Journey Along the Blue Lagoon
by
Book Cover & Preview Text
In the summer of 1960 we were preparing to return to school when we experienced a devastation that will be in our memories until the day we die. The weatherman mentioned a hurricane headed toward the
The atmosphere surrounding the island was covered with dark clouds all across the sky. The unusual climate was beyond normal. The wind was much stronger than usual and it was coming from the westward direction, which aroused curiosity since it usually blew out of the east. It made us ask ourselves, “Why was the wind and the sky feeling and looking so strange?” As a young lad and curious, I asked Mother for some explanation, to which she gave tales of the horror of hurricanes past. I had very little memory of a hurricane that hit the island in 1950, when I was about three years old, but from the distressing stories I had heard over the years, and the queer feeling of the atmosphere, fear pondered within me.
While I evaluated the surroundings, the birds and animals acted in a very bizarre manner. The birds flew nervously around the air, going from tree to tree, ruffling their feathers and making sounds I never heard before. The animals ran and jumped around; they acted in a very restless manner, as if they sensed that some sort of danger was about to strike. The lagoon went wild; the waters rose far beyond the shores, and five-foot waves with whitecaps raged across the surface. The bows of the boats that anchored along the shore bounced up and down upon high waves. The boat owners waited patiently to see what path the hurricane was about to take. Unfortunately, however, the great storm took the path directly toward the Leeward Islands, of which
The boat owners made preparations for the safety of their vessels. The cargo boats were safeguarded far from the shore, secure by heavy anchors. There, the big boats battled the mountain waves as they rode out the dangerous storm, hoping for the best. And the fishing boats were situated in a place the owners hoped would be a safe area, a path the fishermen dug out among the mangroves. The sense was that the thickness of the mangrove would break the force of the strong wind before getting to the boats, thereby protecting them.
In all areas of the village, the sound of pounding hammers could be heard; everyone was securing their homes by covering up the windows, reinforcing the doors and roofs. Also, the natives packed the grocery shops, hoping to stock up on food, and kerosene fuel for the lamps, flashlights and batteries.
The wind started to become stronger, almost furious; the tree branches tossed to and fro, some branches even swept the ground. The leaves scattered all through the sky.
The weatherman’s hour-by-hour message was that the Leeward Islands were about to be attacked by Hurricane Donna; it was headed more in the direction of
Mother sent me to stay with my father during the hurricane. She felt that I would be safer at his stone-wall house rather than with her in our two-room home.
At about one o’clock in the afternoon, the full force of the hurricane started to bear down on the islands. At that time, all the occupied houses were battened down and everyone was safely in their homes. From inside the house, with no electricity and the kerosene lamp the only light, we could hear the raging, roaring sound of the wind, the whistling sound from miles around. Every now and then we could hear objects of some sort slamming into the outside walls of the house. We all got a little frightened at the sounds. Meanwhile, the men kept a close eye on the roof and prayed that it would stay intact.
As the horror of the great storm raged on, my thoughts were on my mother and brothers, who stayed in our two-room home. I wondered and prayed that they would be safe.
After Donna terrorized the island for hours, suddenly there was a calm. I asked if the hurricane has passed. The reply was, “The center of the storm is passing.” During that time, the men quickly went outside to analyze the damage because the next half of the hell-raising storm was sure to come. So the men did their best as expected due to the shortness of time before the storm resumed its fury. They again reinforced the doors, windows and roofs.
Up to that period of time in 1960, there was no telephone on the island, therefore, communication had to be done by going from house to house. During that brief period of calm, many people hustled around the village to make sure family members and elderly residents had made it safely through the first part of the storm.
Formats
Book Details
About the Book
Journey Along the Blue Lagoon” tells the story of author Vincent Punter’s days growing up on the little British Colonial
As a boy, he witnessed the rapid changes his island and its people underwent in their move toward modernization: the graduation from horse and cart to motorized transportation; from kerosene oil lamps to electricity; from news of the outside world entering only via transistor radio to watching it all on television.
“Journey Along the Blue Lagoon” captures the struggles his family endured to survive in an economy of little opportunity, and how it was all held together somehow by the strength and fortitude of his mother, Emily, an enterprising soul who scratched out ways — from vending crabs, homegrown vegetables and handmade charcoal, to making brooms — to support her four children.
Although there were always money worries, the island’s culture provided plenty of communal traditions that buoyed the spirits and celebrated life on the little paradise inhabitants called home, which they embraced with joy. Music always accompanied the picnics, cricket matches, boat races, dances and festivals, often held under the full, red glowing moon of the Caribbean’s star-strewn sky.
But “progress” was not gained without its price. Mr. Punter allows the reader to decide whether Barbuda was better off in its old-fashioned, backward ways or stepping into the modern world. What is clear, however, is that his memories of golden boyhood days, in a small village of less than 2,000, have left an indelible mark on his heart.
About the Author
Vincent Alexander Punter was born in
In 1969, Mr. Punter came to the
He attended
Mr. Punter has been writing for more than 35 years. His published works include “The Great Oak Tree” in the 1998 anthology, “National Library of Poetry,” and a collection of short stories published in 2002, entitled “Straight from the Heart.” His poems, short stories and news articles were regularly featured throughout the 1970s in the Barbuda Voice, the island’s local newspaper.
Mr. Punter has been married to his wife Zenith for more than 35 years. Together they have seven children and three grandchildren.