Letters from Blackwell Island Pt. 02

"Perhaps," I answered with a slight chuckle. "It's as good a theory as any, I suppose - though I expect that thought has already occurred to the many anthropologists who have visited the island over the years. But like a lot of things the real reason is lost in the mists of time. We may never know exactly why the whole nudity thing began, but I know one thing for certain - I actually really enjoy being naked, especially here. Come on, Patrick, you've admitted to me yourself that you've come to enjoy it too."

"Ah, yeah, well I guess you have me there," Patrick conceded. "I never thought I would, but after going to that place in Dorset and after living here for the past few months, I guess I have come to actually enjoy it.

"The nudity thing I have no problem with - it's the sex aspect of this place that disagrees with me!"

"I think there's only one way we can settle this," I said, and paused to look him in the eye. "We're going to just have to try it."

"What, you mean like you and me? Like, doing it outdoors?"

"With Angela and Toby watching us? Yes, that is exactly what I mean. Look, the only way we're going to be able to put this issue to bed once and for all is to just try it and see what happens. If you really, really hate it so much then I promise you we'll never do it again."

"You promise?"

"I promise."

Patrick sighed long and deeply in resignation.

"Fine, whatever. If it's what you want, I guess I'll have to go along with it," he finally conceded. "I guess as the so-called matriarch you're the one in charge here. Sure, if it'll get you to shut the feck up about it, then I'll do it just this once!"

"It's not about what I want - it should be what we want. I just think it'd help us to better understand these people if we were prepared to try and fully adopt their lifestyle."

"And you know I want whatever you want, Allie - I wouldn't have followed you here otherwise. I know I'm kinda repressed about, y'know' sex and stuff - I can't help it, it's just the way I was brought up by Ma and Da, not to mention our local parish priest. I mean, you've met them and seen for yourselves - you've seen what they're like."

"Yes, but you don't have to be like them if you don't want to," I told him. "You're your own man, Patrick, you're not your parents, or cranky old Father O'Rourke either."

I left him to ponder that last thought and resumed our way down the path back to the bottom. When we rejoined Angela and Toby they were sitting on the rock we'd earlier seen them making love on - they were in each other's arms and kissing each other with the passion and intensity of a couple of newlyweds.

"Is this a private party or can anyone join in?" I quipped as we approached.

"Oh! Hi! Sorry, we sort of, couldn't help ourselves!" Angela responded with a broad smile after disengaging herself from her husband.

"Yeah, we couldn't help but notice what the two of you got up to in our absence," I chuckled.

"Yeah, this place is... well, it's quite special to us - we always end up, ahem, having sex whenever we come here," Toby stuttered. "I saw you up there, by the way. I hope you weren't offended - I thought we'd be finished by the time you got to the top there."

"Well, I'm not offended," I replied. "And Patrick wasn't either, were you?"

"I guess not," Patrick shrugged.

"In fact, seeing you, er, doing that, it's sort of made me, I mean made us, want to try out this whole having sex outdoors thing for ourselves," I continued.

"Well, there aren't many places more beautiful to do it for the first time than here," Angela beamed. "But I suspect Patrick isn't as overly enthusiastic by the idea."

"Sorry, I... it's just that... well, I'm sort of... catholic, you see. I was always taught that sex is sinful, especially out of wedlock of course, and that it's only ever acceptable between a man and his wife, indoors, in private."

Toby smiled a knowing smile.

"Come here, brother," he said, beckoning Patrick to sit beside him.

Patrick briefly glanced at me as if asking me if he should go and join him. I nodded a quick "go ahead" nod and lightly patted his bare bum.

"I wasn't too dissimilar to you when I first came here," Toby began to explain as Patrick sat beside him on the rock. "If you can't already tell by looking at me, I'm Jewish. My bachelor name was Tobias Aronowitz, but of course here on Blackwell a husband takes his wife's surname, hence why I'm Toby Masterson here.

"Anyway, I digress. My family weren't the really strict orthodox type - you know, the Hasidic Jews with the black clothes and the hats and the beards and curls and everything - but they were nonetheless devout members of our local synagogue. I was circumcised, as you can see, in a traditional Bris by a Mohel, and not by one of the local crabs here - yeah, I could see you thinking that it was a crab that nipped my foreskin off back there! Like a good Jewish boy I studied diligently for my Bar Mitzvah, and as a teenager I went to synagogue every week - I was every bit the proper and respectable Jewish lad my folks wanted me to be.

