Howling of a different nature

We had arranged to go scuba diving in the afternoon so we didn't make any plans for the morning and had a quiet breakfast and read after arranging to go to the Island Thyme Bistro for dinner. For lunch we went to the Coral Reef Bar & Grill and then afterward Debbie kitted us out and gave us a lesson on the basics of scuba diving. Then the instructor, Richard, led us into the harbour to do mask and regulator drills to make sure we were competent to dive in the open water. We aced the drills and were soon headed out to Shark Point where the mooring is about 20 feet deep and just inshore from a 20 foot wall. We did a tumble entry, which was great fun, and then slowly made our way down the mooring line. The visibility was amazing and we spent about 45 minutes pootling around looking at loads of colourful fish including Cleaner Wrasse, a Spotted Moray Eel, Parrot Fish, Trigger Fish, a Trumpet Fish (I'm not making this up), as well as Christmas Tree, Brain and Fan Coral.

Dinner at the Island Thyme Bistro was a relaxed affair and, as instructed, we entered via the kitchen and into the bar, where I declined further shots and stuck to beer for the evening. One of the endearing facts about the Bistro is you keep tally of your own tab and settle up at the end of the week and Porter was happy for us to serve our own drinks. In fact the Bistro wasn't truly open that evening which is why we came in via the kitchen as we had been invited to a karaoke evening with a small group of people; the atmosphere of the place is more akin to being a house-guest. Gardiner and Aubrey from next door were there as was Richard the dive instructor, Nick the owner of Pirate's Hideaway apartments, French-Canadian Dan, Sharon and Apol (Adrian Paul) the Bistro's talented Filipino chef.

When we were called through to the back yard for dinner the table was laden with all manner of side dishes as well as a pile of spare ribs, Helen had asked for coconut shrimp and I had kebabs both of which were both delicious. Once the dishes were cleared we got down to the serious business (and Japanese martial art) of karaoke, of which I will give the highlights (or should that be lowlights?). Nick kicked off with streets of London, I kept the atmosphere downbeat with The House of the Rising Sun and then Helen and I gave a breathtaking (!) performance of Delilah. Aubrey was enticed into becoming a zookeeper as I had a few days earlier and by spreading the drinking out over the evening she was able to qualify for her t-shirt as well as delivering an awesome rendition of Nothing Compares 2 U. All of a sudden it started to rain and we had to decamp to the bar where Helen tried to sing a medley of Abba songs, which was totally insane as there were about four lines from various songs and it took at least two lines to work out what the song was. I should point out that the karaoke machine was from the Philippines and although it had a huge selection the lyrics were a close approximation plus the music was quiet and not by the original artist; not a problem during Delilah though as most of the island could hear us. In keeping with the vague rugby anthem we wrapped up with Swing Low Sweet Chariot, which I think went down well, and then let Apol and Nick close the evening in a dignified manner.