|
BEAUTIFUL BRAMPTON ISLAND, THE FIRST TIME...continued |
|
BACK to Masala Home Page |
|
BACK to Masala Cruise Log |
|
to the resort, of which we had fond memories from our last sail to Brampton in 2006. There was no-one to be seen. Curious, we got out the computer and looked up holidays on Brampton Island on the Internet, only to find that the resort had been closed in January for “refurbishment”. There was no sign of activity. |
|
Above and Below: Brampton Island resort, closed for “refurbishment” after storm damage. A great chance to enjoy the natural lagoon and lovely beach all to ourselves. |
|
Some of the apartments were now very close to falling onto the beach. The whole place looked pretty run down. A shame, as the setting is picture-postcard.
We walked on the beach, swam and thought we were in paradise. But our stay in paradise was short-lived. Leanne’s pain behind the eye was still there after a week, and she was becoming worried and distressed. The forecast indicated that ten days of extremely strong winds were coming. We had one chance to get back to Mackay for medical attention, so we took it. |
|
MACKAY MADNESS |
|
22 JUNE to 3 JULY. In the time between our two ownerships of Masala, one of the things we missed the most was contact with the wonderful people in the sailing community. Now Leanne was in trouble. This time, in Mackay, local residents and catamaran owners, Kerry and Sue, saved our bacon. The following is a very brief account of how. The full story would occupy a book.
Leanne went to a GP who prescribed her some painkillers and admitted her to hospital. Despite detailing her allergies, the GP prescribed a drug she was allergic to, unbeknownst to us. He should have known better. In hospital, the drugs made Leanne vomit violently. She couldn’t eat. None of this was related to her eye pain, apart from the original prescription for the pain killers. 46 hours later she was reduced to a very weak and sick person and, in all that time, no doctor ever came to see her.
I was frantic. In desperation I taxied from the marina to the hospital and took her out of there. She could barely walk, was badly light-headed and almost non-functioning. But the worst of it was that sometime during her stay in the hospital, Leanne had lost control of her left eye. It was pulled all the way to the left, and not a single nurse had even noticed the change. I was horrified when I saw her. Leanne did not know this had happened as she had not looked in the mirror. |
|
This presented a great opportunity to have the lovely resort beach and natural lagoon all to ourselves, so we jumped into the dinghy and took off. As we got closer, we could see that waves from last summer’s bad storms had undermined much of the resort surrounds. Walkways were collapsed and electrical conduits exposed. |