I wake up early – 6.30 – and manage to wriggle around enough to wake Mike so he gets up to make the tea. Lying in bed, I am aware that the kettle is whistling like mad but no one is turning off the gas so I wrap a towel around me, turn the gas off and wander outside to see what the tea-maker is doing.
He is staring intently down at the sea, camera in hand, and explains that there is a lot going on around the boat. Sure enough, there is a huge school of 3-4 inch fish and gliding effortlessly around them are two enormous rays and three very big tarpon. I nearly jump out of my skin as a pelican dives just 4 feet in front of me, straight into the school of fish. The splash is very loud. As it is early morning there are no seagulls to land on his head to try and steal his catch.
I watch for a little while longer then go down to my cabin to get some clothes on so that I can take on the camera work without risking naked exposure to the people having breakfast in the cockpit of the boat nearest to us.
I open the curtains and right in front of me is a shark, basking along on the surface of the water, not a very big one, a reef shark, probably 3 feet or so in length. Today, I am watching my own real-life Jacques Cousteau programme from the comfort of my own boat. Fantastic!
I go back out again and this time I see even more tarpon. There are five of them now, terrorising the huge ball of fish by the boat.
Photos: Tarpon terrorising the ball of fish
Photo: One of the tarpon - close up and personal
Photo: A turtle swims around the boat, surfacing regularly
Photo: The turtle dives immediately he sees me with the camera!
Photo: One of the large rays
Next, John and I winch Mike up the mast again as he needs to put a new halyard through for the gennaker. Getting him up there is no problem. Getting the halyard into the mast is no problem. Pulling the new halyard through the correct hole when the mast is already full of ropes is quite another thing, especially when the access slots are only just wide enough to get one finger in. It takes John and I well over half an hour of fiddling to grab hold of the new halyard and all this time Mike is hanging at the top of the mast, admiring the scenery. He has a fantastic view of all the sea life around him. What a pity he didn’t take the camera.
Once the halyard is through the correct slot, they raise the gennaker and, hey presto, everything is fixed. They have a couple of well earned cans of Guinness then we have lunch.
Lunch is followed by a sail over to the wreck of RMS Rhone. Everybody except me snorkels over the wreck even though the sea is a bit on the rolly side.
We then sail over to Trellis Bay. Half way there the sky turns a very ominous colour, and the wind, which up till now has been a gentle breeze, cranks up to 25 knots. A squall is on the way. They get the main sail down and Mike starts the engine in an attempt to outrun it. Apart from literally a few spots of water, we manage it and arrive in Trellis Bay dry.
The dogs with their man still come round to collect the money for the Last Resort. They make a lovely picture so I have included it here.
Photo: Collecting the mooring fees, Trellis Bay style
Dinner is our favourite. Marinated tiger prawns with mango mayonnaise and fried plantain with coconut rice.
Photo: The last supper
Allison supervises the packing and John manages to check them in for their British Airways flight from Antigua to Gatwick. Let’s hope Liat don’t let them down this time!!
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