2006-04-12, 12:22 p.m.,

Home from the media trip with an ear infection. Spectacular hey?

They took us Sea Kayaking with dolphins and we got out there, saw the dolphins swim right up to us, it was great, sea turtles, everything. Then the swell came in. Apparently he worse tides and surf in years and we were in the middle of it.

Now I�m not what you�d call a comfortable swimmer when it comes to swimming in the deep ocean. I�m ok in pools and ok to wade out a bit in the ocean, but drop me in the middle, especially with tides going way WAY over my head and very rough. We get out there and about an hour later the coastal guards and bringing all the surfers in because the tide is too strong and the instructor says to me �sorry if I knew it was going to be this rough I would have cancelled it.� Then explains that the only way we wont capsize is if we paddle in at the exact perpendicular angle of the waves and are moving faster than them. Then he laughs and says �but that�s not going to happen.� and proceeded to explain what to do when the tide flips us over.

So yeah, we flipped, I hear the wave before I saw it behind us and it pushed us so fast it was like we were surfing for a bit. Then suddenly he grabs my paddle and yells for me to lean back into him as far as I can and then....I watch him and the kayak go over my head.

Long story short, we could have got back into the kayak but the tide was so rough we just would have kept flipping, so he brought it in and we both swam. About 700 meters in the roughest water I�ve ever been in. My only consolation was that I was wearing a helmet, life jacket and with a big muscly instructor well trained in life saving. But I made it, exhausted the hell out of me and I was so sore afterwards, but yeah, I did it.

Getting out of the water my ear popped loudly and yesterday it felt like someone was grinding the sharp part of a pencil into my eardrum and the dr says I have a decent amount of water on the wrong side of my eardrum causing the beginnings of an infection. Damn dolphins in their ocean.

It feels a bit better today though, hopefully won�t last long.

And I�m getting grief for not planning a huge party for my 30th, but I seriously don�t have time. I have something on nearly every night except for my actual birthday which I didn�t plan anything because I wanted to spend it with Nic. My job is taking over every element of my social life. And I�m noticing that most of my friends now are travel writers, PR directors for Hotels, event planners, and magazines and publishers and owners of resorts, etc. Nearly 80 percent of them were met through my work. Doesn�t make them any less valid as friends, just means that event when we�re not working and hanging out, we�re working......

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