I got up with a spring in my step this morning, today was BOAT DAY!
We were all up pretty early and were out of the door by 0930. (Which is impressive, until you realise that we were meant to get off at 8:30, and the rule was supposed to be that if you weren’t ready to go at that time, you would be left behind. Unfortunately, that would’ve meant only half of us going. As it was, Goldy didn’t come along anyway, because he was feeling ill, so he stayed at the villa and played Zelda. He did get it finished though, so that’s ok.) We drove over to Latchi were we picked up our vessel for the day, aptly named ‘Monkey Boy’. This 80 BHP monster was brand new and still had the cellophane on the seats.
We boarded the ship and assumed our positions, Rich as Captain, Sean as ‘Rear Admiral’ and Laura as the ‘Buxom Wench’. (Andy was First Mate, and Anna was Cabin Boy. These titles are not as cool, so Andy decided not to add them, obviously.)
We were soon on our way out of the port and heading out to sea.
It wasn’t long before Rich decided to ‘open her up’ and we raced along the coastline leaving a massive wave behind us!
It felt great, bouncing over the waves and feeling the spray from the sea coming up from the bow wave soaking us in the ever increasing heat.
Our first port of call was a reef that had formed just along the coastline from where we started. At full power it took us only about 30 minutes to get there.
Upon arrival we weighed anchor and Sean and I were first overboard.
Wearing our life vests, flippers and snorkels we swam the 300m to the reef. (Incidentally, I discovered here that it is actually incredibly difficult to swim in flippers, unless you’re totally submerged. On the surface, they’re just awkward and tiring.) At first, the sea bed seemed completely desolate, with the occasional rock protruding from the sand, then, as we approached the reef, weed appeared followed by some coral type stuff. Below I could only see a few fish. Most were small black and grey fish but there were a couple that were about 5 inches long with a green body and a white back with what looked like a ‘snouty’ face.
We swam over to the rocky outcrop rising from the sea like a small island, then like a couple of penguins, we clambered up onto the rocks and almost completely stacked it because of our flippers. Not wanting to take them off because the rocks were sharp, pointed and would easily have torn our feet to pieces, we had to walk backwards until we found a nice place to sit down and wait for the others. The only thing missing during our stay on what I now christen “Sweeney’s Island” was a thermos of tea and a packet of Hob Nobs. (We must have looked a couple of right plums, walking so very awkwardly and gingerly, attempting not to fall onto the very jagged rocks. It looked like it may have been volcanic, although as far as I know, there are no volcanic outcrops in that area. It was definitely metamorphic though. As it was, I still ended up getting grazed, and also sustaining a small cut to my right shin. I still don’t know how I did that, it didn’t even hurt till I’d seen it. Of course, having seen it, I then had a vague panic about the fact that sharks can smell one part blood in about 8 billion parts water, and would obviously come running (well, swimming) from however many miles away they might be, and try to eat me. Couple that with the fact that we were further out to sea at this point than I’d been before, and it was a little weird.
So, we sat and waited for the others. By wait, of course, I mean ‘watched them fanny about with the boat, while wondering aloud exactly why they were fannying about with the boat, and questioning whether or not they were ever going to bother coming out to the reef, which was the reason we had stopped where we had.’ While we waited, we discussed all the cool stuff we were going to tell them we’d seen, up to and including lobsters, whales and dolphins. We actually did see some limpets and barnacles, and other sticking-to-the-rocks-type creatures, which was pretty good. Andy prised one off of the rock, so we got to see what they looked like in their shells while alive. It wasn’t any different to how they looked dead, to be honest.
After about fifteen minutes of sitting on the rock, there’d still been no movement from the boat. Richard was messing about in the water (apparently doing something with the anchor) but the girls weren’t, it appeared, doing anything, although we now know that, in fact, Anna was being sick. So Andy and I chatted some more, and enjoyed the beautiful surroundings. The tide was coming in, so the little rock pools were being swallowed up by the rising water, and we eventually decided it was time to head back – just at the point Richard and Donna turned up. We swam back to the boat, keeping an eye out for any interesting sea life, but unfortunately there wasn’t too much around.
Still, could have been worse. I could have had my leg bitten off by a shark.)
Sadly, not all of us had this much fun. Rich and Donna kept wittering on about the anchor and shouldn’t we get closer to the reef so it’s not so far to swim etc, which meant Laura and I pulling the anchor up, repositioning the boat, dropping anchor again and realising that during the whole dragging it up and learning how to use the boat, the forward distance we then made barely countered the current pushing us back the other way. Due to me generally being a little rubbish with small boats, it was at this time that I threw up. (Told you.)
I can manage ok when we’re moving, it’s the rocking and bobbing I can’t deal with, especially if my head is over the side of the boat trying to see where the anchor is.
After about half an hour of basking in the sunlight we decided that we would swim back to the boat. We clambered back aboard and piloted our boat to a place called the blue lagoon. On arrival we saw it, exactly as described, blue. The water was a really light aqua blue and stretched off in every direction towards the open sea and into the shore of the small cove.
There was a small fishing boat that had been converted to carry passengers already there. It looked like the passengers were all 40+ and they were enjoying a spot of lunch, so we decided to do the same.
Sammiches had been packed before we left so we broke them out and chowed down. I couldn’t even face mine. Stupid boat sickness. (The fact that lunch had been prepared showed a remarkable amount of foresight, as I would normally have expected some people to have just completely forgotten. Of course, I had to make Laura’s, but I did it out of love and with a happy heart, naturally. We had lovely pitta sammiches. I really must find some of those pittas at home.)
