Voyage of the Destiny's Dreams to the Mystery Islands

Captain Alfonse Belanger caught his breath. He felt the light morning breeze and smelled the salt air.

His eyes scanned the vast ocean stretching to the west. The distant coastal mountains of South America rose in the east.

It was the year 1898 on the ship called Destiny's Dreams. 

Soon they would reach the islands of unusual creatures, somewhere beyond the horizon.

On the deck of the vessel, the sailors discussed him.

“He’s an odd sort.”

“Odd is fine with me.”

“He performed the marriage for Isabella and me.”

“Ever see how he goes into a trance-like face?”

“Yes. Mornings. Dawn mostly. Sometimes at night.”

“What’s he looking at then?”

“Maybe just thinking.”

“What about?”

“Who knows."

Captain Alfonse sometimes heard the crew talking. He paid no attention. Being different was good.

He liked to gaze into the distance, feeling a sense of rapture at the ocean's beauty.

It was a balmy day, and his blue, yellow, and red parrot grasped Captain Alfonse’s shoulder with agile claws.

Nearby his Capuchin monkey crawled up the side of the wheelhouse.

They were rescued animals, found wounded and perishing. The crew brought them back to the captain, while Destiny's Dreams was anchored in a wide river surrounded by jungle in South America.

They knew Captain Alfonse was very interested in animals. His skills with the sick or injured were known to the crew members.

The broken wing on the parrot healed

and it chose not to fly away. It became the captain’s companion.

The baby capuchin monkey was tiny, and falling from the mother’s back while high in the trees left it stunned and injured.

After the captain placed it on cozy, soft rags in the galley, the cooks fed it fluids, and later soft foods.

The peoples’ presence was imprinted on the monkey, so it thought they were its parents or family. The little monkey would not know how to survive in the jungle. 

Rio the monkey, River in English, became the companion of the galley cooks, bringing smiles with antics and funny facial expressions.

That morning the square white canvas sails filled with wind and rippled on the three masts of the ship. The hull rode smoothly over the light waves.

“Only a few days, then we’ll drop anchor in that bay at Mystery Islands, catch fresh fish to eat, and take the surfboats to explore those curious animals on the islands,” said Adelberto, the navigator.

“I’ve never seen anything like the animals there in my travels.” Captain Alfonse’s eyes shined with anticipation.

“Since ancient times, we may be among the few people who have seen these odd creatures.” He felt a rush of thankfulness for this rare opportunity.

“Bringing the expedition of scientists to study the islands will make this even more intriguing.” He loved filling his mind with new thoughts and ideas.

“Are these creatures dangerous?”

Adelberto pictured monsters overwhelming the decks of the Destiny’s Dreams.

“Maybe. But we’ll be safe.”

“What if they have monsters in the ocean there?” Captain Alfonse glanced over at Adelberto.

“I’ve anchored there before. We had no problems."

The scientists on board the Destiny’s Dreams gathered everyday on the deck to discuss and argue their ideas, sometimes bursting into loud conflicts.

Voices became tense. But the captain could tell the scientists enjoyed their arguments. He liked to listen to them.

He, too, wondered how these unique animals happened to live on the bare, mostly rocky islands.

Captain Alfonse heard the scientists talking.

“Those animals were brought here by ancient ships.”

“No, they are not found anywhere else in the world.”

“But we don’t know that. We have not been everywhere.”

“Where did they come from then?”

“Are they dangerous? Will they attack us?”

“Previous explorers said they were unafraid of humans and friendly.”

“Are they poisonous?”

“Earlier scientists said no one was bitten or attacked.”

“Could they be from deep in the Amazon rainforest and somehow they got transported here?”

While they debated, the Destiny’s Dreams made creaking sounds. The old ship rocked and waves splashed against the hull.

Built 50 years ago, it was an abandoned, half wrecked boat when Captain Alfonse began working on it.

He supervised the repairs and renovations himself.

Captain Alfonse, the son of another captain, rebuilt the ship to be a place where sailors wanted to work, instead of a vessel where sailors jumped ship to escape while they were in port.

The painful journeys the captain experienced as a child on board his father’s ship were a vivid memory.

Alfonse had vowed to be different.

After he grew up, Alfonse realized one benefit of experiencing those hard times was that he knew precisely what he did not want. 

His later successes were because he avoided the path his father had taken and blazed a new trail for himself in life.

He felt happy when he was able to make others feel happy too, including his pets, Rio the monkey and Floresta, the bird.

 While Alfonse was growing up and learning the craft of being captain of a large vessel, his imagination made visions of ways to make shipboard life more appealing and comfortable.

He would be different. After he grew up, he found the old ship beginning to rot in a bay. It was abandoned where it had shipwrecked while crossing the sandbar at a river’s mouth to an inland port.

He rescued the ship that was half sunk next to the shore, and enticed sailors to come work on her with his stories of the dreams he had for her.

He named her Destiny's Dreams.

As work on the boat progressed, he met with traders and signed up for imports and exports along the west coast of the Americas and Latin America.

