"Well" Jim says "we're just going to sail out of this bay, through that reef, around this group of island and drop anchor in that bay". We all laugh and say "piece of cake".
After a full days sailing I'm wondering if I'll ever be able to move my fingers again and wishing I'd used a bit more suncream, but by the time we get to the bay we are slowly getting used to the commands, having Jim shout them in your hear all the time helps them to stick in your memory!
As soon as we drop anchor a local paddles out from a little village that we can see on one of the islands and asks if we would like to come to dinner, all the while we're wondering who's going to be for dinner. I take a look at what he paddled out in and it's nothing more than a piece of corrugated iron folded in half and held together by some bit's of wood, as he paddles he has to stop every few strokes and bail it out as the sea's coming in through the holes that used to hold it onto someone's roof!
Jim accepts the offer and we sail round to the other side of the island for a spot of dinner with the chief and his tribe.
They cook the food round here in the sand with hot rocks on top, we get a huge selection of meats and fish. I didn't bother asking what it was, I was just grateful to get some food inside me, this sailing lark in hungry work!
We spent the next 3 days sailing around various islands and having a right old laugh. Then the real work began as we had to sail from Fiji to Vanuatu and that was going to take 4 days of hard graft and working in shifts....
