NarniaFans on the Dawn Treader: Day 6

The last day… and it felt like three full days. This isn’t the last article on this week, though, as I still have a wrap-up article to write. When I started this day, I had no idea of the trials and tribulations that I was in for, but that’s usually the case with days like that. We had to get up early, around 5am, to set out on the next leg of our adventure. We left our hotel room in Ilfracombe and walked the block and a half to our destination, in a light rain. The rain might have been a warning sign to us that it wasn’t going to be a very good day in some ways.

Others began to arrive, and we packed our stuff into the van and prepared for a journey on the ocean, to Lundy Island, an island only three miles long and a half-mile wide. We climbed aboard a small boat meant for scuba divers, called the Obsession II. Courtney and I thought we were going to be sailing out to Lundy aboard the Dawn Treader (The Matthew of Bristol), and that perhaps the Obsession II would be a short trip out to it. How wrong we were!

A couple of hours later, we arrived at Lundy, on a very choppy ocean, with need to get off of the boat we went out on. The journey there was not without incident, however. Courtney and I spent most of the trip standing up, and decided at one point that it would be more comfortable to sit down for a while. So we plopped ourselves down in the cabin, and from there, the nausea began to set in.

I started to feel rather ill, and when we were zipping around the Dawn Treader and the Mabel Alice (our fearless lifeboat), my face had gone pale white, and I can’t remember what color they said my lips had turned. The Italian film crew was there, and they wanted me to eat these dry crackers, which was the last thing I wanted to do. I learned later that it might have been very helpful, as eating toast would have been as well, soaking up the liquids in my stomach. I had looked up at Joy, and said “I really don’t feel too good” and she saw my face and immediately ran to get some help. In comes John O’Regan and Singe, who help me to get into the open air, give me a bottle of water, and tell me where to look and how to breathe. My complexion began to return to normal, the color returning, and I begin to feel better.

We have conversations out on the deck, and have decided not to actually go on land on Lundy. The waves were too large and the winds too strong. We would have found ourselves stuck on the Island for perhaps the entire day. This wouldn’t have been good, as it was the last day, and we had an early flight the next. Thus began the next, and most dangerous thing that we did over the entire week.

We had to get off of the Obsession II and onto the Mabel Alice for our return trip to Ilfracombe. No big deal, right? We just circle the Island to find more restful water, right? It’s not that simple, and that’s not how it went down. I was told to follow one of the guys from the Obsession II, but didn’t know that I would be the first one over. Courtney didn’t know where I was, and I was concerned for her safety the moment I realized what we were about to do. While it may not have been as much as I remember, I think the waves were about 8 feet high. We had the front of Obsession II up right next to the back corner of the Mabel Alice, and we were to step from one boat to the other, without lifejackets, as one boat dipped down and the other moved up. They were shouting at me to climb up, with them, to ditch the bottle of water that I had, and then instructions of when to go. The only thing I remember them saying is: “Step now!” I did so, and there were four or five very strong men that grabbed me and put me down onto the deck and instructed me to go inside the cabin. Oh boy.

So I sit down and watch as the rest of the team is brought over, one by one, in the same way. Chris comes over, John, and Singe. And then the Italian crew catches wind of what’s going on, and begins to grow concerned. I look over and see Courtney on the other boat, her face becoming one of fear. I knew that look well. I watched as each member of the Italian crew came over in the same way, and then it happened. The Mabel Alice moved away from the Obsession II. We had to get back into place so that Courtney could come across. Her face, as she climbed up to stand next to the sailor on the front of the Obsession II had turned from fear into that of calm composure. The boats closed in with each other, and the crew of the Mabel Alice started shouting instructions to her. When she stepped, they quickly grabbed her and set her down on the deck, and she stumbled her way into the cabin of the life-boat. Phew.

