Goa – day 89

Another lazy morning, catching up on some much needed sleep and washing clothes etc. Headed down the road to the bus stop to catch the bus to The Leela to collect Clare for our last full day together before we head off to Bangalore and she goes back to London, via Mumbai (blub!!). Walked down the beach with Clare and Karen before we stopped for a cold drink at one of the many beach shacks on the 7km stretch of sand back to our guesthouse. We watched the parasailing guys take up a family of Indians in quick succession, all of us impressed with how they could unclip one harness and attach another without the parachute deflating! Clare and Jayne tried to convince me to have a go… I was really tempted but common sense kicked in!! Took a few more beach/sea photos of the four of us and, I’m pleased to say, that I was decidedly more graceful today – no cut knees! Although the salt water in my scrapes were pretty sore. After a while, Karen went back to The Leela whilst the three of us continued our walk up the beach, just chatting about nothing in particular and enjoying the sunshine. Jayne and I started collecting sea shells to complete our tradition of making a place and date sign for our photo album. We found a quiet place on the beach and, whilst Clare topped up her tan, we got to work writing ‘India 15/16’ out of shells. Clearly none of us noticed that the tide had come in because we were just adding the finishing touches when a massive wave came in and washed the whole thing away… Fortunately, Clare got photo evidence of the entire disaster and we were all laughing too much to start again – opting to get a beer (or two!) instead!! As we made our way the last 500m up the beach to our regular beach shack, Jayne spotted dolphins close to the shore line. We got into the water and watched them come closer and closer to us however they got scared off by another tourist trying to swim out to them. It was still amazing to see them so close! Got to the beach shack, ordered beer and lunch snacks whilst enjoying the view. Had a quick dip in the ocean, where Jayne got nibbled on the bum and leg by a fish, before we went back to our room to shower and dress for dinner. Caught the public bus back down to The Leela and we sat on the beach listening to the waves whilst Clare got ready and collected the others. As we waited, we saw a wild Indian brown mongoose climbing up the tree that an eagle had made a nest in… Returned to the same restaurant as last night where we both ate and drank far too much! A slightly less pleasant taxi ride home with a driver who clearly didn’t want to drive us all the way for the agreed amount, even though it’s a fixed price taxi service. Climbed into bed and pretty much passed out for the second night in a row!

Monday 4th January 2016