ISLAND MAGIC

THE ISLANDS OF OUR LIVES by Wayne Dixon “No man is an island,” John Donne wrote, yet islands have played an important part in our lives since our 1960 honeymoon-days in Catalina. What an adventure that was as we flew on a seaplane landing in Avalon bay. We enjoyed our stay so much we went back a second time the following year, to see the flying fish, explore the isthmus, and walk all over what was then the small community atmosphere 53 years ago. We would walk out past the domed ballroom to the now gone St. Catherine’s Hotel for lunch, and to the bird park behind the town of Avalon. Years later we spent our seventeenth anniversary in the Hawaiian Islands. While we were in Oahu, we arranged to fly to the adjacent island of Kauai. We drove all over the island in a rental car with a destination of a historic mission station on the north side. It rained cats and dogs flooding even the bridges. When we arrived the docent wiped the rain from Jean’s face with a Kleenex and asked where we were from. I replied that is was such a small place, she probably never heard of Clovis, near Fresno, California. We were startled when she said it was named for her uncle Clovis Cole! Small world, isn’t it? There are other islands in our lives: Mediterranean islands such as Rhodes, Patmos, Mikonos, each one deserving of a story, at least a visited memory. Rhodes was a medieval memory enshrined in stonework from the days of the Crusades. Walking through the archways on cobbled streets we were transported to days of yore. Taking us back even further in time was Revelation’s cave on the isle of Patmos where the apostle John envisioned the future. And Mikonos the Greek isle was memorable for its white stucco houses and windmills by day and its moon reflected by night. We have Atlantic islands such as Ireland, Iceland and Newfoundland. And what about Great Britain, that sceptered isle? In spite of what they say, Britain is very European regardless of its present detachment. Its gothic architecture rules over all from Westminster Abbey to the stately ruins of Coventry Cathedral. Ireland was as green as Iceland was glacial white in places. Both took your breath away with their unbroken vistas. Newfoundland was just that with some things old, some things new, and blue sky and water over all. No wonder Marconi’s signal could be carried across the Atlantic from Europe. Our Caribbean islands, later in time, included the Bahamas, Jamaica, Roiatan, and Cuba on separate trips. The Caribbean is a world of its own, no matter where you land, the rhythm is the same, and not just the music, but the life-style. Even the Castro brothers could not change that with their Soviet-style regimen. The people set their own relaxed pace in each place. Pacific islands we visited included Orcas Island where we stayed for a week in our RV. Does Japan count as an island, as it’s not a continent? Actually it’s a series of islands. People are always asking me about my favorite island trip, and I will have to say the Galapagos Islands. At first landing it was such a barren, God-forsaken looking place. But I soon learned otherwise as the small ship took us from one Eden to another. No wonder Darwin was impressed. Australia is a continent, but down under is Phillips Island where we braved the rain to watch the penguins come out of the sea at night to migrate to their on shore nesting sites. Then there were African islands, such as the one Nelson Mandela spent 27 years in prison, Robben island. As did President Obama later visit Mandela’s cell, so did we years before off the coast of South Africa. Nor will we forget Isle de Gore off the coast of Senegal where African slaves were transported to the New World in the 18th century. Our island-hopping now continues, to celebrate our fifty-third anniversary on a cruise to Polynesia, with its array of Pacific isles. Did you know that Hawaii alone encompasses seventeen islands, and that the Pacific Ocean includes some 25,000 islands? That ought to keep us busy for awhile!