The Gift from the Sea.

To say we both had naps yesterday we slept very well. Perhaps it is because it is so exhausting when you are doing nothing.We met Kimy at breakfast. She is also from the village just down the beach. All the staff here have been so friendly.After breakfast we got a $10 internet voucher and I was able to upload the previous day’s posts onto Possum. It was very frustrating because the connection was so slow and at one point my computer just switched itself off. $10 gave you an hour’s internet and I finished putting everything up with just 19 seconds of time left.After that we picked up some snorkelling equipment and went down to the beach. Again it was just idyllic. We were slathered in sun block and were wearing t-shirts.We waded into the sea and put our flippers on rather than make a fool of our selves walking down the beach in them. The sea was beautifully warm...in fact at one point today I wished it was just a little cooler to feel that bit more refreshing when trying to escape the heat of the day.I find it quite easy breathing into a snorkel. Will hates it. He tried as best he could but after a while gave up and took his gear back to the loungers on the deck.I flippered on. I bravely carried on out over the sea grass and saw a few larger fish but then the memory of ‘Jaws’ swam into my head and I thought...hmmm, this water looks deep enough for a shark.I headed back to the sandy shore feeling a bit anxious but found Will had come back in with just the mask, no snorkel and no flippers. So I turned round again and we headed out into deeper water. We found a patch of coral amongst the sea grass and here there were lots of small brightly coloured fish swimming around. Further on we found more patches and saw large spiky sea urchins and bright blue starfish. We were making for the sandy strip beyond the sea grass. I saw Will had stopped and was treading water so I went up to see what the matter was.“I can feel it pulling us out,” he said, “I’m going back.”It didn’t sound good and I wasn’t going to stay out there on my own so I turned back too.Will was getting quite tired swimming back against the pull of the water and he did not have flippers on. I got some water in my snorkel and could not blow it out and in taking it out of my mouth swallowed some sea water and started to cough...I started to panic a bit...and for a brief moment I thought I was going to drown but then something in my head said ‘stay calm.’ I ripped off my mask and lay on my back, closed my eyes and kicked my feet. When I opened them again I was back over the sand and could stand up. Will was close behind but we were both exhausted as we waded out.It was quite sobering to think how quickly it had all turned a bit frantic. I dumped my snorkelling gear on the deck and went back in just to float in the shallows. I called to Will to take a picture but he could not find my camera.“I must have left it in the room,” I said. He took some pictures with his camera instead.I had a quick go on the sea kayaks but found that exhausting too so came back in.“That was quick,” said the ‘whale’ lady. She had been down on the beach with her husband. I noticed she had developed a limp...it must be evolution...soon she would probably lose all leg mobility and have to ‘flubber’ about like a seal.It was time for lunch so we headed back to the room to shower and change. I looked for my camera but could not find it. It was not packed in the bag we took to the beach but it was also nowhere in our room. I couldn’t remember using it at all that morning but vaguely remembered seeing it on the bed before we went down to the sea.Perhaps I had left it by the couches where we were ‘internet-ing’ earlier that morning.We walked over to the restaurant and I asked Lantana if anyone had found a camera and handed it in. No one had. I was coming to the dreadful realisation of where it might actually be now...surely I would not go snorkelling with my camera in my pocket would I?We both walked down to the sun loungers again and looked around there but it was nowhere to be seen.We went back for lunch.Lanika said she was going on her break soon and she would go down and have a look on the beach for me. It was very kind of her.Lunch was good. Will had fish and chips and I had the Kahuna Burger. Kini came to chat and said there had been two ‘male friends’ who stayed in September and they went to the village every night and said they were going to come back and get married there....and there was me thinking we were hiding it so well.We went back down to the beach after lunch with snorkelling gear again and went out to search for the camera. It was the only place it could be now...in the sea. It would surely be easy to spot, black against the white sand. There was no guarantee that it had fallen out on the sand...perhaps it fell out over the sea grass. I was thinking it most likely fell out when I flipped on my back to swim to shore and that had been over the sea grass. I went snorkelling back over the sea grass but it was impossible to know where we had actually been that morning and I realised it was an impossible task and was resigned to never seeing it again.Will had been looking too but had gone wandering down the beach to see if it had been washed down there by the waves. I was combing aimlessly over the sand again.I spotted a beautiful sea urchin shell lying in the sand and picked it up and slipped it into my pocket thinking I would keep it.I carried on looking but was wading back to the shore. I took the sea urchin out of my pocket and looked at it and thought to myself, this is a gift from the sea in return for my camera. It was a beautiful shell...but suddenly I decided I didn’t want it and I threw the shell back into the sea and said aloud “Thank you, but I don’t want it. I just want my camera back!”In that moment I had a weird feeling I would find it and I looked down and saw something black against the white sand under the water a few steps away. I reached down and it WAS the flippin’ camera!No word of a lie...that is how it happened!I told Lantika who was lying on a lounger and walking back to the room bumped into Kimy and told her.“I think I might be a sea-witch,”I said. She looked alarmed.“You didn’t say that did you?” asked Will, when I told him. “They are very superstitious about things like that!” He had gone and got a bowl of rice to put the camera in for me.I rinsed it under clean water and then we placed it in the rice. The rice will draw all the moisture out of it hopefully. If it works again it will be a real miracle after it had lain on the sea bed for over 2 hours. The good news is the memory card still works so I did not lose all the pictures I had not saved to my computer.We had another wander down to the beach this evening. We had just missed the sun going down. The lads from the village were playing rugby again but the sky and the sea looked wonderful in the fading light.Everyone was at dinner when we went to the restaurant. The Hootenpoopen’s are actually not in the room next door...next door are the young couple that appeared late yesterday. We think they might be on Honeymoon as tonight they had a candlelit table away on their own down by the pool.The beardy shark film crew were back with all their limbs intact but poor Mrs Hootepoopen’s face was bright red with sunburn. I smiled at her and she said,“I know! I put factor 50 on!”“ Have you been on a boat?” I asked.“Yes, we was been rafting,” she said“I can feel the heat from your face from here, “ I said, to rub it in.The ‘whale’ lady, hubby and the chavs were all sat together...again. I think they might be related.I noticed one of the film crew trying to pick up a tiny baby gecko that had apparently fallen on him from the ceiling.Torlani came over and then got all embarrassed and laughed.“I was just going to say ‘What can I get you ladies?” she said. How very dare she!She said “ I am on the early shift tomorrow and I finish at 2.00, we can go to the village then. Will you come?”“Did you hear that Nick lost his camera?” asked Will.She hadn’t.We were relieved...at least it meant that Kimy had not run back to the village telling everyone there was a sea- witch staying at the resort!“ We will come then,” we said.