I'd make a big sign on the ground so that some bored teenager will spot it on Google Earth.

But aren't most tropical islands inhabited by native peoples? At least part of the year anyway? They canoe over to fish and gather shells and breadfruit and coconuts from time to time I bet. What would they have to say about a bunch of light-skinned uppity foreigners camped out on their island making all kinds of rules and forming pacts with groups of violence prone armed individuals?

If I were a tribal chieftan and discovered that a band of interlopers had set up camp on my favorite stopover island, I'd be pretty doggone angry, enough to sneak up to the perimeter and shoot a few fire-tipped arrows into some squatter huts. Then when they came running out, I'd have my guys shoot frog poison-tipped arrows into their abdomens.

Of course the women would be captured and traded to some other island village for yams and lucky monkey's feet. These kinds of phony island takeover TV programs are another slap in the face to native peoples. It's a damn ethnocentric insult how they throw the word "tribe" around....like all there is to being in a tribe is to perform some silly-assed TV show pseudo-ritual. Hell...as Mary used to say.

Man, you guys are brutal. It's a what-if scenario. You know, as in, what would you do in such a situation?

First thing I would do is find fresh water, then build some shelter, then start foraging for food. I think a sting ray would be pretty easy to spear but if not I'd eat a sea cucumber(seen it on Man Vs. Wild once).

I'd still hope for plenty of sun-sceen. I've too much Irish in me.

I would build myself a little hut, make a hammock for myself, then I'd make myself a spear and fishing pole. I'd be all set, hopefully though I would have a couple of books left on the plane that I could pull out and read.

Start harvesting, and preparing this abundent edible food while hubby start building housing. I'm sure I'd be encouraging others to do the same as would be hubby.

I'd be gathering a few fist sized rocks and a club or too being a bit of an optomistic pessimist.

I would immediately set about searching the washes-up luggage and bodies for concealed weapons and ammo, and fashion weapon from local materials, so that I and my spouse could rapidly cow, quell, and subdue the remaining survivors and force them to accept us as their King and Queen. We would then order adequate quarters built for ourselves, and organize food-gatherers so that our meals will be regular.

Once food and shelter are secured, we will send our minions out to search the island for valuable resources like emeralds and diamonds so that we can start sending misbehaving people to the mines.

We will find out who has a sychophantic nature and make him/her a straw boss, knowing in advance that this person will be easily corruptible, take bribes, perpetrate petty (or major) cruelties, and steal from us and the minions both, but we will allow it to go without notice because we want the minions to hate someone more (or as much) as they hate us, in the event of sudden rebellion.

We will force the minions to put on pageants and plays written by themselves which glorify our rule, our wisdom, our kindness, and our good works. We will be generous with our applause.

If any babies are born during the duration, we will insist that the middle names be those of either me or my spouse, because to do otherwise would show disloyalty.

If rescue came, we would, of course, leave the island with our diamonds and emeralds, leaving a crew of minions there to work the mines. I suppose once people were around, we would have to start paying them. Assuming the straw boss hasn't been strangled yet, we will reward his/her hard work generously, deducting all bribes and stolen goods from the bonus. But we are out of that hellhole, duh.

As for me, I think I would start having revelations and convince everyone that I had been providentially chosen as the spiritual leader of the marooneees, and that they should not do anything unless they asked my permission. I'd be like a shaman prophet or an island sage. Then I'd pick out a dozen or so of the most attractive women for myself and tell them I received a message to do that. Then I'd pair everyone else up according to how the mojo bones fell on the floor mat of my leader hut.

People would be assigned certain jobs, and if they complained or failed to do those jobs satisfactorily, they would be paraded around the village square naked and the rest of us would throw rotten fruit at them and urinate on them. Then I would train a group of island sculptors to do huge stone carvings of my profile, and these would be erected at various places around the island.

Any rebellion or attempted rebellion or even minor questioning of my edicts and authority would be immediately crushed by my elite squad of enforcer Amazon priestesses, who would also be my secret hidden cave temple wives. Oh, and no cats or gummy bears would be allowed on this island.