The Great Island Adventure. Shipwreck, sun, studs and sex...

Jason wanted to impress Karen, so he took her out on one of the Quartermaine boats for an afternoon picnic. He didn't count on Jagger, who was also interested in Karen, stowing away with them. They soon got caught in a severe storm and the boat was destroyed. The three teens found their way to a deserted island. They were unaware that the storm also stranded Joseph Atkins, who escaped from jail, and his brother, Cal.

When Jason and Jagger went off to look for food, Karen took a bath in a lagoon. Cal was hiding in the bushes the whole time and he scared Karen to death when he suddenly appeared. He attempted to rape her, but Jagger and Jason pushed him over a cliff to his apparent death. The teens were soon rescued by Alan, Sean and AJ., but they didn't tell anybody about Cal.

Joe Atkins, who saw what Jagger, Jason and Karen did to his brother, began sending them threatening notes, asking for money in exchange for his silence. Jason sold some valuable Quartermaine coins to get the money, which got him in trouble with his family. Joe, now rich, planned to escape town, but not before stopping by Bobbie's and kidnapping her. Tony tried to save his wife, but Joe knocked him on the head and left him for dead. Mac offered to fly the helicopter Joe ordered. Just as Joe and Bobbie were about to get on the helicopter, Tony, who had awoke, grabbed Bobbie, and Joe was brought to jail.

BEHIND THE SCENES--

Shipwrecked! There were GENERAL HOSPITAL's steamy teens, washed ashore on a deserted island after the big storm hit Port Charles. And that certainly looked like a real island. Was it?

"I am the creator of islands and things at sea," laughs Matthew Jacobs, GENERAL HOSPITAL's production designer, who was responsible for setting the whole thing up on a seventy-five-squarefoot soundstage stage. "We rented big pine trees, built this big rock ledge and pumped water up to the top through a series of hoses," he explains. "We directed the water down a small waterfall into the pond area, where they bathed and tried to catch fish and the boys spied on Karen." Because Port Charles is in upstate New York, GH tried to make the island more "finger-lakey" than tropical. "We played it like the boonies of the Great Lakes," Jacobs explains.

Actually, some of the outdoor scenes were shot at Big Bear Lake in California. Although this added to the realism, it served to create other problems. "I got sun burned," laments Steve Burton, who plays Jason. "I was in the sun for fifteen hours with no sun block, but I think it worked for the character, you know, scales and all." Antonio Sabato, Jr., who portrays the smoldering Jagger, agrees, but adds that it was hard work. "We shot forty-one scenes in one day at Big Bear," he explains. The boys' love interest, Karen, played by Cari Shayne, laughs, "It was a long three weeks on that island!" Because her character was attacked (and almost raped) by Cal Atkins (Leif Riddell), it was a tough period emotionally, as well. "I screamed for days, and I lost my voice."

"That was a real boat we rented," continues Jacobs, explaining the logistics. "We created a big huge wave machine, blasting the boat with 150 gallons of water, like a tidal wave hitting the boat." For Burton, Shayne and Sabato, that was another challenge: They were soaked for hours. "Basically, we had one hundred million buckets of water thrown on us, and then we jumped off into three feet of black water," chuckles Burton. Jacobs has high praise for the three: "The actors are very healthy, so we didn't use stuntpeople."

All in all, Sabato, Burton, Shayne and the GH crew spent close to a month on their "island," working twelve-hour days. "I was really glad to row that boat ashore," says Burton of his rescue by Sean Donely (John Reilly). "I missed my family: Gerald [Hopkins, A.J.] and Paul [Satterfield, Paul] and my dad and mom [Stuart Damon (Alan) and Leslie Charleson (Monica).] I really missed seeing them every day."