The Things I Saw on Goldsmith's Island

Mom and Dad decided it was time for a vacation. Dad had worked for a year without so much as a single day off and he said he needed a break really bad.

We did not have enough money for a proper trip away. It was too far for us to go and visit the city, so Dad suggested we go to Goldsmith Island. Goldsmith Island was an uninhabited island.

Dad said it looked really beautiful. He had sheltered there on several occasions when he had been out fishing and storms would blow up.

Using his big maps, Dad had calculated that if we left our island home early when the sun was coming up we would be at Goldsmith before dark. The plan would be to anchor in its bay and use the beaches as a base camp from which we could have barbecues, swim and hike its forests. We could either sleep on the island or on the boat if the weather turned out not so good.

My sister Sue and I were tasked with gathering together everything that we would need for the trip - tents, sleeping bags, fishing poles, games and hiking gear. Mom took charge of the food. She had enough packed in boxes for three weeks yet we had only planned to be gone for four days. She said it was better to have too much than too little.

Dad was down at the docks cleaning out the boat. It was a fairly big one with a bathroom, two small sleeping cabins, a kitchen that Dad called the galley The galley also included a small table and two bench chairs.

We had spent the best part of a day packing the boat ready. When Mom and Dad had checked and double-checked that we had everything, it was decided that we would aim for a 6:00 a.m. departure the next day. Dad said that should have us there no later than four p.m. as long as the weather did not blow up.

Back at our house, Dad checked the weather forecast one more time. The next few days would be perfect, so with that we retired to bed early in anticipation of our vacation.

Everything went as planned and we were on a way by six o'clock. We had a good trip to the island. Sister Sue and I hung over the side of the boat watching the bright blue water rush by and the flashes of color from the reef far below us. On two occasions, we were visited by dolphins. They would dive right down in front of the boat - how they didn't get hit, I'll never know.

Mom didn't enjoy the trip so much and laid down for a good part of it. She always got a little sick when we went out on the boat.

Dad spent most of the time in the wheelhouse except when we would take over steering the boat to allow him the check the maps.

We arrived on time, dropped anchor and used our small boat to row ashore. As we climbed out onto the shore, we were met with an unexpected sight - litter and lots of it. Dad did not seem surprised. He said the rich folk with their yachts would also anchor here and have parties on the beach. Then they would simply leave not only their footprints but also all their garbage to pollute and spoil the island.

Our first order was to clean up. We gathered up five bags of trash, two alone of bottles and tin cans that Dad said we would be able to recycle when we got back home.

Mom had set to work with the barbecue. We were all starving. We had lots of big juicy prawns and oysters that Dad had collected from the rocks at the end of the beach.

The next day, my sister and I decided that we would walk the beach and explore the far end where lots of coconut palms grew and a small stream ran into the ocean. When we were in the shade of the palms, a swarm of what I can only describe as giant flies, the likes of which we had never seen before, met us. They buzzed our ears and bit our arms. We ran and ran to escape the flies but they chased us for quite some way. When we were well clear of the trees, we stopped, relaxed and caught our breath. Some vacation this was turning out to be!

On our second day, we decided that we would play and swim in the ocean. It was one of those beaches that you could walk out into the water a long way before it got too deep and there were none of those currents that would carry you out. We did discover though that this water was home to many stingrays - fish with long tails and wings like a bird that look altogether real creepy. It would use its wings to propel itself along just fast enough to keep in front of us. Dad explained that they would not hurt us but all the same we decided to give swimming a miss. What a vacation this was turning out to be!

Mom and Dad spent most of the time relaxing around the camp and ferrying supplies from the boat. They had also already placed the five bags of garbage onto the back of the boat where the fishing nets would normally be.

On our third day, we decided to explore the coral rock pools at the south end of the beach. At the low tide, they exposed many wonderful colors and so many creatures, including crabs that would scuttle across the rocks. Whilst thoroughly engrossed in the beauty of the coral and not looking where I was placing my feet, I slipped and cut the back of my foot. It was not a deep cut but it hurt so much when I walked on it.

Mom said that coral cuts must be well washed out as they could really get infected due to some weird bug that made its home on the coral. Mom set to work scrubbing my wound and putting antiseptic on it, and that really hurt.

As our short vacation drew to an end, we had cleaned up trash, been chased and bitten by giant flies, scared by stingray fish and now I was the owner of a limp from a very painful coral cut that may yet get infected.

I thought to myself about how they depict tropical islands on television - no mention of the things that we had encountered. Putting everything aside, we did have some quality family time together and lots of wonderful fresh food from the ocean and we left the island the way it should be - litter free.