Neil Island

A very busy place. Ferry’s arriving on the 15 dropping day travellers and those seeking extended stays. With each arrival a taxi war begins and a cacophony of horns ensues. I swear that drivers in this part of the world use their horns more in one day than we in North America do in a lifetime. There’s all different beeps as well. Beep to say I’m behind you and coming in fast, one to say move over I’m coming to pass you and the classic I was here first beep.

We took the dinghy into shore midday with the intention of a quick walk around, lunch and meet back at the boat for 14:00. Because there seems to be no rush when at a restaurant we decided to meet back at the dinghy at 15:00. Which gave all of us time to explore. Two firsts happened for me that day. I had a beer in a local bar and had to use the roadside facilities. An eye opener for sure. The bar was connected to a rather upscale hotel and as the front desk clerk was taking Larissa and I in he said “it’s not very nice”. He wasn’t far off. There were only men in the 20 x 20 ft space, A tv that predated Larissa was suspended in the corner. The screen had to be no more than 20in.  Budweiser was the “imported” beer and we were being charged $400 rupees, for a pint sized bottle. There where other beers on a price list hanging on the wall but they were all out. Hard to keep stock when living on an island in the middle of nowhere and only charging less than $5.00 CDN. Most of the men were drinking the local hard liquor that they watered down all for the price of thirty rupees. Do the math. Pretty cheap. What was nice is no one in the place bothered the two white foreigners and they were all very polite as we left. Walking back to the boat after the bar, lunch started to have “that affect”. Luckily there was a roadside toilet facility on the way. The only thing, there was no toilet or toilet paper. Why would you have TP when you have no toilet? A hole in the floor with a reservoir of water and a sink to wash your hand after. You use a provided jug to flush and then of course wash up. It made me leery about shaking someone’s hand afterwards. 

We meet back at the dinghy at three only to find that it was low tide and hi tide would return around 20:00. Therefore we had 5 hours to kill. The idea to walk to Sunset Beach was raised. Yippee!. I haven’t mentioned this but I have had a problem with my right foot while on this voyage. The ball is extremely painful and it’s hard to flex my big toe. Therefore walking around is not that comfy. The walk to Sunset Beach was to be approx 20 minutes. Doesn’t sound long but in +30 degree temps and a sore foot it’s a challenge. Larissa and I were trailing the group and we came upon a very upscale resort named Dudong. Which is the name of an undersea animal that resembles a manatee. For me that was the stopping point. I have seen Lake Huron sunsets and not to sound snobbish I didn’t need to make the hike to see one on Neil Island.   I yelled to those up ahead that we were stopping at the resort for beers. 

A much nicer atmosphere than the earlier bar. Not 5 minutes into the bar, the rest of our party joined us. Sunset…Beer….Beer…..Sunset. You know what won over the crowd. After one drink Shawn,Ally,Alex and Edgar left for the sunset. I was content to stay where I was and so was Riss. About an hour later they return, only to have had the sunset obscured by clouds. Oh well. They left for the dinghy, Riss and I finished our drinks and took a Touk Touk, a three wheeled death cart back to the beach. 

Surprise, the tide wasn’t in yet so we all waited until the incoming water was deep enough to walk the dinghy out climb in and head back to the boat. The dinghy engine is a 30hp two cylinder two stroke. I say two cylinder yet I think one cylinder is either close to retirement or on a work to rule campaign because it chooses to cut out whenever it wants and kick back in whenever. So of course we were one cylindering, if that’s a word, half way to the boat  No lights except for the early orange reflection off the water from the rising moon. Anxiety levels to say the least were elevated. Too late for dinner to be cooked so barley snacks and a malt desert then bed.