"They were a bit upset for a while that I'd fallen in love with and ultimately married a girl from outside the Jewish community, but they knew they had to let me follow my own path. That path just happened to lead us here, to this place, with its odd people who live their adult lives in the nude and think nothing of expressing their love for each other out in the open for all to see.

"At first I was as horrified by it all as you - like you I allowed my conservative upbringing to determine my thoughts and emotions on the matter - but in time I came to embrace it, and yes, to enjoy it.

"But here's the critical part, Patrick, I may have embraced the islander's ways but I've never let it force me to denounce my faith. I'm proud of being the only Jewish man living on Blackwell Island, and nothing will ever change that. But I'm also proud of my adopted homeland here in this beautiful part of the vast Pacific Ocean, and I feel a sense of freedom here that has become more special to me than anyone from outside our island community could ever know.

"Once you let go of all the repressive ways you've grown up with and fully embrace the islander's lifestyle you'll discover it for yourself - I'm sure of it. You just need to take that... that leap of faith, for want of a better phrase."

"Toby's right, you know," Angela added. "My parents were Methodists, and though they weren't strict they were nonetheless very prim and proper. I had mixed feelings too about fully engaging in the Islander's ways when it comes to sex, but now after all these years here I'm glad I managed to throw off the shackles of shame. All you have to do is take that first step. I'm sure that if you don't enjoy it then Allie won't make you do it again, right?"

"That's exactly what I said to him," I confirmed.

Patrick sighed in defeat - I could tell how hard it was for him to be able to break the habit of a lifetime, but I knew he'd come around if he only made the leap of faith, to use Toby's phrase.

"Could the two of you at least give us a little space?" he asked our guides.

"Of course we will," Toby answered.

He took Angela by the hand and together they stepped away towards the other side of the plunge pool and disappeared from view into the trees and undergrowth beyond.

"I guess since this rock is rather cold and rough I ought to do the gentlemanly thing and let you go on top," Patrick said as he laid himself back.

"Only because you know it'd be quicker that way!" I chuckled, trying to add a little comic relief and to ease his nerves.

To be honest, I was just as nervous as he was - I was just better at concealing it. Seizing the moment, I got up and mounted him - the rock was no less rough on my knees than it was for him on his back, but I decided not to mention that. Though his misgivings and unease about doing what we were about to do out in the open were evident, at least his body seemed to be up for it - literally. He was quickly becoming magnificently erect, which made my job a lot easier.

"You ready?" I asked him as I took his erection in my right hand and gave it a couple of strokes.

"Not really," he confessed. "But feck it anyway!"

So with his assurance to go ahead I shuffled myself forward, lifted myself up a little, guided the head of his cock towards my entrance and then lowered myself onto him. He gasped as he felt himself enter me - a sound he often makes that never fails to inflate my ardour. As soon as I was seated upon him I began to ride him in earnest. Almost right away I felt how much of an adrenaline rush it was to be doing this out in the open air, surrounded by all the sights and sounds of nature. The feel of the cool moist breeze from the waterfall swirled around our naked bodies and tousled our hair. I looked down at my dear husband as I rocked my hips, using my body to coax him into giving me his seed.

"Uhh! Hah-h! They're, hah, watching us, aren't they," he said to me as I ground my hips around his erection.

"So what if they, ooh-h-h, are?" I responded. "It's only fair - we, ah-h-h, watched them at it earlier."

"You watched them," Patrick pointed out. "I didn't, hmmf-f, want to, remember?"

"Whatever," I conceded with a snigger. "How does it feel, anyway?" I asked him.

He seemed to mull things over for a few moments as I continued to ride him.

"Come on, admit it - it's, hah-h-h, not as bad as you thought it'd be!" I prompted him.

Another pause followed as I went on writhing my hips atop him.

"Sure, whatever, it's not as bad as I thought it'd, hah-h-h, be," he finally admitted.

"Even though we're fairly certain we're being watched?"

"Even though I know we're, mmf-f, being watched!"

"Oh-ho! Ohmygosh! Ohh, I can't believe we're doing this!" I exclaimed as I felt a sudden unexpected flash across my naked skin.

