The boat slides forward across the submerged sand as soon as you have settled your weight into the seat. Without any warning the little craft suddenly speeds out to sea, skipping on the slight waves as it goes in an almost cantering smooth motion. It is only now that you realise there are *no* oars in the boat and no rudder on the stern, You have no way of steering. Sighing you accept the eccentricities of the Tir and sit back, hoping the boat doesn't suddenly decide it wants to capsize itself. Looking over the side, beyond the lace white wake of the boats passing you can see small brightly coloured fish flitting back and forth across the pale sand. The water is remarkably clear, very little clouding at all. And you are tempted to climb out of the boat and swim, though you can't tell just how deep it really is. There is a Hhhwhafffing sound on the other side of the craft and you sit up to see what the source of the sound is. Lazily swimming along side, huffing a mist of water up into the air occasionally, is one of the most remarkably coloured dolphins you have ever seen. It looks like a common bottlenose but instead of being a uniform grey it's sides are marked in ochre white and steel grey, like an Australian indigenous x-ray painting. It opens it's smiling jaws and emits a series of clicks and squeaks before diving back under the surface. With a burst of power it leaps from the sea and over the boat, splashing you with a diamond array of water droplets before returning to the waves again. You are so busy watching the antics of the strange dolphin that you do not notice the swift approach of the land. There is a sudden lurch and you almost fall over board, only to realise that the boat has grounded itself on the nearest of islands. The dolphin emits what sounds almost like a derisive laugh and disappears back under the water. You step down onto the sand with relief and turn to look back at the mainland. As you do so you see, with a sinking heart the row boat melts away, becoming translucent and sinking back into the waves without so much as a splash. Cursing you realise you are stranded here until you can find some other means of transport across the water.. or decide to swim. Behind you the thickly jungled forest seems a little forbidding but not really threatening... You may as well go and explore.