The water rippled gently as Timothy grazed it with his grimy hand. He watched the colorful starfish leisurely move their rock hard arms across the submerged wooden planks. He was surprised to witness a blubbery dark object swim under the dock. Finally, the creature he wanted to see had arrived. He turned to his two grandparents and chimed in a high pitch voice.
“I think I saw a sea lion!”
His grandparents replied with some equally excited remarks then stopped due to the unpleasant stare they were receiving from the snobby rich woman who was bickering back and forth with someone on her fluorescent phone.
Appearing quiet suddenly, the small nine foot boat emerged from behind two bigger boats and pulled up to the familiar dock. It had polished cedar seats in front of each clear window and the steering mechanism was in the center of it. Inside stood a slim Jamaican man who had terrible posture due to the low ceiling of the sea taxi.
“John! How have you been, man?” The Jamaican man stepped out and embraced the aboriginal man as if they hadn’t seen each other in years. In reality, it had only been two months. John had been extremely focused on representing the case to protect New Castle Island and hadn’t visited the island like he used to do every single day.
“I’ve been better. Way better.”
The two continued to exchange pleasant banter as the rest of the passengers paid their money and boarded the taxi. The two aristocrats who had begun to text were split in the front of the sea craft by Timothy, who was eagerly looking into the distance at the luscious, green island. His grandparents sat in the back, looking through the open gaps between the two sections of the boat viewing the variety of ships that called the harbor home. There were gray, boring fishing ships hauling in silver slimy money. Towards the open cape, there was a team of ocean kayakers thirty feet ahead of a long native painted canoe filled with twenty people rowing vigorously. A Chinese pirate ship, which was so decorated it looked as if it was taken out of a movie, rocked back and forth as the waves rolled under it. The sweet sea smell was suddenly consumed by the bitter stench of alcohol as two speed boats sneakily crept by. It was clearly obvious that they were going to race in the open water, out of sight from the bright orange Coast Guard ship anchored in front of a coffee shop. The elderly people also looked behind themselves, occasionally watching the beaten carrier boat that was bringing their scooters to the island.
“So, what is your business going to New Castle Island today mon?” The Jamaican man asked trying to start a conversation with his passengers.
“Well, our grandson is visiting us for a couple weeks and we wanted to show him how beautiful the island is.” said the grandma with a friendly smile on her face.
“That’s very sweet of you, and what about you two? I’m assuming you are together, though you two haven’t said a word to each other this whole ride.” the Jamaican man said questioningly towards the two cell phone engrossed people in front of him. Angela looked up with a fiery gaze and spat, “We want some new desktop screensavers.” She began texting again immediately and her partner began to snicker.
“Are you all taking the tour? I have got to warn you mon, the guide is a bit of a nut, but he’s a good friend of mine.” All passengers except John nodded and the man began to jabber about harbor traffic and how awful it was.
The sea taxi finally pulled up to the dock attached to the island and the group took their first steps out onto New Castle Island.