We accompanied John and Louise on “the Island Trip” which we seem to have done oodles of times now, but it’s always a hoot.
The sea was very calm on our journey out and we had the joy of seeing two pods of Dolphins with about twenty individuals in each pod. They ‘performed’ very well for us – coming close enough to our stationary boat that we could hear them breathing.
Here we are (after off loading the food, cooking equipment and make-shift sun shades onto Monkey Beach ready for the BBQ) before heading off to another island for some swimming, snorkelling and fishing (nobody caught anything!)
Just before we got to the island we had to do an emergency about turn and head to the rescue of another boat in distress. The engine had failed and they had been drifting aimlessly for days! (Not really, but we need to add a little bit to the drama!). Within a few minutes the crew had unbolted our spare outboard engine and here they are transferring it to the other boat.
Drama over and we got to our island for the snorkelling and fishing and then returned back to Monkey Beach on Grand Island for some lunch. The Indian people always know how to enjoy themselves and it seemed we hooked up with just about everyone for a laugh and a joke at lunch time. Raju, in the stars and stripes, was the really naughty one!
We were mobbed in the water by even more boisterous young lads. Once they know we’re English they go hysterical – but great fun!
And then it was all aboard for the return journey. The advertisement for this event describes it as “relaxing”. Well,” chaos verging on the manic” is much more of an accurate description! Great fun of course but this is the chaos on just two of the dozen boats trying to get passengers and equipment aboard. With unlimited beer, rum, whiskey (oh, and soft drinks in there somewhere), good food and plenty of crazy people its always a day to remember.
On a more relaxing note, we went up to ‘Thalassa’, the Greek restaurant at Vagator, on our scooters. The restaurant is high up on the cliffs overlooking the beach and famous for it’s view of the stunning Indian sunsets. We’ve been once before and enjoyed it so much that we thought Louise and John would enjoy it as well.
The camera doesn’t seem to like sunsets and people at the same time so this a bit dark.
The sunset though, on most evenings, is a joy to watch.
We had to use the flash to capture John and Louise with some degree of definition and the sun can just been seen as a small dot in the distance (which it wasn’t in reality)
Of course, we have to get in on the act again!
The haze on the horizon meant the sun set well above the sea but the performance wasn’t over as, after a few minutes, the sky started to turn crimson.
Our food was terrific but Doug decided to try the patience of the staff by ordering some sort of flambe pudding. Our table was right at the front and was taking the full force of the sea breeze. By the time the staff got it lit the pud was doing the breast stroke in it’s own sea of brandy!
Not to be outdone, the moon soon followed the sun and provided us with it’s own special performance …….
……. and after the moon came the lights down on the beach and on the hillside.
It was a really enchanting spot and from the time we arrived until we left there was something beautiful to see.
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