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| Ibis! |
The general awesomeness of today was so extreme, I can’t describe it. I will try for your benefit. So, I have conquered the four-string twine bracelet-thing. Haha. There was riptide on one of the beaches, so it kind of felt like those news stories that becomes a movie that breaks everyone’s heart and everybody goes to watch. You know, where the waves are pulling people farther and farther apart and people are yelling and waves are crashing and then one person is screaming and yelling, “Give me your hand!” And then at the last second, the other person manages to grab on. Sounds pretty fun, right? Action, adventure, drama, all packed into one short little scene. It’s pretty cool in the movies, when it’s almost all CGI-ed and there’s timing and acting and a director is managing it. However, say it’s you nearly drowning, or you having to fight the current. Suddenly, it’s a little less fun. Oh, it’s still fun. Don’t get me wrong. But it’s less fun when you’re getting salt water in your nose, your mouth, and your eyes. In a movie, you can just sit back, relax, and think “Whoa, that’s a nice shot.” In a real riptide, it’s a little harder.
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| pretty! |
Perhaps you’re thinking, “Gee, Zada, drowning doesn’t sound that fun. You said your day was totally awesome.” Well, hold your sea horses, I’m getting to that part. After we nearly drowned, my new buddies and I finally made it to the shore. Well, Caitlin and I walked/crawled back. Kenzie more body-surfed to the shore. We then trudged across the street to a non-riptide covered beach to play Capture the Fish/Life Vest. Let me explain. If any of you have played Capture the Flag, the game where you, duh, capture the flag, it’s like that. Imagine your Capture the Flag field. Now subtract (or add) some players, including yourself, until you have ten players in swimsuits. Now cover the field in salt water and replace your flag with a life vest in a bucket. You have now completed your Capture the Fish setting. I, needless to say, won the game. No, I’m kidding. I got tagged third. Then, after the game, we went back and ate lunch. I had just finished rinsing off with fresh water and drying off when they announced we were about to go surfing. We got to the ocean, and I was convinced, somehow, that I could stand on my toes while on a surfboard. On my third try, as I was almost back to our little base, I was SO proud that I would be able to stand on my toes the whole way back. Finally! Then someone yelled “Manatee!” and I was so shocked that I fell flailing madly into the water. Kenzie had let me borrow her goggles, so I could see, but the water was so murky, all I saw was a grey blob. I resurfaced just in time to see a huge head pop out of the water. We all paused our surfing to stare at the manatee. It still had its flipper out of the water when we had to go. We walked back, and then we hopped straight on the bus to go on a boat ride. We were raring to see dolphins, and so when Caitlin yelled “DOLPHIN!”, the reaction was immediate. People snapped up like umbrellas, and we went towards the fin. The dolphin then disappeared. This happened one more time, but then they came. Big dolphins, jumping dolphins, scarred dolphins, flipping dolphins, dolphins who swam upside down and sideways, curious dolphins who looked straight at us and came straight at the boat, shy dolphins who stayed on the outskirts, dolphins who went under the boat, and absolute best of all, a baby dolphin who played with its mother, rolling over her and jumping around. When it was time to leave, everybody begged and pleaded so loud that we went into shallower water 18 feet deep to swim around. Nobody was happy to go. As we left, one single dolphin tail came up far away, sort of an au revoir. And now, I will say au revoir to you, but I don’t have a dolphin tail to make it special.
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| Gelatto, and sunburn ... gelatto makes the sunburn better. |
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