Free After the Storm by Jane Lythell

would not be stilled.
    ‘I’m scared, OK? I don’t feel safe with them.’
    ‘So you give me the silent treatment.’
    ‘They said they knew these waters but we’re completely lost. They haven’t got a bloody clue where we are.’
    ‘We’ve been blown off course,’ he said.
    ‘Yes but he should still know roughly where we are.’
    ‘His GPS is down.’
    ‘Well we’d be a bloody sight safer if his GPS wasn’t down,’ she hissed.
    ‘You always make such a big thing about everything Anna. Grow up!’
    She sat up quickly and banged her head against the roof of the cabin. She rubbed her head crossly.
    ‘We’re in the middle of nowhere with two people we hardly know in a boat without the proper equipment – that’s not a small thing.’
    ‘That’s life Anna, trying out new things. I want to do this and I don’t want you to make me feel bad about it.’
    ‘I’m not trying to make you feel bad—’
    ‘Oh no? Giving me the silent treatment? It’s a good thing to be out of our comfort zone, to be tested.’
    ‘I’m on my holiday. I don’t want to be tested.’
    He was about to retort when they heard a cry of joy from Kim up on deck. They both leaped up and rushed out of the cabin and into the cockpit.
    Owen and Kim were standing on the foredeck looking out. For the last half hour Owen had been watching an intermittent glow on the horizon. He had said nothing until the light had become clearly visible over the horizon, the flash of a lighthouse.
    ‘Thank heavens,’ Anna said with far greater emphasis than she intended. Did Owen realise that she’d been sure they were done for? They joined them on the foredeck and watched as Owen used his watch to time the flashes of the lighthouse.
    ‘That’s a group of four flashes every thirty seconds. I’ll check it on the chart.’
    He went down to the saloon and came back with his chart.
    ‘Every lighthouse has its own characteristic flash and that lighthouse is at Punta Sal. That explains it. We’ve been blown along the Honduran mainland. Land is about twenty miles away I reckon, best not to approach till morning.’
    ‘Should we heave to?’ Kim said.
    ‘Let’s do that. We can see more in daylight.’
    They adjusted the sails so that the boat was side on to the wind and Owen lashed the tiller. This caused the boat to shift and stop its forward motion. The four of them sat in the cockpit and celebrated the sighting of the lighthouse with mugs of rum.
    ‘It’s been a tough two days for you both, a baptism of fire,’ Owen said.
    ‘And you did OK.’
    ‘I didn’t,’ Rob grimaced.
    It was to be another night of rolling and pitching although the boat didn’t move very far as the storm had spent itself. Owen stayed on watch up above while the others tried to sleep below.

Day Five
    At sunrise they knew it was going to be a glorious day. They sailed towards the lighthouse through a calm sea and followed the line of the shore. Now they could see land rising in front of them: steep and rocky mountains that were thick with green trees, palms and shrubs.
    ‘That looks like the Garden of Eden,’ Rob said with feeling and it did look marvellous to his land-hungry eyes.
    They all laughed as they stood and drank the hot sweet black coffee Kim had made them. Owen spotted a fisherman in his cayuka rowing fast through the water and he signalled him over. The fisherman rowed up alongside their boat and they spoke in Spanish for a few minutes, the fisherman pointing back towards the lighthouse nodding his head and gesticulating. He rowed away.
    ‘We’ve been blown sixty miles off course and we’re headed towards Tela. I reckon we all need a day on land before setting off for Roatán again,’ Owen said.
    ‘Yes please,’ Anna said.
    He looked at his chart.
    ‘We’ll head for Triunfo de la Cruz. We’ve been there before Kimmie.’
    They sailed close to Triunfo and anchored. From the boat they could see a long beach fringed by palm trees that shone bright green