Position: 18:20.959N 64:36.601W

Sandy Feet are from Australia. We met them on Sunday at the Rhone, parked up on the next buoy. ‘Have you met Sandy Feet yet?’ we kept hearing from other family boats along the islands. Laura and Andy and their two girls, Natalie and Alexa. ‘They love sharks.’ Every time, we raised our scaredy-cat eyebrows. Really? Now, we don’t mind sharks. In theory. We get it; they have to be there to ensure healthy underwater ecosystems… without sharks every one suffers.. we just don’t mind if we never see one. Call us Quest babies..

Sandy Feet don’t just love sharks, we discovered. They go out looking for them. They chum the water and when the sharks come, they do what you couldn’t pay us to do. They jump in with them. That’s right. In the water. ‘What’s the biggest shark you’ve swum with?’ I asked Laura. This was about question four after meeting her. ‘A five-and-a-half-metre tiger shark in the Bahamas,’ she said, ‘and she was even bigger because she was pregnant.’ I raised my scaredy-cat eyebrow. ‘You weren’t scared?’ Laura shook her head and grinned. ‘Tiger sharks are real cuties. They’re largely misunderstood.’ 

They joined us back at our anchorage on Sunday. We felt the smug happiness of being next to another kid boat. The next morning, while Lulu did her internet school, Delphine and I swam to the beach. On the way, we saw the anchorage’s spotted eagle ray. It was making slow circles and digging in the sand. Didn’t seem mind us watching. Even did a few extra circles like it was saying hello. We found the two turtles too, Big and Small. Unlike the eagle ray though, the turtles never stick around. As twittery as field mice. I had a few looks over at Sandy Feet. No sign of any chum floating past. 

They talked all day. Then they rounded it off by jumping off Quest. As their favourite Harry Potter characters. ‘Who’s this?’ Alexa said and stretched her arms out. ‘Master Regulus, I will do anything for you.’ Splash. ‘Kreacher!’ Delph sang out. Alexa spat water and climbed back up. ‘Who’s this?’ Delphine clutched her chest and fell face first, slap into the water. I winced. Ouch. Alexa giggled. When Delphine came back up, her face was already red. ‘Who is it?’ They answered me in unison, ‘Dumbledore, of course!’ 

Love from Quest and her crew xx