Blog 25 Beach Cleaning and Coconuts

There are theoretically NO Mosiquitos on the beach.

There is theoretically no need to use a mossie net so why after two nights of not using one I had decided to cloak one around my bed I have no idea. 

I woke a few hours into the night with some serious itching on my legs. I checked with my torch but saw nothing, I listened for the tell tale sound of a mosquito but hear nothing. 

I lay back down and went back to sleep.

An hour later I was awake again. Something was now biting away at my belly! Again I checked with the torch, again I found nothing. 

I checked the mattress, I checked the blanket, I looked around the net surrounding me.

With no where else to check I tried to go back to sleep. 

By 5am I felt I my skin was crawling and got out of bed.

When daylight arrived I realised the extent of my problem. 

Shoulders, back, arms, legs and stomach were covered with bites. 

My face, hands and feet were OK but the rest of me had suffered.

For two nights I had slept in the open without a bite, the first night I had pulled the net around me I had managed to lock something inside with me!!

I took some anti histamines and went to work!

Juraj luckily was also an early riser and by 7am we were both at work sweeping, clearing and burning piles of debris beneath the trees and along the beach.

With its daily hour time difference, high tide had now moved to mid day, with boats being able to arrive from 11am until 4pm. 

Gahsri was leaving to go to Thailand for a week and Juraj decided to accompany him to the main land to stock up on some food supplies.

Unlike me Juraj was staying for a month and there is only so far a packet of Pringles will go!

As the boat departed I realised I was alone for the first time! 

The boys were up in the jungle dismantling an old building and would be there most of the day, Hati was back at Ulam Inn,

it was just me and Princess for the day!

We walked, we swam, we ate and we read enjoying the total solitude.

There is something special about being alone. The feeling of self sufficiency, the enjoyment of the moment, not having to think about anyone's needs save your own.

For a few hours, even a day or two, I can wallow in the peace and tranquillity of self indulged living in the moment. In a way it feels like I am playing a 'game' called living. 

Detached and slightly apart from reality.

It is as this point that I start to look for others to touch base with. A grounding point to make life more tangible, more real. Witnesses to my actions, my thoughts, someone else to focus upon.

The day passed peacefully and just as I reached the point where I now needed something to 'do', in the distance I spotted a boat heading for the beach. 

Juraj was back, loaded with food, fresh and tinned plus some anti histamine cream for me!

Over the next few days Juraj and I worked as a team. 

He was the same age as Kris, my son, and we soon fell into the roles of Mommy and helpful Son.

I enjoyed preparing our food, he enjoyed being the Man Friday!

I enjoyed organising and cleaning, he enjoyed sharing and doing.

Each morning as I headed for the beach he would continue the huge job of clearing beneath the trees. Smoke would waft across the island as the enormous piles of collected leaves were set alight, bursting into flames, only to die away quickly into black smouldering piles. 

There was one morning when the burning leaves set fire to the surrounding brown grass and for a brief second Juraj had surveyed the area with slight panic as burning grass fanned by the onshore wind flared up and headed for the fence at the edge of the jungle, but a few well aimed beats with the rake had solved the problem and apart from a slightly elevated heart beat, all was good.

Coconut collecting and opening was now a joy 

(especially now I had someone to do all the hard work for me)

Each afternoon, with our respective areas cleared for the day,

Juraj would cut down the days needs.

Back at the kitchen our afternoon treat was opened, glasses were filled and spoons were found to scrape out the soft milky white flesh inside.

When I lived on Moorea, Tami had tried to persuade me to eat the sprouting coconuts, saying the flesh inside was like sponge.

I had never managed it there, mainly because opening coconuts is not the easiest job in the world, but here Juraj was eager to try Island living and so sprouting coconuts were found.

The machete cut away the rough covering revealing a woody looking coconut inside. 

Holding the palm leaf poking out of the top this hard covering was broken open. Inside, just as Tami had described was a solid white mass. 

Having done his duty the coconut was now passed to me for preparation.

The white mass was removed from the shell quite easily once you got the spoon and knife in the right places. I cut the flesh into slices and offered one to Juraj to try. 

The first piece reminded us both of onion???

I suddenly realised the last thing I had cut with the knife was an onion!!

We tried again with a clean knife! 

With the texture of a porous slightly dried marshmallow, it was delicious. As each piece was placed in the mouth it began to dissolve, sort of like a Malteeser does once the chocolate has been sucked off? 

It was sweet, slightly coconutty and filling.

Coconut is also a natural laxative! 

Having already eaten a fresh coconut each we decided that maybe half a sprouting one was enough for the day and passed the remains to Princess who was delighted. 

Taking her prize into the shade she spent a good half hour clearing every bit from the shell while Juraj and I relaxed in the sun.

By Saturday I still had not quite reached the far side of the beach in my cleaning efforts. 

Each morning I re-cleaned areas done the day before but each day the sun beat me into submission before I got to the end.

My main problem was the burning.

Gahsri had told us to burn on the beach as the tide would remove the ash and bits left over. 

This had worked fine but I had noticed that the burnt debris collected by the sea was held in long areas of churning black waves along the shore. 

Not only did this not look good but it left black wave lines on the white sand as the sea retreated.

Not wanting to burn on the beach any more, I was now collecting all the rubbish and leaves in a large black bin which I emptied at one of four strategic points along the beach. 

My last burn point was just beyond the yellow marker buoy that had been washed up onto our shores and walking back and forth from the far end of the beach with years of accumulated plastic was killing me. 

Yet with only one day before my departure I was determined to finish.

Back and forth I walked, my steps getting heavier with every load. 

The pile of plastic straws and rubbish grew as I added bucket after bucket to the mass. 

Juraj, having completed his morning chores came to see how I was doing. 

I was so close but so tired.

He lifted the half full container with ease and walked down the beach to empty it for me.

Bin after bin he carried as I raced down the last fifty meters of the beach digging out plastic bags and plates blown over from the main land.

But lunch time I had finished!

The beach was clean!!

Now we just had a huge pile of rubbish to dispose of. 

When you live on an island there is no land fill you can use. There is no rubbish cart that arrives each Monday to clear away your plastic bottles and bags. 

The glass and metal we had sorted to one side as this could be taken to the main land for recycling the next time one of us was going that way but the plastic had to be burnt!

Burning is not environmentally friendly but neither is plastic and although for the moment it was piled neatly in a burning pit, in a few days it would be blowing around into the jungle behind us. 

We decided we needed wood if this was going to work. With this much plastic to dispose of we felt we wanted an intense fire to start with.

Wood was collected from the beach and added to the dry leaves brought from the other burning pits. 

Our fire pile grew and grew as we added more 'good' burning stuff to the bad. Juraj was given the honour of setting it alight and together we watched the flames take hold.

In the burning heat of the day the heat of the fire was overwhelming.

We sat well back just watching for a while as the flames licked the sky in delight. 

When the fire died down a bit, Juraj raked it in from the edges, mindful of the surrounding fire risks!

At last the fire was small enough for us to leave and with satisfied looks we went for a swim to wash away the sweat and smoke.

Our mission was complete, the beach was now spotless! 

Until the tide brought in some more.

From the vantage point of the water the white sands positively shone out in brilliance.

I swam to the jetty poles and into the next bay. 

I swam the length of our beach and back.

The work was done, tomorrow I would have a day off to celebrate, tomorrow a new girl was arriving and I was leaving.

But tomorrow is a long way away when you are far out to sea, floating in the waves as eagles soar over head!