On A Tangent: Bye Bye, Makai

We met the crew of Makai (Eric, Jackie, Roy, Genoa, Marie and Topaz) in Solomons, MD in October 2014 where we were having some work done to prepare for our trip to the Caribbean. We had a lot of fun sharing meals, getting to know each other and perusing their amazing pictures and hearing about their experiences from the previous season in the Bahamas. With the simple statement "you guys should go to the Bahamas" we were left in a ball of confusion as we bid farewell and continued south to Virginia. After many family discussions, we decided to change plans and start our tropical adventure in the Bahamas, hoping we would have the chance to see Makai again. A week and a half after we arrived in Marsh Harbour we were thrilled to find out they were going to clear in at the marina where we were dockbound! From there it was an easy decision to travel with them from Great Abaco to the Exumas. Jackie keeps an excellent blog at sailmakai.org but here are some photos we got of our southward journey together.

The crews of Makai and Tangent together for one last photo. Makai was getting ready to go to the Brigantines and then start heading south on their way to the Panama Canal and ultimately home to California on this last leg of their 3 year cruise. We were very sad to say goodbye but really grateful for our time together. Boy did we learn a lot from this generous, smart, active and fun crew!

We had a pretty rough ride from Great Abaco to Eleuthera, starting with an extremely hairy exit through North Bar Channel. It reminded Eric and Jackie of the breakers on the beach in Hawaii 5-0. We took this series of pictures of Makai as the swells swallowed them up. And this was the pleasant part of the trip!