Day 26 - Fond Farewells. Fish. Frolics.

17:00
Saturday is brought to you by the letter ‘F’ apparently.

Our early morning is thankfully peaceful, and I have the best sleep I’ve had in weeks. Vicki has had a mere 9 hours, but is conscious she needs to start to return to a more normal sleeping pattern ahead of work on Monday.

We’re (fanfare please) out before 11:00, and head to Cow Corner for a farewell breakfast, and to say goodbye to Andrex and Rufus. Darron and Debbie drop in to surprise us. They’re already packed and ready to go, and have a few hours to kill before their cab up to Dabolim Airport. Omelettes all round. 3 x Choris omelettes, and Vicki’s usual cheese affair for her. DD are wowed by their food, and rightly so - it’s a brilliant dish. Double D also order a bottle of wine. I’m instinctively tempted to join them until I remember it’s well before sun/yard-arm territory.

We head down to Namaste for the last time, and grab a few beers in the sunshine. It’s properly hot today. There’s little to no breeze coming off the ocean, and it’s a melty one as a result. The sand feels scorching even through our flip-flops. Debbie sets forth into Margarita country, and Darron hits the White Russians.

Wurzel and Zoe pitch up for a while, and we all say a fond farewell to each other. Not 100% sure when we’ll all be back together. Vicks and I may go to Sancho Panza’s Summer festival camping thing, as it sounds like a LOT of fun, and loads of our new friends will be there…

We pop in to Round Cube for a sharpener, and to say goodbye to our friends there. Honestly, it’s been a hectic, and emotionally charged day…

We settle back at our room for a rosé (me, obvs), rest and refresh before heading over to Palolem later.

00:15
An evening of highs and lows.

We jump in a tuk-tuk over to Palolem Beach around 19:30. Our driver is an angry little chap. His horn seems to be broken, so he takes to shouting and swearing at other vehicles/passers by.

Just walking into Dropadi, the smells of fish and shellfish on the BBQ are tantalising. We briefly consider the menu, before opting for a kingfish. When our favourite waiter dude brings over some specimens from which to choose, there’s one that is probably just too small, and that is almost definitely too big. We opt for the bruiser. We’re also presented with some incredible looking prawns, and it would be rude not to. We also can’t say no to some more of that amazing crab butter on toast that we had the other night. Fortunately, we’re both whatever the next one up from peckish is…

The crab butter toast is sublime. Some Indian kids set off fireworks in front of us. It’s a somewhat lacklustre display. Lacklustre is the last accusation that could be applied to the prawns that turn up in front of us. They are sensational. Absolutely perfectly cooked, super-juicy, and incredibly tasty. We’ve gone for a simple herb and garlic marinade, and it works brilliantly with the shellfish. Huge handfuls of nom.

The kingfish arrives to great fanfare. We’ve opted for simplicity to accompany it - some simple butter roti, and some stuffed naan. It’s a veritable feast. The fish is sensational - blackened in places from the BBQ, with enough heat in the marinade to keep things interesting. The flesh is moist, giving and a stunning texture. A dish for the ages. It is, however, just a little more than we can manage. We do, we believe, a bang up job, leaving only the merest morsels on the plate.

As we’re readying to leave, we tell our waiter dude that we’ve been visiting Dropadi for 15+ years. It transpires the restaurant has been there 23 years, and several of the same staff have been there the entire time. It is, without doubt, the best food we’ve enjoyed together in Goa on this trip. Nothing too fancy - just very high quality ingredients, treated simply, and cooked accurately. It’s a winning combination.

We jump back in a tuk-tuk to Patnem Beach. England are playing Ireland in the 6 Nations in Dublin tonight, and I’m keen to watch if I can get the tech to play ball. Happily, the tech stars align, and I get a pretty decent stream of ITV. Jams and buffers a few times, but actually pretty decent.

The first half is a typically tight and edgy affair. England are 10-5 up at the break, and just about deserve to be. They’ve played with more structure and discipline than Ireland thus far, but Ireland look like they’ve got a couple more gears to go through. The second half is, sadly, a fairly ons-sided affair. The final scoreline of 27-22 flatters England. Ireland were out of sight with 15 minutes to go, and a couple of junk time scores from England don’t paper over the cracks of their inexperienced team. They’re a good side, who need time together to flourish. Ireland are pretty much the finished article though, and run out deserved winners.

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