Adventures By Design

In which (one of) the travelers is abducted by the ocean

We were feeling a little rough this morning, after our party on the beach last night. We slept in a bit, had breakfast on our porch, and just chilled out for the morning.

Later we set out with Emily and Brian to use the an internet cafe. Ric wanted to work on the computer some more, Gin wanted to work on the blog, and Emily wanted some advice about blogs. We went back to the same internet cafe that we used yesterday, but the connection there was very slow. It reminded us of dial-up internet back in the day. So we went to a different place right next door. Unfortunately their connection was no better, and their air conditioning didn’t work. Still, we just wanted to get some stuff done so we stayed for a while. Eventually, sweaty and grumpy, we called it a day and went back to the hotel to change into swimsuits and then to the beach for some surfing.

Emily and Brian had taken some surfing lessons in the couple of days before we met them so they rented regular surf boards. We of course had never tried surfing before, so we got smaller body boards. On a body board you just put your upper torso on the board, hang on, and ride the waves; you don’t try to stand up like on a regular surf board so it’s a lot easier. The place we rented from also supplied us with ‘rash-tees:’ surfing shirts that help you avoid sunburn, and a nasty rash on your belly from your board. It was nice of them to give us them, but Gin’s kept riding up, so she still ended up with a painful rash on her tummy.

Properly equipped, we set off into the ocean and had a fabulous time trying to catch the waves. We both got totally swamped a few times, and we both also had a couple of great rides. Brian and Emily are moving to Australia for six months to practice surfing, and we are seriously considering joining them!

After a while we tried to go a little further out to get some better waves. Ric caught a few, and got himself most of the way back to shore. Gin, however, did not catch any waves. Instead a rip-tide caught her. Kuta Beach is known for great surfing, and also for having really strong currents. They have to put up flags on the beach everyday, showing people the safe places to swim. Gin was merrily sitting on her board and waiting for waves when she realized that the shoreline was getting pretty far away, and that she couldn’t see Ric, Brian, or Emily. The only people around we the guys who looked like pro-surfers, and even they were closer to the shore than Gin. She figured she best try to head in so she started kicking and paddling for all she was worth. If you know anything about rip-tides you’ll be able to guess that this didn’t work. She paddled away for a couple minutes and then looked up to judge her progress, but found that she was further away. Getting a little panicky now, Gin paddled and kicked some more, but was rewarded with a cramp in her toes. She took a break to review her options. She quickly realized that she was not going to make it in by herself and started looking around frantically. Luckily, looked wide-eyed and terrified worked out, and one of the locals nearby on his surfboard realized that she was in trouble. He paddled over and, when he saw how tired and scared she was, offered to tow her into shore. In retrospect Gin can only marvel at the man’s swimming skills, since she couldn’t get herself anywhere, and he managed to pull himself and her along with him. After a while he was tired and passed Gin off to another local who pushed her board along, and finally managed to get her into shore, where a rather worried-looking Ric was waiting.

Gin was exhausted by the effort, and her tummy was rubbed raw from her board, but she was back on solid land, and her ordeal started to seem less scary. We returned the boards to the man who rented them to us, and then went to buy some coffee and doughnuts on the way home. With a little caffeine and sugar in her blood stream, all seemed well with the world again, and Gin decided that she’d give surfing another (more careful) try tomorrow.