Some said he was losing his senses. He was ridiculed by other captains.

But they stopped laughing at him and gazed with respect and awe when they saw the graceful clipper ship sail speedily down the river and into the port.

There, Alfonse added furnaces, coal, a steam engine, and a smokestack. Now if the winds died down the boat could continue traveling by steam power.

Alfonse forged new pathways with his inventive ideas.

It was easy for his crew members to forget their difficult experiences on other ships.

They became accustomed to the more comfortable and rewarding work on the Destiny’s Dreams.

Despite being an unsung hero, Alfonse was often filled with gratitude each morning, when he looked across the stretches of sea and over the coastal mountains in the distance.

The predawn glow of color, and the rising of the sun in the east casting its light, also seemed to cast a light on Captain Alfonse. 

His heart was filled with a sense of wonder and anticipation for what the new day would bring. 

 The February seas off the western coast of South America were kind, and the weather in the southern hemisphere was mild. Far above the equator off North America in the Pacific Northwest, winter rain and wind storms were raging.

But now was the time for peaceful, warm sailing with good winds, and few needs to start up the coal fired steam power of the vessel.

The days passed. Then at dawn Captain Alfonse Belanger stood above the wheelhouse on the highest deck.

Across the sea, to the west on the horizon, rose several shadows in the glimmers of the rising sun’s light.

“The mystery islands.” Alfonse spoke to Rio, and the colorful bird climbing along the captain’s arm paused, cocked his head, and said, “eeerrrr eeee iii aaaaa.”

The captain stroked the soft feathers on top of Rio’s head, and the bird rubbed his head and neck against the captain’s roughened hand.

Foresta the monkey was climbing a thick lanyard toward the sails as if it was a tree.

“Down boy. Come here.” The captain slapped his leg with one hand. The monkey flew to his side.

Reaching into his pocket, the captain brought out a handful of treats. Rio flapped his wings at Foresta. The captain threw Foresta’s treats on the deck while hand feeding Rio.

“Edelberto.” His voice boomed.

“Here. What is it?” Edelberto, the navigator, climbed up on to the deck above the wheelhouse.

The captain nodded at the western horizon.

“Land. I’ll prepare the crew.”

The Destiny’s Dreams drew close to a bay sheltered in the curving arms of two peninsulas.

“Drop the sails. Drop the anchor.” The first mate relayed the captain’s directions to the crew.

Then, “Get the fishing nets ready. Get the poles out too. We’ll dine well tonight. Fresh catch.”

The shallower waters of a bay near the shore often had many schools of fish not far from the surface.

A 20 foot long surfboat was rowed to the shore by several sailors. Captain Alfonse and the four scientists sat on the benches of the boat.

They studied the shore and saw birds nesting in the cliffs. The terrain looked like rocky, volcanic mountains with scrubby amounts of vegetation.

 A piercing scream in the air overhead disturbed the peaceful day.

The figures on the surfboat swiveled their heads, eyes bulging, mouths open.

Were they being attacked?

Where did that come from?

One of the scientists pointed. A bird the size of a hawk was circling overhead, soaring through the air with wings outstretched.

Everyone paused, waiting to see what it would do next.

The bird zoomed closer. It had a wingspan of four to five feet, and a black and brown body.

Two more screaming cries came from the sky, and the surfboat riders saw several more of the birds.

One flew high, and then dive bombed another bird.

The scientists murmured.

“Was that an attack?”

“Or was it a fake attack that was courtship behavior?”

The sailors began rowing again. The boat approached the black beaches made of small stones and the people had feelings of both anticipation and hesitation.

“Stay together, for safety.” Captain Alfonse did not want anyone to wander off alone.

In the marshy shallows on one side of the bay they recognized herons. The compact bodies stood on long, stick like legs, and they had snake like necks. They stood in the water, occasionally moving like a flash to grab a fish under the surface, then raise their heads to swallow.

Near the cliffs they saw birds that looked like penguins, but were rougher looking, with more irregular black or grey and white coloring.

The scientists spoke.

“I thought this was too far from the south pole for penguins.”

“Maybe these are different.”

The surfboat’s glide was interrupted by a sharp bump. Volcanic rock poked up just beneath the ocean surface. Water began to leak into the boat through a crack.

“Move to the other side. Raise that side out of the water. We can make it to shore.” Captain Alfonse spoke quickly.

“Duarte, take your shirt off and wave it at the ship. They need to send us a relief boat.”

Everyone scooted to one side of the boat. The sailors rowed and Duarte waved his shirt. No one on board the ship seemed to wave back.

The crew was busy doing their assigned maintenance tasks while the captain was away.

Water sloshed against the crack in the boat’s hull and the sailors rowed hard to reach shore quickly.

“Duarte, sit in the bow and watch for more rocks, so we don’t run into any more of those.”

Still waving his shirt at the ship, Duarte leaned out over the water with narrowed eyes, scanning for more hazards.

The barking of sea lions came across the air.

“Look. On those rocks. They’re coming out of a cave.”

