Today quite a few of us were back to Palolem Beach, based at the Cozy Nook shack.  It’s always such a delight there: the sea is glassy calm and the beach itself is still exquisite despite the colourful fringe of shacks set back against the palm trees.

We managed to bag some sunbeds and then settled for one of their excellent breakfasts.  Quite a few had the rosti with poached eggs – some with spinach – others went for the Spanish omelette with tomatoes and cheese.  That came with the Goan bread which is a bit like an English crumpet.  Yummy.

One group went for an early birdwatching boat trip up into the mangroves at the northern end of the beach.  We opted for a late one, at about 2pm.  Our man, Subash, is absolutely brilliant.  He has eyes like a hawk and spots all kind of things as he punts you along. Daisy had never done this trip before and she was transfixed by the sea eagles and kites as they came swooping down for bits of chicken, and of course with the incredible peace of the waterway.  We’ve done this trip so many times but we never tire of it.  An amazing value at £2 each.  Today we saw cormorants, sea eagles, red kites, black kites, white storks, kingfishers, monkeys and a mongoose.  Fantastic

Tonight a group of us went to Nada Brahma to watch the weekly film which was “Joker”.  Wow.  Not a comfortable watch at all but what a brilliant performance by Joaquin Phoenix and a dark dark observation of a nightmare of a descent into madness.  Superb. Well deserving of awards and certainly a Best Actor Oscar.