The start of the afternoon brought about probably the most exciting and fantastic part of the holiday for me. A short swim away from the boat towards the shore we found a huge shoal of fish. They were dark brown or black and about an inch long. There were hundreds of them! We had some stale bread in the boat so we broke it up and put it in the water and the fish all swam around.(Stupidly, we used up the stale pitta, and completely forgot that we had about 8 bread rolls which we’d had for about a week and saved for this very purpose.) A short while later, a small shoal of about 10 bigger fish entered the area. These were much larger, ranging from about 3 to 10 inches long. I have seen these before but none as big as the one I saw today. They were grey and silver with a black spot on their sides where their back meets their tail fin.
I have to say at this point that the goggles we bought two years ago are superb and were totally worth the money! (The best fish I saw were in this area. The seabed was only about 3 or 4 metres below us, and the water was as clear as a bath, so everything was easy to see. The first thing Andy saw, and yelled me into the water to see, was a white fish, on the bed, swimming towards some of the bread which had inexplicably sunk (which was worrying, considering I’d eaten it when fresh, and I thought bread was supposed to float.) Anyway, as it nibbled at the tasty morsel, a flatfish hovered into view. I was really excited, as I’d never seen a flatfish before. Unfortunately, it was so well camouflaged that, after I moved away to tell the others, I couldn’t find it again. Still, it was brilliant.
The shoals were incredible – everywhere you looked were more fish. At first, the lagoon had seemed so empty, but then, to find it teeming with life, and such varied life as well, was just amazing. I will truly never get bored of snorkelling, and seeing these other worlds.)
After the snorkelling came the fun with the giant rubber ring. Towed behind the boat and manned by one of the crew, it was the job of said crew member to hang on as tight as possible while the driver had to drive them as fast as possible round in circles and try to shake them off. CHAVTASTIC!
I was a little poor at it and Donna seemed to be fairly at home grasping her ring,… fnar.
There were only minor injuries, a bit of rope burn and some aching muscles. (Is that it? We spent ages on that bloody thing, and that’s all you’ve got? That’s fine, just leave it to me...again.
The giant rubber ring was uber-fun. Now, the reason Andy was crap on his first go was because he sat in the thing, rather than lying across the top of it, which lent greater grip and control. After seeing his mistake, Donna fared slightly better. Then I got on the thing, and bitch slapped it into submission. I think I lasted about an hour before finally getting bored and letting go, just so that someone else could have a play. Rich and Laura both had a turn (we made it go fairly gently for Laura, because she was a bit wary, and, as I’m adorable, I even got Rich to slow right down and pull her in before she fell off.) The weirdest thing about the ring was waiting to be picked up after you’d come off. Essentially, you had to float about in the open sea until the boat could circle round and get you. I have no idea how deep it was out here, but, because the water had been churned up, you could see nothing at all beneath the waves. We were about a mile out, so I imagine it was fairly deep though. It would have been nice to be able to see a few fish, but no such luck.
Anyway, when everyone had had their turn (except Anna, who didn’t fancy it), we all went again, but this time against the clock. Richard claimed that he would drive exactly the same way for everyone, and so Donna went first, clocking up 1.50. Andy’s turn came, and, with the more sensible lying-on-top method, looked pretty good, till coming off at the 1.46 mark. Actually, he looked pretty good when he came off too, but that’s just his innate hotness.
Anyhoo, I then climbed aboard. I was looking to rip it up the way I did in my first attempt, and started superbly, riding the waves like a pro. I kept in the wake of the boat, and had no problems whatsoever until late on in my second minute when, at full speed, Rich somehow managed to cause the boat to cross its own wake, with me attached to the back. All I remember is suddenly being upside down with the water beneath me, and my shoulders wrenching from their sockets, before hitting the sea again, managing to hold on for one more second before feeling as if my arms really were going to be wrenched out, and having to relinquish my grip. From what I was told after I got back in the boat, I was actually about 6 foot in the air, clinging to the inflatable with my boat mates looking on aghast. Apparently, I only lasted 1.48 (hmm...) but I clearly won by being so damn ace.
Laura had another slow go. It wasn’t nearly so spectacular.
Before heading back to land, we drove a little way back down the coast to find an underwater cave we’d been told about. Unfortunately, we couldn’t find it, but we still got to have another little play, and another peek at some lovely little fishies. They were to be my last of the holiday, but they didn’t seem to appreciate the significance. They’re really not that bright, fish.)
We then headed back into port. The trip back was fast and we got REALLY wet, spray went everywhere.
(We had a late lunch in a bar by the marina, where there was free Wi-Fi. Believe it or not, none of us used it, except to check banks, and, in my case, to delete about a hundred pointless e-mails. We then headed back to the villa.)
On returning home I found that I had burned, and had been bitten, (as had I, for the first time in the holiday. It was weird burning, too, because of where my life-vest had been. However, it was not nearly as severe as I had thought it would be at the start of the trip, and I couldn’t, really, be more pleased with the way the sojourn had gone, sun-wise.) I was not a happy chappy and after a lovely dinner that Rich made of Goat Casserole with a bit of rice, I decided to head off to bed for some blissful sleep. My head hit the pillow and darkness engulfed me for the next 12 hours. Sweet! (Not a late night for anyone, really. Everyone was worn out. To paraphrase a parent saying, ‘We slept that night.’)
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