From the sea, the island looks like a tropical paradise, partly due to the Fleece’s influence. The sheep Percy saw in his dream wander peacefully; moreover, getting on land seems too easy until a deer enters the sheep’s meadow, and the wooly creatures charge. In a blink, they eat the deer and resume their grazing, leaving nothing but “a pile of clean white bones” (203). To avoid the sheep, Percy and Annabeth dock the Queen Anne’s Revenge on the far side of the island, which is a steep cliff, where another lifeboat from the USS Birmingham also sits. They climb the cliff and find Clarisse hanging above a cooking pot while Polyphemus and Grover look on. Polyphemus asks Grover if they should eat Clarisse now or later, referring to Grover as his bride. Clarisse blows Grover’s cover, revealing him as a satyr. Grover convinces the cyclops he’d taste better cooked, and Polyphemus decides to marry Clarisse and have Grover as dinner later that night. He tosses them both in his cave, closes off the entrance, and leaves.

Annabeth and Percy try to move the bolder blocking the cave entrance, but it’s too big and heavy. Annabeth develops a plan to get Clarisse and Grover out when Polyphemus returns.