Words in Hand

The boat left the harbour and there was Seal Island on the left and we knew that because there were seals swarming towards it and jumping all over the place. We looked through binoculars and saw them. Then the boat came out into the sea and it started to get rough and quickly I looked at my wife and I knew that she became seasick so easily and her face turned white, so I knew that she was just going to be seasick. I started to sign to try and make her forget, because it was the best way, saying 'It's good!' and she said 'It's rough!' and I said 'No, it's calm, there's no problem'. I was trying just to calm her down but her eyes kept wandering all over the place, I said 'Ignore it, just look at me'.

The people around had started to grasp hold of the rails and the boat was swaying from side to side. Anyway we came out and we were out into the middle of the Pentland Firth. it was open. From the left came the Atlantic Ocean and from the right the North Sea, and it was clashing in the middle in the open Pentland Firth. But I knew the boat travelled every day, so why should I worry? It will be alright.

Anyway the boat carried on, but it was misty, very poor visibility and the boat rose and fell and there was rising, and falling and I started to become nervous, so that meant my wife was much worse, her heart would have gone into her throat! So I held on. The dog was shaking and I looked and felt so sorry for it, because it didn't know where it was, I couldn't explain anything to it. So we tried to calm it down, but we were just holding on and the dog was inside the anorak, inside the jacket, just shaking away.

The boat carried on and my face changed, my wife looked because we thought 'That's it!' Because there was a wave coming directly towards us. I'd been standing at the back of the boat and looking out. The boat was going that way and I was looking out through the stern, and the wave was coming towards us and I was looking and I said 'What's happening? it can't be true! I thought the wave would come straight over us and we'll be finished.

It's right because what Gerry had said, as the boat hit the top (and) I felt the force of gravity and I felt my stomach turning inside out and the boat went down and up and down and up and down. When it reached the peak they turned off the engine. Ahh! What for? Because if the prop had just been running it was a waste, so they turned it off at the peak and then, when it hit bottom of the wave, they turned it back on. Now those journeys usually take 30 minutes but it took one hour til we arrived.