Lots of sleeping - Lil and Aunty wake early as usual, and Aunty decides to drop-in, literally, through Lil’s hatch, to pay a visit. Crew slowly come-to, and we have a cuppa, followed by cereal etc., and large amounts of bacon butties. Aunty has another go at bag-tracking, and the usually unhelpful woman actually becomes helpful, (with the intervention of Richard., saying bag is on its way, but don’t know when. Capt demands bag is put on a taxi - then, mysteriously, it arrives at the dock, completely wrecked. - the bottom had fallen out. A new bag is purchased , and we set sail at 1030. Grey skies, but no rain, and it is lovely and warm.
A few hours later, we reach Cooper Island, and boys do a good job on retrieving a mooring buoy (the u.s. pronounce this as boowee - say no more). This is a good spot, quiet, not too many boats, and local hostelry on shore. Capt makes a salad lunch and then conks out for a few hours, attached to electrical devices. Richard dons scuba equipment, plops into the water, and a squeal is heard as he comes face-to-face with a sea monster - he is soon back on deck. We can sea this beast from the boat - oo -er. Adam takes Debs out in the dinghy and they find huge yellow and orange starfish further along the bay. These are native to this part of the world, and instead of blood, they use seawater to pump their systems. Debs also gets to grips with handling the dinghy and is soon buzzing around in it.
The sun is out - hot, hot, hot., and the children head for shore to sunbathe. Aunty and Lil swim through the ‘shark-infested’ waters to shore, and explore .-Palm trees galore, huge cacti growing out of bare rock, and a visit to the hostelry to book a table for dinner. This done, they swim back to the boat and a nice cup of tea. Ablutions complete we dinghy to the shore for dinner. A Philippino waitress is there to serve us , and a fairly good meal follows. We are soon back on board and thinking of bedtime - we seem to be getting earlier and earlier! Adam is already ensconced, in his CK pyjamas and we sit round him, as Capt has rigged up a deck-light, and secured a flapping mast rope, which might have kept us awake.
Aunty plays musical beds, and transfers to share the state room with Lil - promotion or what? , and soon we are drifting off to sleep, gently bobbing in the calm waters - a good night’s sleep in store, or so we thought………………………………......................