The day started pretty normal with soft boiled eggs, sourdough bread and a couple cups of coffee.

Ray and Lydia, who are visiting, went off for a snorkel in hopes of seeing more octopus, stingrays and turtles. Cathie and I finished our Wordle puzzles and coffee, then decided to take Sequoia to shore. Sequoia and I swam while Cathie snorkeled.

While on shore, a lady asked if we had seen any other snorkelers, but we had not. She was worried as she hadn’t seen her husband for a little while. Cathie explained snorkelling here is very safe, there’s no dangerous currents, sharks, or anything like that. People snorkel here all the time and never have a problem. Nothing to worry about. Shortly after her husband returned and he had had a great time.

Cathie decided to start snorkelling back to Catnip and look for turtles on her way. Sequoia suggested we wait a little longer on the beach as she still had more sand to dig and a few sticks to chase.

Cathie was 3/4 the way back to Catnip, then WHACK, her right arm was smashed. Cathie saw from the corner of her eye what looked like a sting ray flying through the air. Some people on a nearby Catamaran had witnessed the incident and called over and asked if Cathie was OK. Cathie replied No, and she could not use her right arm. The people on this Catamaran were actually medics, and quickly came over on a paddle board and picked up Cathie. They took Cathie back to their beautiful catamaran. Cathie was quite worried about getting blood on their nice wooden teak floors, but they told Cathie to not worry at all about that.

In the meantime Cathie had signalled to Sequoia and I on the beach that we should come right away, and she also let Ray (who was on Catnip) know to launch little nipper and come get us. Ray picked Sequoia and I up from the water, then we proceeded over to the beautiful catamaran to see Cathie.

Cathie had been hit by a needle fish.

These fish swim at 1-3 miles per hour when we have seen them while snorkelling, but we have also seen them going about 40 miles per hour on the surface when startled. The neighbouring catamaran with medics had seen the whole incident and said a sea turtle had startled the needlefish. Cathie’s arm just happened to get in the way of its escape. The entry wound was the diameter of my index finger. There was no exit wound, however there was a very high lump and bruise where the needle would have come out if the fish was either a year older or going a tad faster.

The medics on the catamaran cleaned and iced the wound and radioed the marina office and organized a taxi to take Cathie to the clinic.

Ray ran us over to the Marina office, Cathie and I jumped into the cab, and off to the clinic we went.

At the clinic they cleaned and dressed the wound, put Cathie’s arm in a sling, called ahead to the urgent care center, and we were on our way again.

After the 45 minute drive to the urgent care center, we waited a bit, then saw the doctor, who was wonderful. Cathie had been in a lot of pain since the accident, but was now given something that totally relieved the pain, then had X-rays taken. No needle fish jaw parts were left in Cathie’s arm, so that was great news both for Cathie and the needle fish. Big exhale. Five stitches, a tetanus shot, prescription for antibiotics and we were good to go. Cathie was so relieved with how lucky she had been to not be hit in a different part of the anatomy.

Four days later and antibiotics and Cathie is almost back to normal. The swelling is down, no infection and no large bandage needed. She has full use of her arm and is doing great. The doctor said she can snorkel again which she will do soon.

The doctor also said it’s extremely rare to be hit by a needlefish. It’s been ten years since a surfer was hit in his leg. She joked that since Cathie had been hit it will be another ten years before someone in Antigua will be hit again. 😊. Cathie feels very lucky and blessed by the overwhelming kindness shown by strangers who helped out. People shared which were the best professionals to see and quickly helped us with what we needed.

Again and again we see that although we are sailing alone, we are not alone. As sailors we all look out and help each other.