Then, on the black lava rocks of the shore, the surfboat riders saw 3 foot long, scaley, dragon like creatures. They were black, with short, thick spines protruding from the tops of their heads.

Their faces looked fierce. An entire group formed a moving surface, like a rock that came alive.

Then the Captain’s eyes were caught by more movement. One huge rock was moving. Short, thick limbs appeared. A small head came out of the stoney surface.

It was the largest turtle Captain Alfonse had ever seen. It must be almost one thousand pounds. It was as big as a whole wood-fired cookstove.

"Look."

"Incredible."

"Gigantic."

Excitement and elation filled the group.

The turtle's mountainous shell moved. It began to munch on scrubby bits of grass or weeds.

“I don’t see any reason to feel fear. These animals probably won’t hurt us.” Captain Alfonse wanted to reassure the crew and scientists.

The hull of the surfboat scraped against the bottom. Duarte and another sailor hopped out into the shallow water.

There was still no answering wave from the ship, anchored one half mile off the shore. It was too far away to hear them if they hollered.

“We need to find some moss and try to plug up that crack in the surfboat so we can get back out to the ship.” Captain Alfonse looked at the rocky shore.

“Let’s go inland and explore a little.”

It was late afternoon but the sun would not go down for hours. They thought they had plenty of time.

“Most of these animals look like they could have flown here or swam here. Except for those lizards with the spikey crests on their heads.”

The scientists clustered together. The crew set off to look for material to use for patching the surfboat.

“Whoa. Look.” One of the scientists pointed. A spiky headed lizard three feet long, perhaps thirty pounds, much larger than the other smaller ones, was crawling toward them.

“They can probably move fast if they want to. Be careful.”

Then one scientist pointed at a bird with bright blue feet. It went beyond a hill and the scientists followed.

The time went by fast. The sun remained bright, until it began a rapid downward move.

Captain Alfonse said to his crew, “We need to find those scientists. They went over that hill. I have some moss and small pieces of scraps to plug the surfboat crack.”

They crunched over the gravel and rocks of the volcanic island, watching for more animals that might come out at night. But they did not find the scientists.

“Now I’m getting worried. What has happened to them.” Captain Alfonse’s voice was still calm, but the crew could tell there was a serious note.

“Maybe they’re lost. How far could they have gone?” Duarte’s head revolved around and his eyes scanned the hills and peaks of the island.

Nearby the group of spiky headed lizards watched them with scaley, hooded eyes. 

“We don’t know what else is on this island. I don’t want to spend the night here. If it has one thousand pound turtles, what if there are other giants who are not as friendly here.”

The other crew members nodded at Duarte’s words.

They yelled and hollered for the scientists. But there were no replies. The sun drifted closer to the western horizon. Time was running out.

“We won’t leave without the scientists. Here, turn the surfboat on its side. We can shelter against it. We’ll need to take turns tonight with part of us sleeping. and the others keeping watch.”

The captain’s voice remained reassuring. He had survived so many ocean storms and near shipwrecks that he was not overly disturbed. But he still did not like the turn of events. Why did those scientists have to wander off? 

“We’re near the equator, so night here will be about twelve hours, the same as daylight. We’ll need to set up a camp.”

“Wherever they are, those scientists will have to sleep on this volcanic lava rock ground. We’ll search more for them in the morning.”

Twilight began to fall, and the crew heard sloshing coming from the ocean. In the dusky light they saw another surfboat coming into shore.

The captain heard the voice of his newest crew member, Alessandro.

“Captain, are you there?”

Alfonse rose and hollered back, “We’re over here.” In the dark the overturned surfboat resembled another rock.

With shouts back and forth, Alessandro and several crew members beached another surfboat.

“When you did not return, Isabella was worried. She wanted me to check on you.” Alessandro’s voice came through the night air.

"I am so thankful to Isabella.”

That night the captain sat on a rise near the shore and kept watch.

At this location, on the equator, he could see the star constellations in both the southern and the northern hemispheres at once. The stars beamed in the clear night air and the ocean waves glimmered with light.

The crew saw him gazing with his trance-like face at the sky.

Something of his rapture was contagious, and the crew felt it too.

“He’s got the look of a hero.”

“We need to thank him.”

“So many adventures. All due to Captain Alfonse.”

They spoke amongst themselves. Crewing with Captain Alfonse was truly a wonderful experience.

The crew saw a type of glow on his face.

The next morning, they heard shouts, and the missing scientists came over one of the hills, looking tired and bedraggled.

"We saw birds with blue feet," they said. "We had to follow them yesterday."

Their faces reflected joy at seeing the rare creature.

They plugged the crack in the surfboat and towed it back to the ship with the other boat.

In the following days, the crew and scientists felt a sense of wonder and rapture while they explored the mystery islands.

When Captain Alfonse appeared with his colorful bird, Foresta, and his playful monkey, Rio, the crew and scientists still said, “He’s a little odd.”

But they sensed the wonder and rapture that he brought to their lives.

Alessandro wondered what was next on the voyages of the Destiny's Dreams.