission. We were all just fifteen years old and figured this was our last summer before we had to buckle down and get jobs.

Topher exclaimed “Oh man Jack, your dad is gonna kill us!” “We are so far from home, man!”

Topher never worried or cared. Footloose, that was Topher. But even he was concerned ,we were all a little unnerved about how far out in the ocean we were, in every direction there was nothing but miles of water.

“Come on guys we made it this far right?” but secretly I was worried my dad was going to kill me!

Jimmy and Tim nodded in agreement. Jimmy and Tim's father owned a boat store, they grew up on the ocean, that was their “expertise.” Topher was a pro at fishing and knew tons of survival tactics from practically raising himself. And me well “I read books, maps and history mainly anything I could get my hands on.” We reasoned our collective knowledge could get us through any circumstances that might arise.

We had been on the water for a week. It was a small miracle after the storm that we were still on course, I hoped? “Jimmy, what are the chances we are still on course?”

“I don't think we did too bad Jack , the compass still says we are heading Southeast.”

Tim was busy reading the maps and checking latitudes and longitudes,” I think Jimmy's right, we are good Jack.”

The tension washed away and we were ready to continue on our way. The old tattered book claimed there was a miraculous green light that surrounded the island and the treasures it contained were bountiful. We were traveling into an area where the Spanish had surely been. It hadn't occurred to us that if the book was written in the 1800’s the treasure was probably long gone. The book was signed by my great grandfather, maybe he intended for an ancestor to find it? The possibilities were endless.

We set out at first light navigating our way peacefully. Occasionally a few blue whales would maneuver very close making us nervous. They were huge next to our small fishing boat, swimming underneath us from time to time. We held our breath collectively and would let out a whew! after they passed.

We told stories about girls we knew of course exaggerating terribly. We would fall into peals of laughter telling one another that they were” full of canal water.” Topher would tell exciting stories that had us on the edge of our seats and then I believe he would say something outrageous purposely to be able to come clean. We would roar with laughter when we realized once again we had been had, I knew it was the best time of our lives.

We continued on, the anticipation building with every mile. Then it appeared, the island! We all stood, this was our shining moment we had made it. We sped up then slowed as we approached the shores watching carefully for rocks and sandbars. We feared we wouldn't find a place close enough to anchor safely. Then a spot presented itself as if it was meant to be.

The island was beautiful, an azure blue ocean surrounded it. The sand was as white as snow. The palm trees stretched to the heavens, coconuts dropped from the trees every so often. There were magenta flowers here and there on a backdrop of dark leafy green vegetation. Seagulls flew overhead calling out to each other.

We were in the right spot. We dropped the anchor and we swam to shore with a few supplies. We would make camp quickly before dark and set out in the morning. We were dying to explore that very night but we had no idea what dangers loomed on the island.

“Well if we live until tomorrow I'll see you losers in the morning,'' said Tim.” he laid down on the sand ready to sack out for the night.

Jimmy replied “We will be alright, it's just gonna be dark as hell in a few minutes.”

A few minutes passed but it wasn't really dark? We looked out to the sea and there was the miraculous green light the book had mentioned. It glowed so brightly it lit up the perimeter of the beach it seemed to glint and sparkle as the waves rolled passed it to the shore. We ran into the water but realized it was farther from the shore than it appeared. We sat on the beach marveling at the light while we discussed the jewels and gold we were sure to find. Finally we wore out our tongues talking and got comfortable on the sand to rest as much as possible before the morning arrived.

The next morning Tim yelled 'let's go!” loudly to wake the others.

I knew he was as excited as I was to get started. We followed the beach until we found an opening in the palms and headed in. We had discussed snakes, spiders and the like on our voyage, we were on high alert for any predators.

We walked about ten miles when we found a huge waterfall , rainbows shown in the sun as it poured refreshing white water from a cliff hundreds of feet above, it was our first landmark. We headed to the east of it and rounded a rock ledge.

