Anegada to Jost Van Dyke

Some of you will be amazed that I have been in the water twice in less than one week, especially as I am always saying that I never go in, but this morning I awake to discover I have something which reminds me why I should have stuck to my no swimming policy – I have an ear infection!  The previous one was last summer, just after I ventured to get my delicate shell-likes near the sea.  Notice the coincidence?

For a while as the pain is only there when I eat, so I am not too worried.  We just get underway and there is a terrific crash.  We all rush to the galley and find that the coffee pot, for once not empty, has not been stowed away for the sail, and has fallen off the stove, spewing coffee and worse, coffee grounds all around the galley and down the stairs.  All the coffee drinkers look guilty and sheepish but it is a collective mistake so four of us are involved in the clean-up.  Typically it is a bit rough at the start of the journey and Joe especially, has a greenish tinge to his face when he appears in the cockpit, but he has made a lovely job of cleaning the coffee and its grounds from the stove!

We have a lovely sail over to Guana Island averaging 7.5 knots all the way.  As we near Monkey Point, our lunchtime stop, Heather takes over the helm.

Photo:  Heather takes over at the helm – see the look of concentration!

  Photo:  I, however, am more interested in those Doritos!

Mike takes the gang over to the cave to snorkel.  The current is strong today, and the idea is that they will just float back to the boat and we can hook ‘em as they pass!

By this time, the ear is much more painful, hurting all the time, and I takes some strong painkillers and go to bed.  We motor over to Diamond Cay, but the Atlantic is too calm for the bubbling pool to be very exciting, and the crew are worried about my ear as I have another charter starting in a couple of days so they pull up the anchor again and head to Great Harbour.  I sleep all the way there from Monkey Point, even through the anchor going down then up again, but the quiet tinkle of a text coming in to Mike’s mobile rouses me eventually.

Mike goes to shore and comes back saying he has found a clinic and they have antibiotics and I have to get up now and get over there before they close.  We rush over and I am duly examined by a nurse who informs me that I should have gone this morning as there had been a doctor then.  I explained why I hadn’t.  She takes a full medical history, right back to my c-section nearly 25 years ago.  I don’t know what this has to do with my ear but I go along with it anyway.  At the end, she looks in my ear, pronounces it red and swollen and phones the doctor on Tortola for advice.  He advises her to give me penicillin, the only thing she has, but I am allergic to this, so he says to take ibuprofen for three days and if it is no better to go to a doctor on Tortola.  I am then charged $30 for the phone consultation, but have nothing to show for it.  It’s not the nurse’s fault – she is following ‘protocol’, as she informs me.  Mike and I leave the clinic less than happy and Mike takes me back to the boat.

There has been a panic on board while I was asleep.  Several crew members are worried that there might be a shortage of beer on board so while I have been at the clinic, they have all headed over to Foxy’s for a fix.

My lovely crew let me do nothing in the evening.  The dinner is mostly prepared but they cook it collectively and wash up afterwards.  Malcolm is prevented from washing up as Candace has told us about his limited domestic goddess abilities, although he is apparently always available for action (‘yeah, baby, yeah’ as Malcolm would say!)

Mike and Joe retire early, and Malcolm, faced with four gossiping women, decides to escape to the heat of the cockpit with some red wine.  Amy and Linda take turns in keeping him company but they are lured back into the air-conditioned salon for a gossip which is getting increasingly interesting.

I eventually wander down to join Mike, returning to the galley minutes later as I realise that I have forgotten to put the pork tenderloin in the marinade for tomorrow.  By the time I have finished, everyone is tucked up in bed.