Trapped in Paradise

My husband, Lucas and I had planned a romantic weekend get away for Valentines Day. Although I had no idea where we were going Lucas did. All I know is that it's some place warm, with a beach.

I was so excited that I called my best friend, Andrea and her husband Dave. I told them about our romantic get away. Andrea liked it so much she asked if her and Dave could tag along. I said of course considering we are friends, no problem at all. So it was set, the four of us were going on a romantic weekend get away.

Our departure day was fast approaching, and I still had things to do like laundry and packing. Making a list for the kids, both Andrea and I have one, they will be staying together while we are gone. Easier that way, all the kids and pets in one place. Make sure I feed the animals before we go, and remind the kids to do so as well. Make sure things we are not using are unplugged. Make sure there is food and drinks for the kids. Oh and plenty of movies and video games.

The morning of our departure had arrived February 10, 1999; and we were off to the airport. I was a little nervous as this was my first time on a plane. Everyone else had been on a plane many times before, so they weren't as terrified as I was. After awhile the plane ride got better and I started to relax more.

It was going to take us two days to get to this place my husband was keeping a secret. We spent the first night in Italy so beautiful, we were in Paris, France. Here we had a beautiful dinner on an outside terrace, the night was warm and the soft street light was stunning. After our romantic dinner we all went back to the hotel room that over looked the beach. The moon light though the windows was like a candle in the sky. The crashing of the waves was a nice way to end a perfect evening.

In the morning we were off again, I still had no idea where we were going. An 8 hour plane ride with astonishing views led us to a place in Africa called Chad. It was so beautiful I couldn't stop taking pictures. Andrea had always wanted to come here so she was in her glory. We had a beautiful picnic out in the savanna, protected of course. It was so amazing to see all those beautiful animals up close.

Tomorrow we are heading out to our final destination, so we know it has to be an early night, it's just so beautiful and hot. we do a little touring around and see some really amazing things, beautiful paintings and home made trinkets. Of course we buy some stuff to take home to the kids and family. Later that evening we find ourselves hungry and a little thirsty, so we find this kooky little restaurant close to the river. It was perfect, the right music, great food and the drinks weren't to bad either. The price was sure right. We ended the evening with lots of laughs and memories.

Today is the day we arrive at our destination. We are so excited it's unreal. We all got on the plane and had a drink to celebrate and some what cure the hangover. A few hours into the plane ride the pilot announced on the radio that he was experiencing some engine trouble, and not to worry as we were close to our destination and he would try to ride it out. we all got on our safety gear and in our seats and braced ourselves for what could happen next.

We had no clue where we were, or if we were even going to make it. The plane began to jump in the air, turbulence of course but in this situation it seems a little more scary. Suddenly we heard sounds that didn't seam normal, looking out the window we realized that we were going down and fast. The plane started to spiral out of control and we all held on tight and prayed we would be safe.

We hit the ground and slid for what seemed like forever and crashed head first into the biggest tree we have ever seen. Unfortunately the pilot didn't make it, and the plane was on fire so we couldn't call to report the crash. We new at some point it would be reported as a missing plane and we would be reported as missing as well.

We are all ok, a little scared, uninjured thankfully. Other then some minor bumps and burses we were ok. We were upset about the pilot so we looked for his ID so we could tell his family when we got found, If we ever got found... Now to find someone or somewhere to get help. We walk out of the trees to a beautiful beach, palm trees and a beautiful ocean, blue as can be. It's paradise, absolute paradise.

We walk around and not much is here other then some sand and some trees, water of course. We wonder how we are going to get out of here. They should start searching for us soon. So we gathered things for shelter and food and warmth. We built a fire and started to make some kind of shelter from the giant leaves and sticks we had found. Turned out ok, we had shelter for the night and a fire to keep us warm and give us light.

The nights were so peaceful, we would sit in front of the fire and relax, not much else to do on the Island, so we decided to make the most of it. One night sitting in front of the fire we heard a plane, but they didn't see us and we didn't see them. We decided we needed to do something more, we were running out of food.

The next day we had a great idea to make some reflectors out of the scraps of plan. We also gathered more sticks to write SOS in the sand. We gathered rocks to make our fire pit bigger and stronger. We were machines we needed to do what we had to to be saved.

Later on that day we could hear things like boats and fireworks. we could see planes but they just weren't coming close enough to see us. we took another walk around the Island we were on just to see what we could find, we came up empty handed. turns out we were walking around in circles, so we created a path so we would know where we had gone.

The next day was a game changer as we made a path and found nothing but a big hill side that we could not climb over, it was a beautiful rock wall. Tiny little flowers and moss, little worms and butterflies. A fresh water stream was coming off this rock, there had to be life on the other side. But how do we get there...

We decide to walk along the wall and see where it takes us and what we could find. We have to go both ways, so we mark our path at the wall and began our journey. We walked for a few hours and came to the edge of the Island and the rock wall. The water by the rock was to deep to walk or swim through, we would need a raft or something to help us float around the wall. We were getting hungry so we began to make our way back to where we started from and eat, before setting out the other way.

Once back at the site we get ready for our usual supper, we would cook up what ever crabs we could find running around the Island, if any. We would also try and catch some fish, didn't always work out so well, but we tried. we would also have coconuts and berries. Most times the berries were bitter but we found away to make it work, we didn't really have a choice. We had to eat.

A few hours after we eat we begin to set out again, back to the wall we go. Once there we start off in the other direction to see what we can find over there. On this side there is so much more flowers and water running in steams, its so relaxing. We hear a lot more birds chirping and bushes rustling. We have to be getting close to something.

As we get closer to the edge we begin to hear the sound of rushing water, sounds like its moving fast. We come to a beautiful waterfall in the middle of the rock wall. It has a pathway underneath that we can see. We try our best to get to the path but we have to climb some rocks and go through some bushes. We make it behind the waterfall and decide to rest and enjoy this beautiful piece of nature.

A little while later we set back out on out journey and we finally come to the end of the rock wall. Down here we find a small beach that wraps around the wall, so we follow it and it brings us to the other side of the Island. Here is where the fun begins. We see just down the way to the other side of the Island, we see buildings and PEOPLE! We are saved. We did it. So with joy we all start running to civilization.

We head to the first resort we see to ask if we can use the phone, once inside we see that our pictures are there stated as missing. Lucas said that we must have made it to he Island. We talk to the receptionist and she said that we did arrive on the Island Kokomo (Sandals Cay) in Florida, so she contacts the police for us to let them know we are ok, and that the pilot didn't make it. We call home to let the kids know we are ok. Everyone is thankful we are alive. After the experience that we all had, we just wanted to relax and shower. Lucas was so happy that we finally made it to our destination. The resort that we were at gave us a free room and some real food to eat. We were so grateful to be here and alive.

by Kendy Sereda