I know that I could have put this story along with my other entry for today, but I had to make a separate one because it is nowhere near as good as that tale.
My group and I decided that we would get up early this morning and take a 2-hr boat ride out to the island of Anguilla to enjoy some snorkeling and lunch. As I said a couple of entries ago, I have had a strong fear of water for a while because I can’t swim, but I as convinced to go for the sake of group solidarity. The boat ride out there was cool and there were plenty of free drinks to keep us “happy†😉
Once we arrived at the snorkeling spot, I started having last second jitters. I asked the captain about the depth of the water that we were in and he replied that it was 12 feet deep, but that we’d all be alright because they had floatation belts for us. So, I put on the fins, belt, goggles, and snorkel and hopped in the water. It started off great. Although I noticed that the floatation belt didn’t seem to be keeping me afloat well, I was still whipping around that water like a trained swimmer. The things that I saw under the surface of the water were amazing. All of the coral, schools of fish, rocks, and plants blew my mind. I thought I was ready for another “VA done come up!†moment, but then things went south.
I was following my man Cameron and I noticed that I was about to hit a coral bed that was pretty close to the surface. So, I moved my arms to direct myself over the coral and got stung by a sea urchin. If you’ve never seen one of those things before, it looks like a black, spiny porcupine sort of plant that I didn’t think was a big deal. I didn’t even know that I’d been stung until I surfaced a few seconds later and noticed that my hand was throbbing. I showed it to be the folks in my crew and someone said “Oh my goodness, you need to get on the boat now to have them look at itâ€. At this point, I was about 75 yards away from the boat and I started swimming toward the boat, but it was different. I noticed that my arms and legs were feeling tired and I was having a hard time breathing. Then, it seemed like the floatation belt had stopped working for me and I couldn’t keep myself afloat. I kept on trying to kick to move forward, but I couldn’t get anywhere. First, I sort of yelled out “Hey, Cameron, come over here and help me right quickâ€, but he didn’t hear me. After a few more seconds, I felt like I was really going to go under, so I started screaming “HELP!†and some random dude from the boat came out to grab me along with Cameron. The two of them helped me toward the boat and then the captain came out with a floating bouy ring and took me the rest of the way to the boat.
Once I got on the boat, I still had a hard time catching my breathe and I felt like my life had flashed in front of my eyes. My girl Damali helped me realize that I’d just had my first Tony Soprano moment…a major panic attack. Looking back, I think I freaked out because I thought the sea urchin bite would poison in it that could do some damage. My eagerness to get back to shore along with my noticing that the water was so deep just made me lose it. People on the boat tried to check on me and tell me that it was all good, but I felt like I’d gone out like a “bia biaâ€. We ended up getting lunch soon after that and I even went back into the water (as far as I could stand up in) on the beach by the restaurant, but I still haven’t been able to shake the fact that the snorkeling damn near did me in. It looks like my water adventures are over for good…Poseidon tried to take me down and I’m not going to give him another chance to do it again…
Before I go, another RIP shout out goes to my man Rick James. He lived a hard life, but at least he can say he had fun in his time on earth. In the words of Dave Chappelle, “I’M RICK JAMES, B!TCH!!!â€
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