Adventures of a Tribe

Key Largo to Bahamas

Posted on March 2, 2016

Once we had gathered all necessary parts for the starboard alternator, which was an adventure in itself, we set sail for Bahamas. Bernadine and Gary wanted to take part in watches with us through the night, so we set up two hour rotations starting at 10pm. The ocean was so calm with tiny, gentle waves, which was perfect for our new crew given the fact that they were seasick anyway. Due to some large forbidden areas of ocean,, we motor sailed up the coast to Miami, and then turned to Cat Cay – a private Cay owned by a yacht club, which is very easy to check in to. As the sun rose we could see the Cay on the horizon, and as soon as the sun was higher in the sky that gorgeous calypso color spread out ahead of us.

Once we’d paid our $650 visa and check in fees (good for 3 months), we set out to Gun Key which is just north of Cat Cay, found a little beach and beautiful reef to explore, and dropped anchor. I jumped in to dive down and check the anchor, and when I surfaced, I just kept swimming because it was so incredibly clear and beautiful and I wanted to stay immersed in it all. I almost immediately saw two spotted eagle ray, one of which had a huge remora attached to its belly. I called over to everyone on the boat, telling them to hurry and join me so they could see it too, and before long we were all in exploring the gorgeous waters. The beach was covered in hundreds of shells of every shape and size. We walked farther down and waded in at another spot where many stingrays were swimming, and found them to be curious and friendly. They circled around our feet and when we knelt down they skimmed over our laps. A couple of black tips reef sharks arrived on the scene as well, and stayed on the outskirts but watched us closely. A few of us tried swimming after them but they were too skittish and swam away. We all explored this way for several hours clear into the afternoon until we decided we’d best take a break from the sun for a while, and returned to Tanda Malaika.

For dinner, Danny cooked meat on the braai (BBQ) and I made a big potato salad and green salad, and by 7pm we were all so tired from our night watches last night as well as our full day of exploring, that we were all ready for bed.

We are excited to continue our adventures tomorrow in these stunning surroundings.