SWAINS ISLAND — It's eerily quiet on this tiny, uninhabited South Pacific atoll — almost no noise except for the aki­aki birds squawking in the trees and the wind rustling through the palms.Abandoned dwellings, gravestones and other mysterious artifacts scattered across the island offer a glimpse of a small community that thrived here decades ago, until the collapse of the local copra (dried coconut) industry in the 1960s prompted an exodus.Eventually no one was left.On a recent Friday, however, the rare sound of laughter echoes along Swains' emerald-blue western shore. Island co-owner Alex Jennings and his extended family mingle as they prepare a breakfast feast of boiled coconut crabs and lobster harvested hours earlier. Spirits are high. They've finally come home.This is more than a family camping trip. With each visit, Jennings, who left his native Swains as a boy, is gradually trying to put the island back on the map. And he wants to make it a model for sustainable living.The family's 40-person expedition arrived the previous day on the MV Sili supply vessel out of Pago Pago, Samoa, to spend a few precious days ashore. For several Swains natives, it was the first time they laid eyes on their birthplace in about 60 years.\I cried. I was so happy to see the island