I grabbed my ‘hand luggage’ of soap bag, a pair of black ankle boots and a pair of socks, and headed to the meeting point at Reception. There I greeted the others. Then, with just a couple of minutes to spare, I decided to go and clean my teeth.

The ladies’ room was packed, and I only managed to get a basin to myself by pushing others out of the way. In the meantime, my friends had left Reception to board the huge limo destined for the airport. I had to hurry to be certain that the driver would not leave without me.

The route to the airport wound along narrow lanes, and the driver did well to negotiate all the bends in so large a vehicle. At one point, however, she needed to take a break from concentrating on the road. She pulled up into a lay-by on the coastal road. Here all the passengers disembarked, walked down the a path to the shoreline, and transferred to a waiting boat.

I was left behind because I wasn’t paying attention to the instructions for the next stage of the journey. Instead I was distracted, watching in fascination at a man riding through the surf on the back of a huge whale.