Today is our last day at the islands before we head out and sail on the open sea to Colombia! So we had to make the most of it... We were up early as usual and had a quick breakfast... We then moved off to our final island of the trip. In the morning, we got the snorkels and all headed to the reef on the side of the island - was a good swim there, had to walk a bit on the beach and then back in the water to snorkel. It was quite rough though as the waves were breaking right on the reef and the current was incredibly strong... There wasn't too much to see and the visibility wasn't great so after an hour or so we headed back to shore and chilled there before swimming back to the boat... I got some more sun in and reading while lying on the deck and then it was lunch time again (tough life this!!)... Lazed about a bit more after lunch and then we got our snorkels back on for the other reef... This would be the last time we'd be able to swim off the boat as we were heading out to sea just before sunset tonight! The reef was stunning here and we saw tons of gorgeous and colourful fish and even a sting ray! Unfortunately on our way back to the boat I got a bit too close to the shallow part of the reef and a wave came and tossed me right onto the coral - so so sore! I haven't ever felt burning like that in my life... I looked down to my tummy and there was no blood thank goodness but I was close to tears with the pain... I made it back to the boat and washed off the salt water and Amy got me some anthisan to put on the sores. It burned for ages afterwards and looked pretty gross but luckily nothing more came of it! We had our last showers for the next 2 days (no showering out at open sea!!) and a delicious dinner - fillet mignon with peppercorn sauce and roast potatoes!! And then the sail went up and we were off! Sailing out at open sea is hectic!! The swells are absolutely insane! You feel sure at any time that the boat is just going to topple right over... When it's night time all lights are out and there really isn't anything to do so we literally went to our beds at about 8pm or so... Plus it's better to be lying down from a sea sickness point of view as then your body is not trying to balance! We each had to take turns doing "night watch" so that Sym could get some sleep I.e. we had to stay up for 2 hours or so in the middle of the night and look out for lights of other boats on the horizon and wake Sym if we saw anything... Aoife and Brett woke me and Sume for the 4am shift... Really quite intense as it is pitch black (but for the light of the moon!) and the swells are insane!! I didn't see anything during my watch and ours was the one that went right into sunrise which was so awesome! It's so daunting to think it is literally you and the ocean!! When you take a look around the boat there is honestly not one other thing in sight... Mad! No one really felt like doing anything today- not even eating... I went back to bed and slept until about 9am and then stuck to dry food like biscuits and crackers all day... Poor Sym made a stew but not many people could stomach it!! I started feeling the effects of the sea when standing up so I spent my day lying on my bed, and then on the net at the front of the boat with Vick as every now and then we'd catch a splash which was so refreshing! We saw some dolphins which was so cool... And then basically headed back to try sleep and get through the night... I was expecting to be woken for night watch again but when I did wake up the next morning it was already light- turns out the sea was incredibly rough and we hit a few storms so Sym and Amy had to stay up all night anyways adjusting the sails etc... It was rainy and stormy when I did wake up but we were on track to arrive in Cartagena early in the morning. To be continued in the next post :)

Lessons of the day: Don't swim too close to a coral reef!! And stay lying down when sailing the open seas...

Moment of the day: Successfully doing my first night watch :)