I Passionately Hate Boats!

Ever since I was about 8 years old I've always been really scared of boats and so have avoided them like the plague when possible. This fear began when I went on a lifeboat in Whitby, I remember the sea being rather choppy. I cried so much they turned the boat around just to take me back to land. Anyway, that left me emotionally scarred. I knew that if I came here there would be some boat action involved, but I hadn't worried too much. That was until I actually saw the boat! I suppose its about the same size as a car. We were to go on a trip around the island to visit some small clinics with a 1 night stay on the other side of the Island. Obviosuly since i'm writing this we returned alive but it was the most terrifying experience of my life.

The outward journey began ok, I was even enjoying riding the waves surfer style. As we got furthur round the island and a bit further away from land the sea began to get rougher and we began to bounce around a bit, I began to cling on. It continued to get rougher until all around us were huge waves. I was holding on for dear life. (I was sweating like never before and my hands went numb from clasping the rails.) The other 4 seasoned boat riders were ok, even joking around and fishing at the back. Joking cries of "mefella no lookim" in response to massive waves striking the front of the boat made me feel even worse. The waves got so big that at times they came right over the top of the hood of the boat. I was sure we were going to capsize. (I didn't know it at the time but there weren't even any lifejackets aboard.) By now darkness was setting in and we were as far away from land as we'd been. Somehow we made it through to a shaltered lagoon and from immintent disaster and death, the sea was as smooth as icing (mmmm, icing. mmmmm, cake!) The last 10 minutes of our outward journey were fun, zipping around the lagoon through tunnels of trees and we finally made it to our destination. \

Upon arriving we were summoned to inspect some remains to decipher if they were human or "bigfish". Only after deciding that they probably weren't human (but he was by no means sure) did the doctor tell missbliss and I further details about the waters we'd just travelled. Apparently they are "full of sharks" and have "plenty of crocodiles" FUCK ME! Not only that, 2 weeks previously, 1 particlar boat had capsized and of the 6 fishermen aboard, 3 had managed to swim to shore (although the coral reefs make that virtually impossible) the other 3? Who knows, shark dinner? crocodile snack? either way, the uncertainty around these remains became rather more important.

The trip itself was really interesting, it was an amzing experience to see traditional island living which makes where we are staying look modern. These places are in the middle of nowhere, have very little water, basic shelters, few (if any) medical provisions and have to be almost entirely self-sufficient. I don't know how they can live like that.

Perhaps more on the trip itself in the future because there is still the return journey to consider. It took all of my courage to get back on the boat (especially knowing of the crocodiles and sharks), but it was the only way to get home. The journey home began in a similar fashion to the previous journey in that it was ok, but it soon became rougher until we were bouncing all over the place. The waves were not as bad as the day before but it was still terrifying. I held the rail as hard as I could for about 2 hours (the time it took for us to get home) Every second I was wishing we were on land. I've never wanted something as much as then, time seemed to crawl at a snails pace, every minute I checked my watch. Fortunately the sea was too rough for us to make a final stop and we were able to go all the way home in one go! It was SUCH a relief to finally touch my feet back on land. Never before have I been as scared as those boat journeys and I can say with 100% certainty that I won't be going near that boat again in the next 5 weeks! My thoughts about boats have been confirmed, they are not for me, I like my feet on land thank you very much!

To make things even worse it was my birthday, what a way to turn 22. Although we did make it to the "resort" (hut/bar thing) in the evening for beer and chicken, omg yes chicken!!! so tasty!

Other than that the trip is going well, no computer for the next week or so so expect an update after that. In the meantime a trip to the wharf to get some fish is in order. Hopefully we can match the wonderful, freshly caught (literally just out of the water) whole red snapper we had the other day for a grand total of 60p. Loviningly beheaded and filleted by missbliss.