In God We Trust

After salt, comes pepper. After ying, comes yang. After a bad day, comes a good. A brilliant. A perfect.

The storms had passed, the sun had returned. And not just mediocre sun – I’m talking a cloudless, blue sky and a scorching, bright sunshine. From 7am. My back was bronzing before I’d even put the kettle on.

Up anchor and away – on to pastures new. Next stop, Ko Ngai – a tiny island populated by a few locals and a few resorts, one aptly names Paradise Resort.

We moored in a lagoon-like bay, bang in the middle of a long, sandy beach. We sandwiched ourselves between two fishing boots, the fishermen aboard waving and smiling as we arrived.

Nicola and I swam ashore, leaving the men to bring in the dinghy. We weren’t sure which beachside resort to eat at, but fortunately Eck, a committed and endearingly homosexual waiter was waiting for us. ‘Hello!’ he cheered. ‘Would you like a massage before you eat?’

Ah… it was as if the last two days of crew lossage and torrential rain hadn’t happened. Yes please, Mr Eck, we’d like a massage.

Nicola and I surveyed the massage menu, settling on a coffee bean scrub, which not only helps sun kissed (not burnt, thank you) skin recover, but also rids the body of toxins and cellulite. Not that we have any.

With skin softer than a babies bottom, we meandered over to some deck chairs and were given a banana smoothie. Surely, this day has peaked. How can it possibly get any better?

‘If you want lobster for lunch,’ Eck explained. ‘I’ll send someone out with the snorkel,’ he said, waving in the general direction of the sea. Crikey. The definition of fresh lobster.

After lunch, we took a long walk in the afternoon sun, stopping to watch crabs side walk into the sea. The sand was soft, the air was cool. We decided to squeeze in a quick snorkel before dinner. We took our dingy out to some nearby islands, looking for shallow reefs. We couldn’t find any, but someone, probably me, said the word ‘gin’ and we all decided an afternoon gin and tonic on the boat was a much more appealing idea anyway.

And that’s when it happened. Dolphins. Not one, but a whole school of the things. They were everywhere. It was magic. We cut the engine and watched in silence as their fins splashed out of the water.

The dolphins moved on and we returned to the Paso Doble. It hadn’t dragged. Not today.

The sun set as we sipped our gin and tonics and nibbled some pistachio nuts. God whacked some mesmerising cloud formations into the sky for good measure. It was a clear night – not even a hint of rain on the horizon. I slept outside, under the stars.

If God was trying to make up for all the drudgery of the previous day, it was working.

Am I forgiven? God Asked. Course you bloody are, God. Course you bloody are.