Hi guys.

As some of you  will know, we’ve just come back from St Lucia. We had an amazing time together, but I forgot to pick up the laptop before we went which is why we’ve been quiet!!

Anyway,  I thought I’d tell you a little story about the holiday. We did lots of watersports while we were over there, and on one day, the head guy asked me if I wanted to be dropped off on a small island about half a mile to the left of our hotel.

I looked out, and there was a tiny island, about 100 metres across and 50 metres high, with waves pounding against it. I asked him how I was going to get on…

He told me not to worry, and that there was a beach the other side. Basically, the plan was to be taken out there with one of the watersports guys, and I would canoe to the shore. After about an hour, the guy would come back, and I’d row to meet him and come back to the hotel. Sounds simple…

So, I went to the shop to buy a new rod (my last one broke!!) and told Karen, Lagi and Ellie that I was off to the island for an hour.

Off I went, and managed to row to the shore without a problem. I was stood there…alone…on an island. Oh my god, what if there were wild animals? Tigers..lions..panthers… What if a big animal comes out and eats me? How stupid am I letting some bloke convince me to go on an island with just a fishing rod?!

Then I remembered that if this is an island, how would the first lion, tiger or panther get there, and what would they eat? There’s nothing on the island so how would they live?! I sighed with relief and started fishing.

After about ten minutes the boat came back and there was another guy on it with the driver. They were waving at me to come back, so I got back in the canoe and rowed out. I got to the boat and the new guy said “I’m coming to fish with you man”.

He jumped in the canoe, and I rowed back. It was a lot harder this time though as I was the only one rowing, and the tide was going the other way, so it took a little longer but we made it in eventually!!

We sat on the beach and fished for about ten mins, but no luck so the guy (Felix was his name) took me to the other side of the island. We started up into the trees and bush, and suddenly I felt like that great guy Bear Grylls…only a little fatter.

I was going on an adventure…with a local guide…how cool is that?!! Bush Tucker Stavros!! We kept going up, and I was following Felix. We were both walking barefoot through long grass and shrubs. We kept going past these strange black boxes and as we were going, he says “give me the rod”.

We were at the top of the island and I looked over the edge. There was a sheer drop to the ocean.  I nearly screamed, but remembered who I was with. I didn’t want Felix to think Flatley was a wimp, so I just told him to fish while I sat away from the edge!!!

“Where’s the bait man?” Felix asked me. Erm, I’d kind of left it on the beach! “Don’t worry man, look”. Felix pointed to a tree about 100 yards to our right. “It’s a mango tree man!!”. He was really excited, and forgot all about the fishing. Instead, he wanted to pick mangoes!!

I followed him, and asked Felix what all the black boxes were all about…. “Oh, they are rat traps man. Too many rats on the island. We call it rat island!”

I remembered rats eat anything but other rats. I wanted to cry…I was barefoot on rat island! Why me? Why me?!

We eventually got to the mango tree and Felix climbed up and started to shake and throw  mangoes down at me. I was putting them in my t-shirt to carry back. After all the effort, I asked Felix if they were expensive… “No man, they are really cheap”.

Right then I wanted to tell Felix that I would buy him all the mangoes he wanted if we could go back down to the beach. I thought the way he was acting, these mangoes had some special power and were worth loads of money! Stavros Grylls wanted to go home. I wanted shoes and a cup of tea.

We got the mangoes and headed back to the canoe. “We better hurry up, the speedboat might be coming back” I said. “What speedboat man?”…”The speedboat that dropped you off Felix. The white and blue thing that goes fast in the sea”. My voice was getting higher and higher with fear!

“No, no, no man. He’s not coming back. We have to canoe back.” By now, I really was going to cry. I didn’t care what Felix thought. “No Felix, he told me he was coming back. Definitely” I said.

So, we waited for three long hours. THREE hours!! A lot went through my mind in that time, but let’s just say I contemplated eating Felix if everything went horribly wrong!! That’s what Bear Grylls would have done!

Finally we were picked up, and as we approached the beach I was looking for Karen, Lagi and Ellie crying at the edge of the water. They weren’t there though. They had made some new friends by the pool, and were drinking Virgin Banana Daiquiris.

“Hi guys, I’m back”… “Oh, hi dad, where have you been?”

Thanks for that guys!

Speak soon

Demi
xx