My Cruise experience in the vast Atlantic Ocean to the Bahamas-A lifetime opportunity
Growing up and working in Kenya, I never had the opportunity to get in and sail in one of the large ships. Large ships from Mombasa, from history, transported Kenyan soldiers to destinations of the World Wars I and II.
Large ships were known to dock in Mombasa with sailors from US and other European countries. Our exports and imports were also known to be transported by large ocean carriers. Additionally, a large population of people from the rural part of Kenya that I come from had very few reasons to go to the Kenyan coast and take boat rides in the ocean, let alone sail in the large ships.
Most of those who traveled to the coastal towns would go to Mombasa and other towns on the Kenyan coast for their high school (Shimo La Tewa High School, Allidina Visram High School, Star of the Sea High School, etc.) and even while at school they never got the opportunity to sail in a boat in the ocean.
I was one of the fortunate ones to go to Mombasa and Malindi on vacation, have an opportunity to board a small boat and sail out in the ocean for about a mile from the shore. These trips to the ocean were mainly in a glass-bottomed boat to watch fish as the coxswain steered through areas of the ocean with big numbers of fish.
We would watch as schools of fish sailed beneath our boat. These trips were fun until one time when our boat was about two miles into the ocean some strong waves hit the boat, rocking it and creating fear among the occupants.
We all pleaded with the coxswain to steer the boat back to the shore. I had never ventured deep into the Indian Ocean after this experience and hoped never would I again sail into any ocean.
When I immigrated to the US, I took care of the basics first – getting a job to pay bills but later got prospected by credit card companies and other vendors to become their client. One of my prospectors was a company selling Bahamas cruise package.
Although the prospect of sailing deep into the Atlantic in a big ship excited me I remembered my experience in the Indian Ocean when our boat almost capsized when it encountered a big wave. My consolation however, was that this cruise was going to be in a big ship which would be difficult to sink.
I sold the idea of the cruise to my wife who felt that this was a lifetime opportunity to get into the sea for a week. The details of the facilities in the ship and other captivating vacation destinations are described in details in the book “Life Lessons of an Immigrant” by John Makilya.
Get your copy of “Life Lessons of an Immigrant” by John Makilya from: www. Amazon.com. If however, you prefer an autographed copy call or text the author at 617-653-8386. More on “Life Lessons of an Immigrant” visit the website: https://johnmakilya.com
