Crew rise and a large pan of bacon and eggs, cooked by Lil are devoured, by the inevitable trips to the facilities. We depart 1015, Capt H has set the gps, and our heading is Marina Cay. Quite a long sail, with the wind behind us, and we’ve all had a turn at steering, and doing the ropes, with all the lee-hoing and ready abouting to be announced and executed. The weather has cleared up, and we are sailing in bright clear sunshine - watchout for sunburn, shipmates. We sail up St Francis Drake’s passage (no comment) and past Seal Dogs, Dog Islands, Scrub Island, before reaching our destination. This is so pretty - a few pink buildings,
...with thatched sunshades right on the beach. The sea is bright turquoise and we are in a quiet bay alongside a reef. The other side of this is quite a different matter and is called ‘Suicide Alley’- so we wont be swimming there.
The landing party - Capt, and the children, take the dinghy ashore, and head for the bar/restaurant, for a drink and explore - a crab is found. All back to the boat for lunch - quiches had been purchased prior to our departure from Leverick Bay, and were very popular with the crew. Added to this was a big bowl of rice and veg, to help stave off scurby. Afterwards, all crew , minus Lil and Aunty, go back to the beach, with the intention of a. listening to the European cup final, and b. re-charging electricals and probably c. another chapter of Harry Potter. More radio antics today - ‘what is the pipe underneath a sink called, over?’ ---------’u-bend over’ - ha ha ha.
Lil and Aunty do get to the beach eventually, and potter about in the sea. More beautiful fish, conch shells, still with their inhabitants, crabs, sea-urchins - all just doing their own thing. The Reader goes snorkelling - not for long, as she comes across a huge ray fish, and bearing in mind the sad demise of Steve Irwin, decides that that is enough for today.
Capt. H, takes Lil, Aunty and Debs on a walk up the hill to a derelict bungalow, once owned by Rob and Rodie White, who bought the island for 60$ in 1937. The film ’Two on an Island’ , starring Sidney Poitier, is based on all of this. They stayed a few years, then he was called up in the war. She left, to have an appendix op., and they never got it back together again, and eventually drifted apart. This is such an idyllic spot , lovely views from all sides, but now un-used. Further along the track, however, are hotel rooms or rather, cabins, which are in full use.
We are now back on board , minus Richard. Showers on shore take 8x25cent coins to work for 3 mins, so we give it a miss, and use the on-board ones instead, followed by our regular g/t fix. Debs emerges with a very very short dress on , and is advised not to bend over, even though she has matching knickers. Adam tells her to watch out for her Alan’s - (Alan Whickers - knickers), so she decides to pop on a pair of trousers instead. Talking of which, we are seeing quite a colourful array of Adam’s Alans and he advises us of his top ten favourites. Tonight we are being given a demo of Bjorn Borgs (no side-opening though) in a vivid yellow and pink. Richard radios that he is getting a bit chilly, and we provide him with a shirt on our return to shore. We dine at a table, right on the water’s edge - comfortably warm and service is good. More electricals are on charge, and we are served up with huge lobsters, fantastic. - it all goes very quiet at the table, as we savour the delights of such a crustacean., all washed down with a couple of bottles of rose.
Appetites sated, everything re-charged, it is 10pm - bedtime. We retire to our various areas and perform our bedtime routines. Lil and Aunty insert wads of toilet paper in all the doors of their cabin, to prevent rattles in the night - very decorative, and we note Richard is sleeping with his new Pussers Rum tin mug.
We are all looking forward to a peaceful, un-interrupted, night’s sleep.