The true might of the South China Sea was revealed today…and it changed my view of it.
First there were the plankton like relics of small shrimpy things in the water that we had to wade through to surf…that resulted in snot like strings after I had washed my hair post-surf and was brushing it.
Then there was all the crap floating along the bottom of the sea that the crashing waves made to feel like live creatures! Scott had to help me during my few freak outs.
Then there was the undercurrent. The waves were crazy like the first time we had started surfing. The came often, at weird angles, very choppy. At some point Andrea was on the board and we were helping her go further out…and I realized I couldn't stand. It was so sudden and unusual since the sea shore is amazingly shallow here! I didn't panic and we pushed Andrea off, and then Scott suggested we rather go back in. And I tried to swim in an went nowhere…I tried not to panic…I screamed at him about sharks and thankfully he didn't hear me…thankfully he hid the panic he was feeling. I eventually started to do backstroke to give me a chance to breath. Thankfully the waves weren't breaking on me. I looked again for Scott and then the panic really hit cause I really wasn't moving and was just as far from the beach (and it felt further than I thought we had been). I knew that panicking wouldn't help so I tried to calm down, and I could always just float, and the waves would have to take me to the beach eventually. It was pretty scary. Scott kept shouting reassuring words and tried to get me to ride the waves in, but you just bob up and down if you can't push off into the wave. Thankfully I eventually got to shallower ground. I don't think Andrea realized how worried we had both been. I tried a few times on the board, noticeably closer to shore than before, but I think we both were exhausted now that the adrenaline had worn off.
And then with that exhaustion we headed off to our farewell church dinner at Ocean Chinese restaurant…with very nice people and yummy barbecue pork and onion chicken!
First there were the plankton like relics of small shrimpy things in the water that we had to wade through to surf…that resulted in snot like strings after I had washed my hair post-surf and was brushing it.
Then there was all the crap floating along the bottom of the sea that the crashing waves made to feel like live creatures! Scott had to help me during my few freak outs.
Then there was the undercurrent. The waves were crazy like the first time we had started surfing. The came often, at weird angles, very choppy. At some point Andrea was on the board and we were helping her go further out…and I realized I couldn't stand. It was so sudden and unusual since the sea shore is amazingly shallow here! I didn't panic and we pushed Andrea off, and then Scott suggested we rather go back in. And I tried to swim in an went nowhere…I tried not to panic…I screamed at him about sharks and thankfully he didn't hear me…thankfully he hid the panic he was feeling. I eventually started to do backstroke to give me a chance to breath. Thankfully the waves weren't breaking on me. I looked again for Scott and then the panic really hit cause I really wasn't moving and was just as far from the beach (and it felt further than I thought we had been). I knew that panicking wouldn't help so I tried to calm down, and I could always just float, and the waves would have to take me to the beach eventually. It was pretty scary. Scott kept shouting reassuring words and tried to get me to ride the waves in, but you just bob up and down if you can't push off into the wave. Thankfully I eventually got to shallower ground. I don't think Andrea realized how worried we had both been. I tried a few times on the board, noticeably closer to shore than before, but I think we both were exhausted now that the adrenaline had worn off.
And then with that exhaustion we headed off to our farewell church dinner at Ocean Chinese restaurant…with very nice people and yummy barbecue pork and onion chicken!
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