Better than Betty’s boat trip

What a great day we had on Chris’s boat trip yesterday; in fact it was the second best boat trip that we have ever been on. We set of early so we could have breakfast at Saajan before taking the short walk to the river where Chris’s boat is moored up. Hilda had our table reserved on the lower deck at the front of the boat so we had some sun most of the day. It’s also a good spot to watch the dolphins. As soon as we set off the entertainment started which was great. Other than that the format was very similar to Betty’s boat trip; out to sea to spot the dolphins, back up the river Sal and start serving beers for the rest of the day, moor up and serve garlic king prawns followed by King fish rice and curry and finish with a fruit salad, all washed down with copious amounts of alcohol and all for Rs800 each. Once we had eaten we were too full up for more beers so we all switched to VAT with ice and a slice; how civilised. The boat is a bit wider than Betty’s which makes it a bit more luxurious and they also have nice clean toilets, essential for such a trip. What amazed me most was how much difference that the entertainment makes, especially once you have got going with the drinks; it almost turned into a party with dancing at the front of the boat. Although we still love Betty’s I have to say that it was much better as the boat is nicer and the entertainment makes so much difference. They even let us stay on the boat once we had got back and served us even more drinks; that doesn’t happen on Betty’s. We strolled back to Saajan and carried on where we had finished and didn’t stop until midnight, therefore today was a bit of a write off. We headed back to Colva with our bags quite early on, dropped them off and then to Benaulim for breakfast at Dinha’s. They do the best coffee in town and probably the best breakfast for very reasonable prices. We always have fresh fruit salad but today I treated myself to a fresh fruit pancake; mmmnn lovely! We did then have a drive around to look for alternative accommodation for the last part of our stay but everything was much more than Star Beach and not as good so we have decided to stay there until we come home. Although we will be staying one more night at Saajan as we have booked the Tuesday boat trip with Chris again. Chris is the Father but his son Steve runs the boat trip and his other son Mike runs the hotel where you buy the tickets for the boat. I think he might have another son who runs another hotel across the road. Anyway we headed down to the beach for a lazy sunbed day. The first shack is Pedro’s that is usually quite popular and the second our old favourite Johncy’s but there was hardly a soul there this year, in fact they only seemed to have 5 sun beds now. Then you have Rogers which we haven’t tried but is supposed to be good food and then where we settled Coco’s. Claire read her book while I tried to catch up with the Nature podcasts. It was another overcast day today but still hot and humid and the sun came out for a while but it made me feel a little sick so we went inside out of the sun for some lunch. They were doing a bit of electrical repair work to the shack. A good workman never blames his tools. I don’t think there is any such thing as health and safety over here. Just a short blog today as I have to go and have a lie down in a darkened room. If you are even in South Goa you just have to go on Chris’s boat trip; it’s the second best trip you could do; only beaten by our trip on the Queen Mary 2.