Disputed Sea - 10. Disp Ch 10

“Hello, I am Captain Paul, and this is my 1^st Officer James, welcome onboard the Southern Explorer” we heard Captain Paul say to the first arrivals on the beach deck. “Hi, I am Sandra, and these are my children – Henry aged 13, Toby aged 11, Susan aged 9 and Jessica aged 7, and our skipper is Oliver Pearson,” the lady said in response, as our butlers started handing out soup to them, and the stewards wrapped blankets around their shoulders. “Please come upstairs and inside, out of this cold air, and once you have recovered enough, we will show you to your cabins,” Officer James said to the lady, who looked to be in her mid-thirties in age.

Joshua and I decided to stay well away from the new arrivals to allow them to recover from their ordeal, and after seeing that they are all safe, we headed back upstairs and we retired for the night. As we were getting organised for bed, there was a knock on our cabin door, and I called out to enter, as Joshua was in the bathroom, and Jack entered to suite.

“I just wanted to check that you have everything before I retire for the night sirs?” Jack asked me, “Yes, mate, we are fine thank you, now you go and get some rest too, and we will be having a sleep-in tomorrow, so you do the same ok,” I said to Jack, “Yes sir, thank you. Just to let you know, we are now bound for Cocos Keeling Islands since it is the closest airport, and we will be arriving in approximately 29 hours, goodnight,” Jack said before leaving.

I looked at my watch and quickly worked out that it would be around about daybreak in just over a day's time when we arrive at Cocos Keeling Island, and I hoped that we continue to have improved weather conditions, so that our new guests can rest well. I woke up when I felt a change in the engines of the ship, and I lay there for a few minutes listening to the sounds of the ship, before quietly rolling out of bed.

“Where are you sneaking off to?” my partner said as I stood and stretched, and I smiled as I turned to face Joshua, “I heard the engines change, and it feels like we are slowing down, so I thought I would go and see if we have arrived or not,” I replied, “Ok, I am coming along too, give me a few moments,” Joshua said as he too climbed out of bed, and I smiled seeing my handsome partner standing there.

A few minutes later we stepped out into the Storm Lounge, and seeing from out the front window we saw that we were about three kilometres offshore from the main jetty, in a very large lagoon. “Looks like we have arrived, let's go and see the Captain,” Joshua said to me, and we headed to the bridge and entered without entering. “I thought you would never get here,” Langley said as we entered and Xander standing next to him laughed.

“So, what is happening?” I asked facing Xander, “Well, the patient has been transported off the ship, and is being assessed before being medivac back to the mainland, for more treatment, and for us, well I have just been updated on our latest project here, which is more of Sebastian’s project than mine,” Xander replied. “Oh! What is exactly that?” Joshua asked, “You will see shortly, as we are going to have a tour once we have completed breakfast,” Langley responded.

Instead of heading for West Island, which I knew from research is where most of the tourists stay, and where most of the shops are, we travelled by boat towards Home Island and the main village of Bantam, which has a majority of Malaysian heritage residents living there. Along with our two butlers, Xavier and Jack, we travelled along the main jetty in three buggies, that had been made available to us, as we approached a large sign – ‘Salamat Datang Di Home Island’, and soon after passed a WW2 memorial and the two flag poles with the Australian and Cocos Keeling Island flags flying.

Just one block from the jetty on the left, we saw a large two-level building, and we stopped in front of it. “This was the first of a few improvements that Sebastian and the Corporation have been providing to the island, here we have the Home Island Community Centre, which has a large library, a community function centre, with a commercial kitchen and store rooms, also there is two large community activity rooms with store rooms, plus two meeting rooms,” Xander informed us all.

After another six blocks and a few turns, the buggies came to a stop in front of what looked like a brand-new Fire and Emergency Services building, “Here we have a newer and much larger FESA Centre, that includes an Emergency Control Centre, and an Ambulance Depot, and behind it is a new and bigger medical centre, all which are built to withstand Category Five Cyclones, and all have their own Emergency Power and Water supply.

Over the road from the medical centre is a new shopping centre, with a supermarket and four shops on the ground floor and four business suites on the upper level, “ Xander announced. “This is quite a large investment, and what does Sebastian get back in return?” I asked. “Wait and see, that will be our last stop with today’s visit, and these things we have shown you are just the start of a further two years of building projects,” Xander replied.

“Are your new guests staying with us on the ship or heading to the mainland?” Joshua asked after a pause in the conversation. “Not sure yet, and I have offered them both options, with assistance for them to get flights to the mainland, if they need it. They said they will let us know in a day or two, once they have rested, but for now, they are enjoying some time exploring West Island, while we are here on Home Island,” Xander replied.

We turned to the jetty and reboarded the ship's boat, and instead of heading back towards the ship, we headed south went around the bottom of Home Island, and remaining within the reef, we continued south, passing several small islands, before entering a lagoon of one of the islands, located about 3.5 kilometres south of Home Island, and 9 kilometres east of West Island.

“This is Pulu Pandan or Misery Island, and we now have a fifty-year lease on the island, with permission to build a home and a jetty on the island, which we have done,” Xander announced as we saw and approached a small jetty, at a small peninsular that has two levels, no doubt because of the differences of the ocean tide each day. The 60-metre-long and 3-metre-wide jetty becomes a raised walkway, that disappears into the palm forest, as we followed Xander onto the island.

After walking about 150 metres, with three bends in the walkway, we arrived at a large raised and covered platform, with several gaps in the floor, so that the palm trees could continue to grow, instead of being cut down, to make way for them, and beyond that is one building, with a cottage on each side of it, and a walkway links them together. “Wow, this is impressive, and so environmentally friendly too I see,” Joshua stated.

“Yes, it is, and when the shire building inspector saw it after completion, he was very impressed with it and recommended that maybe similar setups could be constructed for resort-style accommodation for guests,” Langley responded. “We are planning to do just that, but on a neighbouring island if that is approved,” Xander replied, as he opened the door and stepped into the main building.

As we followed, we saw that we had entered a large living space, with double glass windows for maximum natural lighting, and in the centre behind the living space is a large kitchen with an extra-wide eating bar, that is lower than the kitchen bench, and there is an open doorway at each end of the kitchen, which Langley showed to us, as the butler’s pantry at one end and the laundry at the other.

In each back corner, there was also a separate door, which lead out onto walkways to two more cottages, with a covered verandah and clothesline between the walkway, and a door leading into the laundry. We were shown one of the rear cottages, which looked larger than the two side cottages, and we entered a roomy lounge area, and leading off it is a large bedroom, ensuite bathroom and a study.

After viewing one of the smaller cottages, which has a small lounge area, a bedroom and a bathroom, we returned to the main building. “So, what do you think of Lang and my new tropical hideaway?” Xander asked us, “Very nice, and I am guessing that one of the smaller cottages is for your favourite staff member?” Joshua asked as he looked over to Xavier, who smiled and nodded his head yes.

“That is correct, and we are thinking that maybe the six of us can stay here for a while until things settle down in Darwin, and if that is the case, we would send the ship back to home port at Exmouth or better still back to Henderson,” Langley said in response. “What about your current guests?” I asked.

“They will be well looked after, as we have additional work completed on West Island, which includes sixteen apartment bungalows, on a 5.75-acre plot of land, located behind the Shire’s West Island Jetty Operations Centre, that are allocated as island government staff rental accommodation, owned by our family corporation and we have two bungalows always reserved for our family guests to stay at,” Xander announced. Joshua looked at me and smiled, and I nodded my head to say yes, in agreement, to stay here for as long as it takes for this situation to improve.