Lost and playing Survivor on The Blue Lagoon

3-Day Adventure Part II

After a late night of drinks and a lot of driving, spending the night at the ho-motel was just as restful as one might imagine, and not for the reasons one might imagine. We had an 8:00 a.m. check out time and when the alarm went off at 7:00 a.m. I was not a happy camper. We got up, got ready and headed back to La Parguera.

The previous night Mr. Friendly had done some chit chatting with one of the locals and found out that we could pay someone to take us out to one of the islands where there were beaches. For one price they’d also pick us up when we were ready to come back, so that was our plan for the day. We got to the village and were immediately approached by a man who helped us with everything from finding parking to getting on the boat. We went to the grocery and as Mr. Friendly asked my opinion on what to take, I could only respond, “I don’t care.” We left with a bag of ice, a large jug of water (that by the way did not fit in the cooler), a 2-liter of coke and something to spike the coke.

We walked to the dock, got Mr. Friendly’s snorkeling equipment which in my bad mood I’d said no to, paid our fee and were soon on our way to Isla Mata de la Gata (translation Death of the Cat Island). We sailed on the same lagoon we’d been on the night before and it was a beautiful sight in the day as we passed through tunnels of trees, saw huge lizzards and admired the houses on the water trying to decide which one we would buy. We arrived on the island and were dropped off on a boardwalk sometime around 9:00 a.m. After some discussion we asked the guy to pick us up on his last run, which would be sometime around 4:00 p.m. We walked to the gate at the end of the boardwalk and from our first look around saw that there were only two other people on the island and also saw that the it was equipped with picnic tables, barbeque grills and most importantly a restroom. It was still early and the crowds were probably coming later. This was gonna be fun!

We put what little we had on one of the picnic tables and walked over to one of the four different shores and to my disappointment discovered that this wasn’t the beach I had pictured. There were rocks all over. Where was the sand I was going to lie on? Where were the palm trees? This was not helpful to my sour mood and the thought of staying until 4:00 p.m. became daunting.

Having the option of any shore we wanted, we moved to another and immediately Mr. Friendly put on his snorkeling equipment and started his day-long search for different sea life. Envious, but not wanting to admit that I should have gotten some equipment too, I tried to figure out what to do. I got my waterproof camera and sat on the shore trying to get underwater pictures of the fish swimming around me, all to no avail because the water was too murky.

Some time later we moved on to yet another shore, this one was even more full of rocks. I stayed on the shore while Mr. Friendly explored. It was sunny so I thought that not all was lost, I’d still get a great tan. Mr. Friendly returned and told me to walk out into the water with him. He wanted to show me some of the sea life and reached down and grabbed little prickly looking animals to show me. By this time the only other two people in the island were picked up and we were alone. I had to admit that though it wasn’t what I had expected, it was pretty amazing to have an island all to ourselves.

I let Mr. Friendly go on with his explorations and moved to the last uncharted (by us) shore. The water was so beautiful and clear so out came the camera. I attempted to get more underwater pictures, this time with great success. I went to take a walk on the boardwalk and that’s when I realized that there was a designated swimming area. I got in the water and swam for what seemed hours. A few people came and went on their boats and I just swam as if I was still by myself.

The water began to cool as the clouds rolled in and I ran towards shelter as the downpour began. This would be the perfect time to enjoy a meal while waiting for the rain to pass, unfortunately due to my earlier mood there wasn’t a meal or drink to be had. It was only about 1:00 p.m., what were we going to do for three more hours with no food and nothing to do. Would they even remember to pick us up? Mr. Friendly’s answer was to nap, mine was to walk around filming video of the rain, which occupied about five minutes of my time.

The rain finally stopped and I went back to swimming while Mr. Friendly went back to snorkeling. A few more people came and went and I watched the boats on the shore of the island about a hundred feet away. They had music and probably food and drinks. I was jealous and wanted to join the party.

Then the unthinkable happened. The ‘Others’ found us. They drifted into the island on their boat and set up camp on the boardwalk. They had chairs, they had food, and they had drinks. Who did they think they were? I entered the gate and gave up the swimming area to them in hopes of maintaining control of the rest of the island. I sat in the water watching as Mr.Friendly drifted in and out of the water. Then I looked for sea shells while awaiting our rescue.

Soon our rescuers came for us and it was time to pack up and leave. As the boat sailed away I turned for one last look at our island and thought, “How will I tell this incredible story of a day filled with nothing yet everything?”