I'm guessing that hypothermia goes hand in hand with sailing in cold places...but the Caribbean? Give me a break! There's no way! I was wrong

After finishing the night with a couple of cocktails at Skinny's, as per the norm, I rounded up my pooch and headed for the dinghy dock, climbed into the dinghy with said dog and started heading out to the boat. It was one of those very dark and windy nights where you worry about bashing into the dreaded channel markers. As it turns out they were the least of my worries..

I was maybe a hundred yards from the dock when I heard another motor but couldn't see the approaching dinghy at all, so I slowed down and started calling out in case they hadn't seen or heard me. While I'm shouting, I see a whaler coming towards me, actually straight at me and fast. I know the channel isn't very big but what are the odds of a head-on collision when we're the only two dinghies out there? Apparently quite good! Cos that's exactly what happened! The next think I know, the whaler has slammed into me and knocked me on my butt and my dog is no longer in the dinghy with me. I started calling for her and she was about 20ft to my port, paddling madly and no doubt wondering what the hell happened. Certainly, it was the first time she has ever flown in her life. The only credit I will give to the guy that hit me is that he did turn round and come to see if I was ok. "You alright babe? Catch ya tomorrow" I believe I may have quoted him verbatim. (For his benefit: Verbatim adj : in precisely the same words used by a writer or speaker; "a direct quotation" )

So I hauled my dog into the boat and shakily set off again, actually quite upset by what had just taken place. When we got to the boat I wasn't thinking straight at all and lifted the dog up to put her on the deck without tying off the painter. I had, at least, the foresight to tie off the stern, thank god. As I tried to put her paws on the deck, she pushed back, the dinghy swung away from the boat and both dog and girl went headfirst into the not very warm and not very clean waters of Coral Bay Harbor. This was about 11.30pm.

Seeing me as her Mum" and finding herself in a surprisingly familiar situation, my dog tried to use me as a human platform. I made the mistake when I was teaching her to swim, of holding her up in the water when she reached me, rather than sending her back to shore. Consequently, I have had a myriad of scratches for every trip to the beach and

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