We walked until we were so tired and hungry we had to rest for a bit. It was then we foolishly realized we would have to camp in the dense thick vegetation with no tents or sleeping bags. Our calculations showed we were not far from the cave we were looking for on the map, so we decided to continue on.

We hiked until nightfall and when we saw our destination there were lights???

Suddenly a scruffy looking man yelled “what the hell are you doing out here?” “Hurry, follow me,'' he barked. We followed, being kids, it wasn't hard to obey orders.

‘Topher whispered, “ I think we can take him.” I almost laughed because it was true. He was a small man I figured to be in his seventies.

The man took a fatherly tone when he saw we were kids. “You're lucky you weren't killed out there!”

We were dumbfounded.

“Sooo what are you doing here?” he asked.

I took out the wet book from my back pocket and the guys started yelling “no! noooo!”. The man now looked startled. I handed it over and he beckoned us to sit down.

Jimmy said “do you live here?” The man looked at him and laughed, and answered sarcastically “apparently.” He examined the book and the maps without uttering a word. Finally he asked “who wrote this?”

I piped up and said” it was my great grandfather.” He nodded and went back to reading.

He then stood abruptly and got some jerky and vegetables out of a small cupboard and put them out on the table, he told us to eat , he also supplied us with a pitcher of water and apologized that he only had two cups.

Well for what it's worth Jack you and your friends made a tremendous journey at such a young age. We looked from one to the other stunned.

“How do you know my name?”

The man smiled and said “ I read this book a very long time ago when I was about your age, which is how I came to be here.”” I am your cousin Albert Marsden named after your great grandfather.” I'm afraid the treasure that was located on this island was never found and rumored to have never existed.

Jimmy practically yelled “how do we know you don't have it?”

Albert laughed and said “son do I look like I have it?” Jimmy looked down at his feet, looking ashamed. “ The truth is there is nothing here but a big pile of sea lettuce.”

Topher asked “ Is that the green glow of light around the island?”

“No, that's entirely something else.”

Albert explained that it was bioluminescent algae and it would have appeared to be quite magical in the 1800’s because they may not have known what it was back then.

“I'm sorry boys”, I know you're disappointed.

We turned in for the night, tired and grumpy, but we were safely inside, thankfully.

Albert sat up alone pondering for a few hours, he mused “what should I do?” Should I tell them the island's secret? Albert had held some information back from Jack and his friends and he had to make an important decision by morning.

The next morning Albert was gone but there was a note explaining he radioed the mainland. On the table was a detailed map left for us.. We were pleased there was something we could do to salvage our quest. We set out again and followed cousin Albert’s map that led behind a smaller waterfall. We carefully walked under the falls and there on the map it said

”dive in!”

We laughed and one after another we dove into the bluest water we had ever seen. It was glorious.

Albert appeared on the side of the cenote smiling and he said “Boys this was the treasure great grandfather Albert had found, beautiful blue water.” It is a treasure worth more than any jewel and it should be respected and coveted in every part of the world. There is nothing more important to our survival.

I am the caretaker of this island and Jack someday you may want to spend some time here to protect and oversee our family's land. Jack looked at his friends with huge eyes.

Albert proclaimed, “It is in trust, it may never be sold but it may be enjoyed for generations to come! You weren't supposed to be informed until your eighteenth birthday but I think you will be mature enough to keep your family secret. And of course your friends will be allowed to visit as long as they do as well.” We all agreed vigorously and thanked Cousin Albert profusely.

Then something occurred to Jack; “How much trouble am I going to be in when I get home!? “

Albert laughed and said “from what I could tell A LOT!”

Jack sank briefly under the water to illustrate he was done for, everyone laughed.

We studied hard in school after our return. Each of us chose to focus on the environment when we began college a few years later. It appears the trip had been our destiny.

We visited often and never minded our 'big pile of sea lettuce' one bit!