[MarkJ]

ON our 6 weeks sojourn on Lizard Island, Great Barrier Reef, Australia we went to Coconut Beach... it is quite removed from the rest of the island, you can not get there by boat because of fringing coral shelf reef, and getting there by land included a LONG rope descent!

The beach itself was a beachcombers paradise!

We all picked up Nautilus shells - we only took one home

There was an amazing amount of rubbish etc washed up - just as if the whole Pacific ocean ended right there... which it does.

Nic and I were just talking about finding a Message in a Bottle when I spied in the flotsam and jetsam:



Barnacles and all!

The bottle had to be broken open to see the message...

And this is where the romantic bit comes in:

The message which you can read below is not addressed, and just written with a scawled signiture on the back of some scrap paper from the ships office (interesting in itself)

I think a wistful officer had a fling and when he had left port he 'threw his thoughts to the sea'.

How sad it is for single sailors....

I have removed her last name.