On the way back to Jah Mike’s house, Tony asked if we would like to take a swim to the island. When I remarked that Cabarita Island was way too far, Tony laughed and said Allen’s Island. It turns out that Hurricane Allen in 1980 had bunched up a lot of coral a few hundred feet offshore and locals have beaten a lot of the sharpness off the surface making it easier to sit on. We agreed to go if Jah Mike had not yet returned.
Jah Mike had not returned so Tony scooped up three sets of snorkel equipment while my wife and I changed into swimming suits. We headed down the path to the beautiful ocean below. The water was very clear and even though the bottom was 20 or more feet below, you could see it clearly with all the colorful reef fish darting here and there. Suddenly, Tony dove to the bottom and retrieved a large conch shell and brought it to the surface giving it to my wife. Tony offered to take it to the beach where we could pick it up when we returned and for us to continue swimming and he would catch up to us.
We started swimming to the small outcropping in the distance. We were starting to tire as it appeared that Allen’s Island was a lot further offshore than it appeared. About that time, Tony effortlessly swam up and coaxed us to go on. We did and were glad we continued. Especially when we got to the island and took in the view of the coastline. “There! On the hill”. Tony pointed. “That is Firefly where we just came from”. I looked over more to the right where the coast came to a point. “What’s that called?” “Oh, that’s Galina Point”. My wife and I looked at each other and smiled. We had come full circle.
After a time, we swam back to the beach and Tony offered to take the conch shell up to the house to soak and clean it while my wife and I took a short walk up the coast towards Galina Point for a look. A few minutes later we returned to the path and started our climb back up to Jah Mike’s house when we heard some loud talking and swearing. As we approached, the talking stopped, and Jah Mike came forward and introduced himself.
“Peter told me to give you an envelope and we would like to stay for a couple of nights.”
