Well today started correctly. We got up a little bit early and went for a very long walk on Orient Beach - taking our time, enjoying the surf on our toes. It felt from first minutes that this was going to be a good hot day – the sun was strong.

After our walk we stopped in at Yellow Sub in the Village for a coffee and a pastry – you may have noticed that pastry has been a recurring theme in these reports. In a strange mood, I got more pastries to go, several more than the family could eat for breakfast, but they’re so good.

We got back to the Villa thinking that we might just spend our last hours on the beautiful patio beside the pool. Then a last-minute change – we had wanted to visit le Galion, and it’s right around the corner. We got the louts out of bed, threw some coffee and pastries down them, and piled into the Jeep – another recurring theme.

As you all know Le Galion is a mellower beach experience. I was actually pretty happy to have had a chance to swim in the gentler conditions. The water was so still that near the shore the sun heated the water till it was like a bathtub. We only had a couple of hours, but we swam a little sunned a little, and just enjoyed our last moments. I ended up having a cannonball contest with a fellow who was enjoying the diving platform with his two young kids. He won in the end, but I am putting it down to the bias of the 5 and 8 year-old judges. My own boys, less adept at doing very little rented a kayak, and according to Matthew the elder “stared into the eye of the sea.” Good for you son. Good for you.

On the way out to the main road we had to make an emergency stop. Turns out my boys are not so old yet that iguanas can be easily passed by. Jacob the younger, a mighty hunter of raccoons when they’re on the roof of the garage (I have film) made a futile attempt to get close to this large old fella. Now I have film of that as well.

And now back to the Villa for showers and a quick tidy, and packing up. The owners showed up right on time at 2 pm, and we thanked them for their lovely place. We ended up leaving behind rather a lot of booze that we early on thought we might need, but each night we’d get back to the place so whipped that nobody wanted much in the way of drinks.

We head off to Simpson Bay to pick up a few take-home bottles, then we thought we’d stop for lunch, until I realized how late we were getting to check in to the flight. I seem to remember that this airport is not the most efficient operation in the whole wide world. We dropped the Jeep off, I have a nice moment with Alain – one of the nicest guys ever – and they drop us over at the airport.

My psychic insight into the airport turned out to be correct. We arrived two hours prior to the departure time of the flight, and didn’t even have enough time for a peek at the duty free. The check-in lineup took forever, the single lady at the bottom of the stairs that checks what? Boarding passes? wanted to chat with everybody, as did the single lady in passport clearances upstairs. And of course security was slow.

I am only grouchy because I am leaving this lovely place for what greeted me in Toronto when we touched down. I’m not even going to talk about it.

Thanks for reading, and for answering all my pre-vacay questions.