My First Published Sailing Article // Kim Goes Foreign // 1975 Bahamas Trip

On September 24, 2020
By Kimberly

In grade school, I was staff on every school newspaper through high school. I’ve always liked to write, and in 1977, I submitted an article about cruising the Bahamas to the sailing giant magazine “Cruising World.” They published it, and a lifetime of writing has followed. At the time I wrote it, I was eight years old. This year marks 45 years of writing for me, and I still love it. For fun, here’s that early article, my “Throwback Thursday.”

Shoreline

Kim Goes Foreign

My name is Kim and I am eight years old. One summer my family and I cruised the Bahamas on our boat, Albatross.

We went from Palatka, Florida, on the St. Johns River, to Jacksonville, to the Intracoastal Waterway, and headed south. There were lots of pretty houses along the way. At Hutchinson Island we stopped and anchored and went to a nautical museum. They had all kinds of things from boats there. Also there was a sea turtle hatchery and the best thing was a great big sea turtle.

Bimini

From Fort Lauderdale, we went to Bimini. The water there was pretty because you could see the fish and shells at the bottom. At low tide we went to a sand bar on the edge of the Grand Bahama Bank to find shells. I like to look for sea shells. The Bahamas are a very good place to find sea shells and go beachcombing.

Gun Cay and Chub Cay

When we left Bimini we went fishing, and I caught a trigger-fish. Then we went and anchored at a wrecked ship and went swimming and snorkeling. After that we spent the night at near Gun Cay. We went from Gun Cay across the Grand Bahama Bank to Chub Cay and had to stay there for a week waiting for a part for the engine. Daddy fixed the engine and we left for Nassau.

Nassau New Providence

In Nassau we went shopping. I bought a turtle necklace, a straw doll and some necklaces made of seeds for my friends at home. And we stayed to see the Goombay. The Goombay was a lot of Bahamians in bright colored costumes dancing in the street. There was a lot of loud music.

They also had Bahamian food along the sidewalk. I had some conch fritters and some Goombay punch. The fritters were peppery. We also went to Fort Charlotte. I liked to climb all around the fort. I didn’t go down in the dungeons because it was too dark and scary.

Royal Island

Next we went to Royal Island. On the island there was a bunch of old houses, with fancy tiles on the floors, that nobody lived in. And there were cisterns. We took lots of showers with some water from the cisterns. In the harbor were big barracudas, so we didn’t go swimming.

Spanish Wells

Spanish Wells is near Royal Island. There were goats running free on a little island near Spanish Wells. There were all different colored goats, they were so cute.

Little Harbor

At Little Harbor I saw some caves. It was exciting to go in the caves. One had bats in it an da hole in the roof where the bats would fly out. And there were mosquitos too. I liked to watch the bats. They were furry and they made little noises. They clung together on the roof of the cave and didn’t like it when we shined the flashlight at them. They’d go flying everywhere.

Man O’War

It was nice at Man O’War Cay. There were pretty homes. Some of the houses had coral and shells and glass floats decorating their front yards. Also we saw places where they were building boats. I thought it was interesting to watch them building and painting the boats.

West End Grand Bahama

At West End we’d get ice cream cones in the evenings. Ummmm, the ice cream was good and cold! We didn’t have much ice on our trip so that cold ice cream was delicious.

Work and Play

I didn’t just play all the time on our trip. Sometimes I had to work, like steering the boat, but it was fun to steer. I had to make my bunk, too, and sweep the cabin floor. When we would dock I had to take care of the dinghy so that it wouldn’t bump the pilings. Also I had to put the rope and anchor chain in the locker when my daddy would pull up the anchor. Sometimes I liked to work, but sometimes I didn’t feel like it.

I liked going to the Bahamas; I had lots of fun. I don’t know where we’re going next summer, but my daddy says we might go north next time.

– Kim Walther

We Don’t Go Anywhere Without:

Stream2Sea Reef Safe SPF 20 or 30 mineral, regular or tinted sunscreen, mask defog, shampoo, conditioner, rash guards and more reef-safe supplies. Use my code “DeepWH” for 10% off. The packages are biodegradeable – not just recycled and recyclable.
Crisis Medicine Tactical Casualty Care Course knowledge so we can help ourselves. With code “DeepWH” you save 20% on the TC2 course
MyMedic Individual Bleeding Control Kits, this link and my code “DeepWH15” will save you 15% on your purchase. We take ours everywhere.
North American Rescue CAT tourniquets. Use code “MAY25” for 20% off through midnight on 5/31/20. This is a huge savings!
Cycle Booty Citrus Cleanser and Post Ride Cream.
Airbnb, “Kimberly gave you up to $55 off your first trip.”
Airbnb says, “Deep gave you up to $415 off your first adventure.
Uber gives you $2 off your first three rides.
Travelex is our trip insurer – click for a free quote.
Girls That Scuba – members discount card for all things diving.
REI Co-op for great sports equipment and travel clothes.
Sailo for $100 off your next boat rental! Discount Code: “KimWa1”
PierShare to rent your dock out or rent a dock.
BoatUS for your boat towing insurance! Code: “HEWAF88”
RoadId for $5 off your cycling/running/kayaking/travel id.
Dazer Ii Ultrasonic Aggressive Dog Deterrent Repeller Dazzer – keeping dogs at bay while we cycle.
Guardline Security Wireless Driveway Alarm – alerts us when someone approaches. Less expensive directly from the company.
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