I Is For Island | Nancy Drew Investigates {A To Z Challenge}

During April, we're participating in the Blogging from A to Z Challenge. Every day (except Sundays), we'll be doing an alphabet themed post starting with "A is for Anchor" and ending with "Z is for Zodiac." Each post is an installment of "Nancy Drew Investigates the Case of the Missing Anchor" - so you may want to read the posts from the beginning, in order to follow along with the story (click here for the first post and here for an index of all the posts). At the end of each post, you'll also find some random thoughts on the day's particular topic. So, if Nancy isn't your thing, feel free to skip the story and go straight to the end.    

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When we last left you, a distress call came over the VHF radio alerting Nancy and her friends that a suspicious catamaran had been up to some dodgy tricks again.

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Marvin switched the VHF back to channel 16 and sat back down at the table. “Steal someone’s dinghy and leave them stranded. Who would do such a thing?”

George turned to Nancy and said, “That sounds just like the catamaran we saw at the boatyard, Party Time. Do you think it could be the same one?”

“It sounds like something we should look into,” said Nancy eagerly. “Where exactly is Moonstone Castle Cove?”

“Oh, it’s not far from here. It’s a lovely anchorage off the north side of Lilac Inn Island” said Shelley as she passed around the plate of brownies. “Marvin, why don’t we head over there next and see if there’s anything we can do to help the crew of the Spider Sapphire.”

While Bess grabbed a second brownie off the plate, Nancy got up to clear the plates from the table. “That sounds perfect. Then we can ask them if they got a closer look at that mysterious white catamaran. Something seems fishy to me.”

“Let me go check and see what the depth of the water is and if we’ve floated off the bottom yet,” said Marvin to Shelley as he headed up on deck. “All right dear, the girls and I will tidy things up down here and be ready to get underway shortly.”

Bess passed the rest of the serving dishes to Nancy. “Lilac Inn Island sounds so romantic. This is exactly what I was hoping sailing was all about. Anchoring off of scenic islands and sunbathing on the beach. It sounds divine.” Bess looked dreamily off through the port light over the settee.

“You’ll love it Bess. I went to Lilac Inn Island last year with Ned on a hiking trip,” said Nancy. “Hannah packed us the most divine picnic lunch. It was such a swell trip.”

The girls finished drying the dishes and putting them away in the cleverly designed cubbyholes which would protect them from breaking while the boat was underway. “Thanks again for such a delicious meal,” said Nancy to Shelley. “My pleasure, dear. Now, why don’t we all give Marvin a hand and get underway.”

Just then the VHF started crackling again. “This is sailing vessel Double Jinx calling all parties. This is sailing vessel Double Jinx calling all parties. Over. Be advised that Party Time, a white catamaran, almost struck us as they came out of Moonstone Castle Cove. They didn’t give way as they should have and we barely got out of the way in time. Over.”

Marvin yelled down, “Hurry up! Let’s get over there and see what’s going on.”

Tune in on Tuesday for the next installment of Nancy Drew Investigates – J is for Jetty.

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View from Urupukapuka Island out to some of the other islands in New Zealand's beautiful Bay of Islands. Truly spectacular cruising grounds.

There's something romantic about islands. Surrounded on all sides by water, they stand apart from the mainland. A place to escape to, a place to hide away from the real world and recharge. At least that's what I think of when I picture an island in my head. Sometimes, it's a tropical island with a long, white sandy beach nestled among palm tress. Other times, it's a rugged, mountainous island, with sheer cliffs and dense forest. Either one works for me, as long as they provide solitude.

But not all islands are like the ones in my imagination. Just think about the hustle and bustle of Manhattan - that's an island. Or the North Island of New Zealand - a few million people live there. Even Singapore - an entire nation, with all of its cultural diversity, centered on one island.

Islands are like people - so much variety. Some you'll love, some you'd prefer not to visit again. Some are vibrant and loud, some are quiet and serene. There's something for everyone. But, they all need each other, after all, as someone famous once said - "no man is an island" - and as the astronaut, Chris Hadfield, observed - everything fits together if you take a large enough view:

"When you're on one of the Caribbean islands, sometimes it's hard to picture how they all fit in with the rest, but when you see them all joined together like a necklace from space, you see the natural geographic connectedness of them all."

What's your favorite island? What makes it special to you?

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