Our final day of 2014, was very special and will hopefully be
remembered by all. We all started with an early morning swim to the
sounds of birds in the waking forest all around. We headed off early
having our cooked breakfast enroute to an island about 45 minutes away
with a huge tidal beach and mangrove. It was windy where we moored but
when we walked through Virgin jungle to the other side ( passing a dead
monkey on the way) we arrived on a white sand beach with perfect waves
for body surfing in crystal clear water. Everyone enjoyed the surfing
especially as the water was fabulously refreshing as the sun got higher
in another cloudless sky. Fresh monkey tracks were all over the beach,
but we couldn't find any in the nearby vicinity. 2 fish eagles were
soaring over head though but equally after further investigation their
nest could also not be found.
It took a long time to
talk the kids out of the water and back through the jungle which was
amazingly untouched by people. Back on board the kids were famished and
couldn't have been happier when the chef served up spaghetti bolognese .
We cruised to a small island which was to be our destination for New
Year's Eve, specifically chosen for its lack of sand flies which is
apparently a rarity. We were facing the large national park opposite.
The
wind had picked up making the water quite rough but nether less the
boys and indigo were jumping off and swam across to the island. The
older girls and james headed off snorkelling which was an improvement on
the previous day but still very cloudy and evidence of destroyed reefs.
Lots of clown fish though which was worthwhile. The rest of the
afternoon was spent doing crosswords and reading before preparing
ourselves for the nights festivities on the island.
The
crew went to a lot of trouble setting up a special New Year's Eve. The
cook prepared a bbq including the mackerel that had a been caught on the
first day which was incredibly delicious. This was followed by bbq
prawns, squid, chicken and beef with fresh salads.
A
large bonfire had been prepared and a tarpaulin acting as a table. This
with our own playlist of music was the perfect setting. A game of soccer
was held before dinner where the parents convincingly beat the kids
with absolutely no mercy shown.
After a fabulous meal,
champagne, some small attempts at dancing, swimming and immersion in
sand by the kids, the crew topped off the evening perfectly with some
fireworks. A salute was given to New Year at 7:30 (New Year Oz time),
and we were spared having to stay up until midnight as the low tide
meant we had to return back to the boat. A few baileys topped off the
evening and we were very impressed that we managed to stay up until
10pm! All in all a great way to finish 2014!
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