During Season 2, Episode 10 of Below Deck Down Under which aired on August 21, the charter guests were treated to a special beach picnic. This "beach," however, called Vlasoff Cay, is only available for a few hours before the tide comes in.
During the episode, as chef Tzarina Mace-Ralph prepared a beach barbeque, second officer João Franco met with Captain Jason Chambers to talk about the precarious locale as Jason pointed out "hazards" that could happen due to the "swell" of the tide.
"Vlasoff Cay is a great spot," Jason explained in an interview during the episode. "It's got a beautiful sand cay that exposes itself at low tide. Once you get out there, you're absolutely surrounded by nothing but water, so it's perfect for a beach setup. However, if you don't get off in time, the island disappears; then you'll be swimming home."
The guests have a beach picnic on the slip
For the exciting experience, Tzarina prepared a delicious meal of surf n' turf, pairing steak and lobster with mac n' cheese.
Stew Margot Sisson and deckhands Culver Bradbury helped Tzarina with the setup, which also included a small grill on which to warm up the meat and seafood as well as corn on the cob. As the crew members brought the guests onto the sandbank, the captain notified everyone they had about four hours until they'd have to make their swift departure.
Captain Jason sends João back to gather the guests
After the guests gushed about how "unbelievable" the food was, Jason sent João back in the tender to pick up the guests, warning the second officer that time was "running out" before the tide would swallow the temporary island in its wake.
"We have to hurry," João declared as he rushed Tzarina and the guests back to the yacht while Culver and Margot packed up the remaining items from the picnic.
João then returned to the slip with Adam Kodra as they tried to bring the items as well as Margot and Culver back with them to the yacht. Unfortunately, due to the incoming tide, the crew faced severe issues with the tender.
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The crew has problems getting the tender off the slip
"I'm literally sh-tting myself," João lamented during an interview explaining the disaster they were facing with the tender. "The wave sends the boat this way, but on return, it goes like this," he describes with his hands, showing the difficult push-pull effect the crew was dealing with.
"As soon as it goes like this, if the next wave gets into the boat, the thing will capsize, it will roll, we will lose the boat or we'll beach the boat," he explained. "If we don't get something done quickly, we're not going anywhere."
The crew successfully make it off the slip in time
After several moments of struggle, the crew finally gets the tender successfully into the water as Adam drives the boat away from the cay.
"Holy sh-t," Adam exclaimed in an interview. "I have no experience on tenders getting beached. That was like, the craziest thing to me. I feel like a superhero."
