It's Irie: A Little Mangrove Adventure

What do you do when it rains non-stop for four days in a row? You watch Harry Potter movies and read. What if the computer and boat batteries are low because the lack of sun? You read and you read some more. But, what do you do if your book is finished (and you get a bit stir crazy)? You go on a little mangrove adventure!

Somebody had told us about a trail in the mangroves, which was shady and lead to a pretty little beach. Drizzle or no drizzle, Mark and I took the dinghy into Tyrrel Bay’s hurricane hole and located the “trail head”. Of course, we “forgot” that it had been raining for days on end and the trail looked more like a dirt track with muddy puddles. What happens when you walk through mud with flip flops? Your foot gets stuck, your flip flop might break and you kick up dirt spatters so your legs look like speckled broom sticks. I went barefoot most of the way, stepping in prickles a few times and collecting mosquito bites on every limb.

After sinking into the mud up to my knees (Mark thought that was very funny) twice and dodging tree branches and thorny bushes we reached the end of the trail. Where was the beach? Not to be found… We backtracked on the mud path and returned to our dinghy in the mangroves. While walking through the water to untie the line, something sharp cut my toe. When trying to figure out what it was, nothing was present on the bottom. Then, I felt something on my foot. It was “snapping” and more movement took place close by… Crabs! I jumped and screamed and hopped from mangrove root to mangrove root into the dinghy. In between laughs, Mark yelled “You still have to untie us!” So, back I went – NOT through the water. Muddy and wet, we returned to Irie, ready for a saltwater shower and … to start another book, a less treacherous activity!