Caribbean Capers

Day Eight: Sunday 3rd January

We had breakfast early (served from 7.45am until 9.30am) which consisted of sausage and egg (quite good), and the most amazingly terrible coffee, and at around 10.00am the boat sailed off bound for Norman Island. This is also known as Treasure Island and is, supposedly, the basis for the enduringly popular book of the same name. Stories abound of tourists happening upon gems and curiosities on the island, but we didn’t get much chance to explore, as we did not actually set foot on it. We did however snorkel around in the caves in the afternoon. The snorkelling was excellent, with multitudes of brightly-coloured fish and a huge amount of activity in the water: shellfish, coral, strange sea creatures stuck to rocks, camouflaged fish hiding in the depths and all sorts of acquatic specimens darting about in lurid colours.

Right: hoisting the sails for the morning’s cruise

It was also very hot, which meant the water was a reasonable temperature but it was necessary to snorkel with a t-shirt on to avoid sunburn. The crew from the boat were amazingly good and especially attentive to Sam who had never snorkelled before and was feeling somewhat cumbersome, now being in her sixth month of pregnancy. With their help she was soon confident and enjoyed herself immensely.

Lunch, served on deck (see picture, left) at 12.30pm, was spaghetti bolognese, which wasn’t bad, but not exactly what I would consider typical Caribbean food. We guessed that they are probably trying to please the majority of their target market (generally, Americans of the, er, baby boom generation) by including traditional American-style food (bland, lots of beef) as well as the more traditional, spicy and unusual Caribbean food. I guess it isn’t easy to please all of the people all of the time but I would feel very sorry for any non-meat-eating people who wanted to try The Sir Francis Drake for a holiday, as they would be unable to eat at least 40% of what is on offer.

At dinner time there was a barbecue on deck, serving a choice of fish or chicken, along with pasta, potatoes and salad. This was very good. The evenings were generally warm and slightly breezy, and we considered the on-deck dinners (see picture, left) to be more pleasant than the dining room ones simply because of the temperature and the sense of freedom on deck.

Left: view towards the back of the boat, and the bridge