It was probably just a sudden gust of the cool downdraft from the waterfall, but such was the heightened state of my arousal at that moment it felt like something utterly electrifying.

"Ugh! Hah! Me n-neither!" Patrick gasped beneath me. "Ohh, f-fuck! If me Ma could, hah-h, see me now she'd f-feckin' kill me!"

I could tell he was already close - I wanted to try and come at the same time as him so that we could enjoy the euphoric moment together, so I reached down and started rapidly fingering myself to hasten things up a bit. As always, it started to have the desired effect within moments.

I was feeling things I never thought I'd ever feel - it was like sex plus! By taking our sex life out of our normal bedroom surroundings and taking it outdoors - into the wild, so to speak - sex took on a whole new meaning. We were communing with nature every bit as much as we were communing with each other.

"Ah! Oh-h, feckin' holy mother of... hahh-h-h, I'm gonna come, Allie!" Patrick groaned and panted underneath me. "Hssh-h-h, f-fuck!"

"Ohh-h-h-h, yeah baby! Give it all to me! I'm not far behind!" I responded.

Just a few seconds later I felt my orgasm explode from deep within me, and just as I'd seen Angela earlier I found myself shrieking up at the heavens. Moments after that I felt Patrick erupt inside me, and together we rode out each other's orgasms. It really was a truly special moment and if ever there was a moment when I wished that time could stand still, that was definitely that moment! But of course one can only enjoy oneself for so long, and as quickly as they enflamed us our orgasms dissipated as though carried away on the breeze that swirled around us.

Our lovemaking having come to an end we looked deep into each other's eyes and for a moment I felt a genuinely palpable sense of the deep connection we shared with each other. I knew he'd enjoyed it every bit as much as I had, even though he probably wouldn't admit it.

"Whooo! Yeah!" I heard Toby call out from the trees across on the other side of the waterfall's plunge pool. "Way to go, guys! You did it!"

We both turned our heads to look and see and were rewarded with the sight of Toby and Angela literally applauding us from the other side of the river.

"You're both proper Blackwell Islanders now!" Angela added gleefully.

I looked down at Patrick and he looked up at me. I smiled down at him... and he smiled up at me.

"That wasn't so bad, was it?" I asked him.

"No, that wasn't bad at all," he replied with a smile. "Jaysus, Allie, sure that was feckin' unbelievable!"

I smiled again and leant forwards to kiss him.

"Thank you," I whispered in his ear. "For doing that for me."

"I'd do anything for you, Allie," he answered back up at me.

* * * * * *

After our impromptu bouts of outdoor sex we all took a refreshing dip into the plunge pool before making our way back to the boat. Having worked up quite an appetite, Toby and Angela prepared us a veritable feast of an evening meal - big juicy steaks drenched in a thick mushroom sauce accompanied with thick cut chips and green beans on the side, followed by a rich chocolate sponge dessert that was pure hedonism on a plate!

After dinner, and with a bottle of beer each, we sat in the boat's main cabin and spent the evening serenading each other with songs. Toby got out his guitar and together with Angela sang a few traditional Blackwell Island songs in the Pā'ele language and a couple of rather raucous sea shanties that Henry Blackwell and his fellow mutineers would have been familiar with. Patrick joined in and sang a few of his favourite Irish songs, using the table in front of him as an improvised Bodhran. I meanwhile, sang an old English folk song I'd learnt as a little girl at school - "Drink to me only with thine eyes".

"Drink to me only with thine eyes, and I will pledge with mine. Or leave a kiss within the cup, and I'll not ask for wine.

"The thirst that from the soul doth rise, doth ask a drink divine. But might I of Jove's nectar sup, I would not change for thine.

"I sent thee late a rosy wreath, not so much honouring thee. As giving it a hope, that there it could not withered be.

"But thou thereon didst only breathe, and sent'st it back to me. Since when it grows, and smells, I swear, not of itself, but thee."

"Oh, Allie, that's so beautiful!" Angela exclaimed as I finished my song, wiping a tear away with the back of her hand.

"Does my missus have a gorgeous voice or what?" Patrick said proudly with a broad smile.

