Sorry

I thought that I posted this Sunday morning but apparenlty I didn't. So for all 3 of you who check this I am sorry that I haven't been more punctual. I will try harder. Today was back to the grind. Nothing exciting at school. The most interesting part of my day was going to a Stamp It! party. Who stamps you ask? Apparently everyone who wants to be someone.

My vacation is officially over and after church today it's back to the grind. I have a lot to do before school starts tomorrow. However I am going to be moving really slow because yesterdays beach experience was brutal. Granted it was pretty but there are a few requirements I now have for a beach experience. 1) The hike must be worth the payoff. Yesterdays hike was a killer. It wasn't the toughest hike in the world, but it was extremely rocky for the first half. The rocks become a challenge because they are so slippery because of the changing tide so it is hard to crawl over them. I think there are a lot of dangerous things in this world but I would classify the second part of the hike as ranking up there on the dangerous list. It was a trail that was maybe a foot wide and muddy (so it was slick). There was no leeway room. On one side was the mountainous wall and the other was a 20 foot drop off onto jagged lava rocks. I have had an experience with a lava rock in my day and it isn't pretty when you fall on one. 2) The water must be safe. Palagi Beach (where we went yesterday) could have been the most dangerous beach I have been to date. Palagi beach is known for the amazing snorkeling that is available in the channels there. I will admit that the snorkeling was great. It was my fist time to snorkel in deep water, and I ended up liking the deep water better. I did see some really neat fish. They have the greatest colored fish here. I keep thinking that if I could catch some and send them home I could make a fortune on them, but I have a sneaking suspicion that customs or the US fish and wildlife service wouldn't think it was the best idea. I also got to see wild sea horses. I think that may have been one of the most exciting parts. As great as the snorkeling was it wasn't worth it because the water was so rough and the waves were crashing in. It's easy to underestimate the power of a wave until it knocks you down or carries you out to sea. Being the nervous kid that I am I stayed in the most protected parts of the water at first, but Amy found this cave that was really great at low tide last time and she wanted me to go back with her. Really it was just a photo opportunity. We climbed on the coral and walked around this little island. (I guess you call it an island...it's only about the width of a football field and about half of the length) It was scary walking around it because you have to watch out for deep holes and crabs. When we finally got around to the entrance of the cave the waves started getting really severe. The unadventurous side of me said not to get in the water because we may not be able to get out, but the adventurous side of me said that we've already come this far we may as well go all the way. All I could think about when I jumped in was that my dad would be really mad if I jumped in and died. It was really pretty, and I am glad that we will have pictures of the danger. Once the picture was taken we had to get out quick because the water was rising, but just as I predicted it was a bugger getting out. We swam over to where we jumped in and saw that a wave was coming so we braced ourselves on the rocks. Amy was already back up on the coral but the next thing I knew I got thrown from the rock I was bracing myself against and Amy got thrown off the coral. It was a fleeting moment of sheer panic. I started screaming which doesn't help you swim, and then the panic was gone and we just had to get out. Coral has this nasty way of cutting you if you aren't careful, and we knew we were going to get cut up on the way out because we couldn't be careful. My shins and hands were bleeding, but it is better than being dead. Let me just tell you there is nothing more eye opening than salt water in a wound. It will make you want to holler. After staring death in the face and laughing I had a second of absolute bravery. I talked Amy into going into these coral channels so that we could see some better snorkeling destinations. After we got a little ways into one I realized that this too was a bad idea. I guess I am not the strongest swimmer and I am most certainly not fearless, so I don't handle iffy situations very well. The coral channels were only 2-3 feet wide, so when the waves came in you knew you were going to be battered. I would have to grab the coral and hang on for dear life. At one point everyone started laughing at me because I had my feet propped up on both sides of the channel pushing me back and I was trying to hold on to coral that was behind me. The channels weren't that exciting but when we were coming out of them I was the only one without fins on and I have never swam so hard in my life. I was swimming at full speed and going no where. That wore me out.

We didn't stay that long at the beach because it was hot and rough and not pleasant. On our hike back to the car I may have set a record for slowest hiker ever. I had on my flip flops that were now wet and not cooperating. When we had hiked about ten minutes I was trying to think of a reason that I could tell people so it would make sense that I was hiking so slow and then it happened. I fell climbing off part of the trail, and when I looked out onto the water I saw something fishy. It was actually a school of sharks. They weren't great white or tiger sharks, but they were the largest wild sharks I have ever seen. We aren't sure what kind of shark they were because they had a stripped dorsal fin, but were only 3-4 feet long. Sharks don't like the taste of human flesh so I have been told not to be scared by the reef sharks, however if I would have been swimming and seen one I would have FREAKED out. I don't know how I would have handled it because I wouldn't have been able to get away fast enough. They were only 20 feet away from us, so they have been captured on video. Amy and I also made the decision that if we waded out thigh deep we could say that we swam with the sharks. So I have now swam with sharks, and it was exhilarating.