The first night on the Mandrake was jot smooth. Although anchored in a cove, the waves rocked us violently throughout the night and at one point Kate and I had water pouring on in our heads. The moment Kate stood up, seasickness found her and didn't leave until we found dry land.
Most of us were awake as the anchor was pulled up. So we settled on the deck and began the 3 hour sail to Whitehaven. There were lots of other parties getting dropped off and we joined the line climbing through the forest to find the beach.
The sand was so fine it was like walking in flour. Billy told us that it is made of such high quality silica that NASA built the Hubble telescope with some of the sand. We sent 2 hours on the beach, enjoying the shallows and taking group photographs.
We got back to the boat and lunch was waiting for us. Our first snorkelling place was a couple of hours sailing up the coast and we all got comfortable in our sexy stinger suits. The visibility was poor and I was struggling with my mask so only spent 5 minutes in the water. Luckily I was sat in the dingy when it began to rain heavily, which made it impossible for anyone to make out anything but the coral. On returning to the boat we all warmed up with some tea and biscuits.
I chose not to snorkel the 2nd time due to the turn in weather. The rain was rather heavy and winds were picking up. Kate was not well and we were all clinging to the top of the deck.
I've never experienced seas that rough. I took shelter under the deck on my bed which was opposite the oven. While chatting to Pet, whenever there was a big wave, something would go flying out from the kitchen and fall at my feet. She said to me, that if I was nervous about the oven opening I was better off on deck so I didn't make myself ill.
I took her advice and the moment I stood on the ladder we hit the biggest wave yet and the oven opened, spilling hot meat and fat across the room - exactly where I had been sat 5 seconds before. I could not believe my luck.
I clambered up the steps and joined the other scared passengers.
No dinner for us!
The weather was pretty bad now - but they found a lull and started fishing to try and catch something for dinner (fishing is illegal by the reef).
Disaster number 2 strikes... Literately. The boat struck the reef. It took the crew hours to get us to safe anchorage in the dark, during which time the engine had failed.
As I lay on my bunks along asleep, the captain (drunk on one of the girl's vodka) played guitar and sung to us. It was not as soothing as it was meant to be.