"That's the understatement of the century!" Toby chuckled. "You should have a word with Kim Kahului - she runs the island's choral society, I'm sure she'd love to have you on board!"

"Maybe," I replied, feeling colour rising in my cheeks. "I dunno though - I'd be scared to death singing up on a stage, even if it's as part of a choir."

"Oh, mo cheann álainn, if you could sing that in front of the three of us you could sing it in front of a million people!" Patrick said.

"What does that mean?" Toby asked my husband. "Mo cheann álainn, is it Gaelic?"

"It means my beautiful one," Patrick explained.

"He knows that all he has to do is speak to me in Gaelic and I'll be putty in his hands!" I chuckled. "It does it to me every time!"

"It's a beautiful sounding language," Angela observed.

"So is the native Pā'ele language," Patrick replied. "Even if I'm finding it a bit baffling - isn't there like, only thirteen letters in its alphabet or something?"

"All five vowels but only eight consonants," Toby confirmed. "It's basically the same as Hawaiian but with a few slight grammatical differences. But it's not so hard to learn once you get your head around it. Angela and I are more or less fluent now, as are pretty much all native Blackwell Islanders as it's mandatory in the island's schools so that it's kept very much alive. We'd be happy to teach you if you like."

And so the conversation went on long into the night as Angela and Toby taught us various words and phrases from the local language. By way of a cultural exchange Patrick taught our new friends (and yes, we both already considered Angela and her husband as friends by the end of that first day) some words and phrases in Gaelic. Toby even taught Patrick and I a few words in Hebrew.

By the time we eventually retired to our bunks for the night, with Angela and Toby in the largest cabin in the bow and Patrick and I in a smaller room amidships, it was close to two o'clock in the morning - our rest wasn't to last for too long however, the Blue-footed Boobies awaited us at first light.

* * * * * *

Toby awoke us at just after 6am with a couple of mugs of freshly brewed tea.

"We may be thousands of miles from good ol' Blighty, but some things such as a nice hot cuppa are sacred to us English folk, am I right?" he chuckled amiably as he placed the mugs on the bedside table between our single bunks. "Angie's got some breakfast on the go, so whenever the two of you are ready just come on up."

"Morning, Toby," I said after a long yawn.

He smiled and then turned to head back up into the main cabin, giving me a view of his bare behind and the two Ohana Māka'u that adorned his left buttock. I hadn't looked very closely at them before now - the upper one depicted a pair of heraldic lion guardant either side of a Star of David - a design that reflected his combined English and Jewish heritages. Below that was the design of his wife's marking - a Tudor rose beneath a three pointed crown. According to Angela when I asked her some time later what her family marking represented, she explained that it was a part of the flag of Hampshire, the county of her birth.

After finishing our tea we took turns to use the boat's small bathroom and then joined Toby and Angela for breakfast. The sun was just beginning to rise over the eastern horizon as we lowered the dinghy into the water to head for shore. Our two guides had to leave us on the beach for a few minutes in order to make a return trip to the boat to pick up their equipment for the day, which consisted of a cloth bag and scales for weighing the birds, notepads for writing and recording their observations, two rucksacks with provisions for the day ahead, and a box filled with metal rings and a device that looked like a pair of pliers used to attach them to the bird's legs.

Patrick, ever being the gentleman that he is, offered to carry Angela's rucksack for her - an offer she politely accepted - and once everything was ready our two guides led the way towards the Blue-footed Booby colony.

"Why are they called Boobies anyway?" I could resist asking them.

"It actually derives from a Spanish word, Bobo, meaning "foolish" or "stupid"," Angela explained to me. "Apparently it's because the Spanish explorers that first encountered them in the Galapágos thought that they looked clumsy when on land, waddling around with their large webbed and bright turquoise blue feet - that, and the fact that they rather foolishly had no fear of humans and were easy to catch!"

We continued on along the trail that led towards the Booby colony (yes, I know "Booby Colony" sounds like the title of a cheeky 1970's British softcore porn movie!) and the closer we got the louder the noise became. The smell became somewhat more pungent too! It was another hot and sunny day and all four of us would need to reapply our sunblock several times at least, and by the time we made it to the edge of the colony we were all dripping with sweat. We couldn't dwell on that for long however - Angela and Toby wasted no time in getting to work, and roped Patrick and I in to lend a hand.