All aboard the Mabel Alice, we now had another journey ahead of us. This one to head back where we came from. And I had begun to feel rather ill once again. I wanted to return outside, but the crew insisted on life-jackets. So I had one put on, and went outside, where I was instructed to keep my eyes on the island, and then on the horizon when the island was no longer in view. I did as much and wound up staying outside for the entire journey back to Ilfracombe. One of the sailors gave me his water-proof coat to wear, not knowing that I had one of my own that Courtney was holding onto for me, and I was given a fresh bottle of water.

I turned around at one point to see a member of the Italian crew had been brought outside, dealing with the same thing that I had been. He, too, didn’t get sick. But another Italian did. Suddenly, out of the cabin, swung the body of a man, holding onto the door as he became sea sick, his breakfast hitting the deck. He made his way onto the deck, and gripped hard onto a metal post, near where I was standing, and more came. John O’Regan managed to capture the whole thing with his camera, in video format. And he got a nice look at a raised middle finger before a smile crossed the Italian man’s face.

A life-jacket was hurriedly run out to the man, and he stayed outside for much of the rest of the trip. I changed position to stand next to the staircase that went up to other parts of the Mabel Alice, and the whole time, different sailors would come over and regale me with stories of sea-sickness and other adventures on the high-seas. It helped the time pass, and when they would go on to work on something, I was told to imagine I was surfing, or doing something else, and that it would help me to feel better. It certainly did. At one point, we came to a stop, so that someone could dip a bucket into the ocean and wash the deck off with the water. Once we got moving again, it was another hour before landfall.

As we got closer to land, dolphins appeared in the water around our boat. I didn’t get to see them, but others climbed toward the front to watch them jumping in and out of the water.

Singe then told me that another night, when the dolphins were out, you’d see them leave the water, and they would not land when you thought they would. The dolphins would just stay in the air for longer than seemed possible, sometimes even touching the sides of the boat. He also said that the water was crystal clear at night, and there was luminescence in the water that just looked beautiful, glowing in the night. Not only that, but he saw a perfect rainbow in the darkness, which the moonlight helped to create, which sounds so unreal, but so amazing.

Finally, land appeared in the distance, and we had an hour left on our return journey. When we got to the wharf, a small rescue boat came out to bring us, three at a time, to a staircase on a pier. I desperately wanted to be on the first one out, but Courtney made it first. The boat came around again, I got in along with two of the Italian crew. Finally, dry land. It felt so good to be back on solid ground after that adventure.

We found lunch in one of the pubs, and talked about the adventures that we had just had. We also joked that, should there be any other dangers, Courtney should try to stick near me, because I would find my way to safety first without looking out for her. Every man for himself! It was hilarious, though not entirely true. We were eating in a building that is likely older than America, which was really interesting and incredible to learn.

After lunch, we went exploring the shops in Ilfracombe, before heading back to the wharf to await the arrival of the Dawn Treader for the awards ceremony. We wandered around for a bit, and then we heard word that the ship had come into view. We ran over to watch as the Dawn Treader splashed into wave after wave. It was certainly a sight to see.

After the ship came in and docked, we made our way across and climbed on board, where we prepared for the awards ceremony, which I would be presenting. Chris, Christian and I worked on that, behind the scenes, and then we filmed it. I did it in one take, though did make a few mistakes. Those can be edited out, I am sure. Anyway, I was able to present the two contestants with these brilliant looking Narnia scrolls as well as announce the winner for the week of competitions. It was a very close contest, coming down to a mere three points between the two of them.

And with that, the voyage was over. We went around saying our goodbyes and one by one, everyone started to leave. We said goodbye to Christian, before jumping onto a luxury bus that would bring a few of us to the final destination before the long journey home: our hotels in London. It was a five hour long journey, during which we were all fairly quiet, having been on an incredible and exhausting voyage together. At our hotel, we said goodbye to Patrizia, Andrea and his father, before they left for their hotel.

Courtney and I boarded our plane the next morning, making it only by minutes, through all of the security check-points, and the open skies ahead of us, we took a deep breath, and off we went.

Only one more entry to go! The retrospective on the journey as a whole and my heartfelt thank you to everyone that made this possible.