Now on the beach facing the ocean I took a deep breath, inhaling the fresh ocean breeze. I looked to East and could see Atlantis’ celebrity beach not too far away; I looked to the West and there in the distance, beyond the beach, beyond the rocks, was a lighthouse, peeping out from obstruction. The sand was moist from the recent rain. It felt cool on my soles each time I stepped.
The ocean was so mysterious: a world to which I didn’t belong and could little understand. I wondered what harm would come to me if I failed to wait for an invitation to cross the threshold of the sea: like a vampire, unable to enter a human’s house without an invitation. I beckoned to Yemoja to seek her pardon, offering my gift of love and reverence.
Fred and I swam out from shore, testing our courage, satisfying our sense of adventure. My ego was unsettled, but Fred’s spirit calmed me. Having a right hand man gave me confidence as an explorer. I figured if I could convince another sane individual into doing the things I wanted to do, then perhaps they weren’t so crazy after all. I submerged myself: all around me was a blue abyss; beyond the ocean’s edge was Africa and the energy of the ocean connected us so many miles apart.
We swam back to shore, as my acrobatics had exhausted me, and eventually, after filling our bellies with mangos, continued in the direction of the lighthouse. On the next phase of the journey we had to climb over the rocks. In the distance was a large stone wall: emanating from someone’s private property, stretching all the way to the edge of the rocks. When we arrived at the wall, I asked Fred to give me a boost so I could see what terrain lay on the other side. He hoisted me up and I climbed on top. On the other side the land seemed to be narrowing, as I could almost see what the coast looked like on the harbour side. In the distance I could see another wall, although that didn’t perturb me, considering my success at scaling this one. Once we had engineered a way to cross the wall, a method that involved playing like stupid tourists, I was intent on reaching the other side of the island.
Turning towards the bushy interior, we set off to clear a path through the bush. After my attempt at leading the pack led us to a bush of thorns, I decided to let Fred lead the way. He found this quite amusing, but I had no shame. He successfully cleared a path and in no time we were looking at the harbour. The water was clear enough to entice me to take a dive. There was only one more obstacle in my way: a large pine tree. I decided I couldn’t move the tree, so I grabbed a hold of it and hoisted myself on to a branch.
From inside the tree I imagined tying a rope to a sturdy branch and swinging off, plunging into the water. I thought to be successful we would have to make a rope ladder to hang over the rocks, so we could climb out of the water. The ‘we’ was essential, of course, to give me my confidence.