We met Sebastian, who has become our local go-to for any and all needs, at the designated spot just down the beach from the hotel. You see, Sebastian and his friends are not able to give you "best friend price" inside the confines of the hotels property, but one step over the line and they will sell you the tires off their car.
After a brief fitting for masks, snorkels, and fins we walked the 25-30 feet into the white sand shallows towards the "boat" that would be taking us on this 9am-4:30pm excursion.
Our crew consisted of Sebastian and 4 others, three of which were in official looking blue Polo's that said "sailing crew" on the back giving us all the secure warm fuzzies that we weren't headed off into the wild blue yonder with possible pirates (still have that "I'm a confused foreigner" feeling). With the other dozen passengers we boarded while the crew floated out coolers and cases of water for our mid day beach lunch later.
Lets chat about the boat. The only way to describe it is if Noah's Arc had a dinghy. Outfitted with an outboard motor that couldn't have been more than 40 horses and a sail that I would later come to find out was salvaged from a "Ristorante" having to do somehow with buffalo's, it would be a daunting task imagining this vessel taking you to the other side of an Olympic pool, let alone the wide open Indian Ocean.
After a leisurely and exaggerated hour and half, we arrived at the small and private island of Mnembe. being private we were forced to gear up and pitch over the side from off shore with only two rules training-1. Don't go on the beach and 2. don't touch anything. We were off on a coral reef adventure which was exactly like the movies, in fact, I kept looking for Nemo but only managed to find Dori and Scar.
Halfway through this dream like swim the weather began to change. The wind picked up on the surface and made the turquoise water choppy as clouds started to roll in from the horizon.
After a breezy lunch of BBQ fish, rice and plantains we boarded our Boat BC for the journey back. We putt-putt motored out of the shallows then killed the engine and hoisted the sails.
for the first 45 minutes to an hour I was enamored by the fact that we were sailing in the Indian Ocean. Certainly not many people could say that. My fantasy of navigating by the current was cut into by the immense rolling of the ocean and the visual fact that we were probably moving at 4-5 mph. (keep in mind we were over an hour away from anything familiar). We were wet, sandy, salty, without a change of clothes and riding in a structure that was the grown up version of a child's toy carved by hand. There was one cover of approximately 15 square feet to the rest of the very open boat, and bench seats on the side. We were forced to understand that whatever position we were in at that moment is the very position we would be in for the next couple of hours in a rolling and pitching sea. Then the rains came.....
The crew scrambled to get some neon-orange tarp thrown over us and the boat with as much grace as 50mph wind will allow, while all of us on board that were not from Africa shared a quick glimpse as if to silently commiserate "you have got to be kidding". I imagine that it wasn't just myself that kept singing "a 3 hour tour....a 3 hour tour".
What seemed like 4 days later we arrived at our beach and reemerged from under the tarp only to be further pelted by fat rain on the way to the room, and I realized that for the first time since arriving in the tropics I was REALLY COLD. The only reason I didn't notice it before was for hours previous I couldn't take my mind off my itchy swimmer butt cheeks.
Long story longer, we took hot showers, grabbed a snack, and went to bed, for the night, at 5pm and slept uninterrupted until 6am the next morning.
We are done sailing!
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